Where you place your lights is critical in avoiding glare and shadows. For instance, an overhead spotlight situated behind you can result in glare on your computer screen. To avoid shadows created by task lamps, place the light on the side opposite from the hand that you write with—if it’s on the same side, your hand and arm will cast shadows.

4. What about natural daylight?

Above: In her lower Manhattan studio, Briar Winters, owner of online apothecary Marble & Milkweed, enjoys the indirect natural light that comes from placing her desk against the wall perpendicular to the window. For more, see Shopper’s Diary, Marble and Milkweed’s New York Studio. Photograph by Erin Boyle for Gardenista.

Natural light improves the ambience of any room, which, in turn, helps enhance focus and productivity—Julie has noticed that her whole family likes to work in the living room because it’s so sunny. In some rooms, however—such as my own home office—at certain times of day, direct sunlight can create an overwhelming glare. You can mitigate this by installing simple translucent blinds. If there’s a window in your home office and you’re working at a computer, the best position for the computer is on a desk that’s perpendicular to the window. Placing your computer in front of the window can cause stress to your eyes because the brightness from behind may create too much of a contrast.

5. How can lighting alleviate the effects of working at a computer all day?

Above: In my own home office, I had no choice but to put the desk in front of the windows. Translucent roller blinds help me control the brightness throughout the day in order to keep contrast and glare to a minimum. See Remodeling 101: Simple Roller Blinds for the lowdown. Photograph by Jonathan Gooch for Remodelista.

Minimizing glare and contrast is the key to reducing eye strain. Harsh artificial or natural light is what creates the monitor glare that tires our eyes. Having your lights on dimmers and hanging light-diffusing blinds in your windows allows you to modulate light levels throughout the day, depending on the time of day and task at hand. It’s important to note that paperwork activities require a higher light level than computer work, which means that most of us when at our computers ought to consider turning down the ambient and task lighting.

Home Office Lighting Recap:

One overall source of lighting is not enough to accommodate the varied activities of a home office; it’s best to layer light sources.

Use task lamps to illuminate focused work.

The correct placement of a task light is important to avoid glare and shadows.

Natural daylight improves the ambience of a room, but at certain times of day can be too bright.

Being able to adjust light levels throughout the day is ideal for the eyes and promotes productivity.

For more lighting advice, see our posts:

N.B.: This post is an update; the original story ran May 15, 2014.