With over half of the world’s employees working online jobs, remote work has become a fast-growing reality offering flexible hours for seasoned freelancers and newcomers alike. Whether you’re an experienced freelancer, university student, or worker balancing the office life with your online business, I’ll be sharing 5 easy ways you can reduce eyestrain when spending long hours in front of your screen.

Each method has been tried and tested by yours truly — a guy who spends at least 6 working hours in front of a screen, so you know they work.

1. Blue Light Blocking Glasses.

An absolute essential for people working with or without vision problems — blue light glasses filter out harsh digital tones on your screen and are potentially the most effective way to reduce eyestrain when working from home.

You can purchase a low cost pair of prescription-less glasses with a blue light filter for less than $20 online. If you’ve already seen an optometrist for eyesight difficulties, most order forms for frames include a blue-light filter option for free.

2. F.lux

I’ve been using this software add-on for over 7 years to effectively eliminate digital eyestrain. I found it in college even before I had problems with my eyesight. F.lux provides a free solution that works with your existing display to produce warm light at your desired preference. It even syncs up with your timezone, mirroring sunrise and sunset times to better integrate with your work schedule.

An amazing option that downloads in less than 5 seconds for anyone wanting to reduce digital eyestrain. And don’t worry, this isn’t a paid promotion. F.lux isn’t giving me a penny. I had to share it because it simply works.

3. 20 minute Naps

This one might seem obvious. Of course if you look away from your screen for a period of time your vision is bound to improve by a mile. Add on a tiny bit of rest, not so much that you disrupt your sleep schedule, and watch your eyesight improve along with your productivity.

Quick naps are also an incredible way to surrender the creative process to your intuition. Not only will this help with your eyesight, but it should help you see your next big idea with a clear mind.

4. Avoid Staring at Multiple Screens

I have friends and former coworkers who swear that their productivity increases when they use multiple monitors.

I get it.

You have one screen with your word processor and another for other applications, like a web-based browser for research.

But the constant eye flitting between two screens pouring out irritating blue light is an easy way to strain your eyes. It’s also an easy way to reduce your ability to focus on one important task at a time. Do yourself a favour and turn off that second screen for at least an hour or so in between working shifts.

Your phone counts too. Unless you’re expecting an important call, turn it off and keep that time waster somewhere out of reach. You won’t be distracted by unnecessary alerts and will have removed a screen that usually sits directly in front of your eyes.

5. Maintain a Generous Seating Distance

BenQ, a leading manufacturer of computer monitors suggests that your seating distance depends on factors like “Field of Sight, Resolution and Pixel Density.”

Complicated metrics aside, a good rule of thumb for an average monitor, which is around 24” in size at 1080p resolution, is to sit with a space of 3.4 ft (105cm) in between you and your screen.

About 3 1/2 Subway sandwiches, if we assume Subway bread is measured accurately.

Interestingly, as resolution and screen size increases, the space between you and your monitor should decrease. This is because with a higher frame rate and greater field of vision, your eyes tend to do less work in detecting complicated visual stimuli. Sitting too far from your screen makes even premium monitors much less effective, so finding that sweet spot is key.

With at least four free suggestions, you have a handful of tried and tested methods to improve your eyesight when tackling a long workday in front of your screen. Definitely invest in a pair of blue-light filter glasses if you have pre-existing vision problems, but you can’t go wrong with any of the free suggestions.