What Causes Migraines At Work?

Category: Health A-Z, Migraines

Some people develop a headache or migraine while working at the office. If you are one of them, check out the lighting arrangement. The traditional lighting arrangements in the office can be responsible for it in three possible ways.

The overhead lighting may create glare on the computer monitor.
Glare from the incandescent lighting.
The flickers emanating from the fluorescent bulbs and tubes.

Let’s go through them in detail.

The glare on the computer monitor can easily be tackled in the following ways:

Place the monitor in the room in such a way that the light does not fall on it directly.
Fix the monitor with a ‘glare screen’.
Cover the monitor with a hood in order to obstruct any light falling on it directly.
Switch off the lights in your working place, so that it wouldn’t get reflected on the monitor.
If it is difficult to switch off the lights, you may discuss it with your supervisor of the office to remove all the lights in your working area.

The glare from the incandescent lighting can be minimized in the following ways:

Change the position of your to a place, where the glare would be less.
Cover any bare bulbs in the working place with fixtures to cut down the glare. The fixtures should either be frosted or opaque. If it is clear, then request the supervisor to change it with opaque or frosted fixtures. If the problem still persists, then it is better to turn off all the overhead lights or remove the bulbs of the work area.

The problem due to fluorescent lighting is not similar to other lighting arrangements.

Although not discernible to human eye, the fluorescent lights continuously emanate flickers, which are the migraine triggers. So, even if the bulbs are covered with fixtures, people who are sensitive to flickers would surely be affected. In such cases, removing them from working area would be the most sensible thing to do. Hence, contact the office supervisor and make him aware of your problem. If he thinks that fixtures sans the bulbs would look inappropriate, then ask him to fix burned-out bulbs and tubes in stead.

I queried Scott Strickler, M.D. about these and how they put the eyes under strain. He revealed that as far as ‘work lighting’ is concerned, the incandescent lighting is better than fluorescent lighting. Although the fluorescent lighting is capable of covering a large area, it is not ideal for conducting office works. So, people, who work in the offices with files, should have desktop task lighting in addition to the overhead fluorescent lighting. “And if you have problem with fluorescent lighting, simply turn them off. No employer should really object it.” He said.

Make an assessment of the time period of your headache and migraine. If its occurrence is more prevalent during office hours, take a careful look at the lighting arrangement at your office and ascertain if it is the cause.