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Handling Eye-Strain?

Posted by Cliff on from the relaxing-the-optic-nerves dept.

mathgenius asks: "Usually I have no problems with this, but I've noticed again, as the stress levels increase I become more susceptible to eye-strain. I've reduced the contrast on my monitor, changed Mozilla to grey background, and enlarged my text. I am considering moving my desk to the window next, so that I am more likely to relax looking at a distance. Do people here have these problems? What have you found to help with eye-strain?"

2 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. Few Things by TheFlyingGoat · · Score: 4, Informative

    - Get up and walk around every 15-30 minutes, at least for a minute or two.
    - Dim the lights in your office if possible... the reflection off a monitor gives me headaches.
    - Stretch your neck and shoulders every so often. Eye strain can be associated with upper body tension.
    - Get one of those screens that goes in front of the monitor to reduce glare. They also dim the monitor a bit more.
    - Make sure you're sitting far enough back. I have a tendancy to sit REALLY close to the monitor. You'll get used to sitting a ways back and it will help a lot.
    - Make sure you're getting enough sleep. Sounds silly, but I'm guilty of complaining about eye strain while not getting enough sleep (here I am, up at 4am)

    --
    You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. --Winston Churchill
  2. Some thoughts by Kris_J · · Score: 4, Informative
    I haven't suffered from eye strain using computers, so I don't know how much help this is, but I have assisted on a number of IT ergonomics and occ. health and safety issues, so I have a good feel for these sorts of things.

    I strongly suggest a high contrast, bright (digital) LCD panel as your primary screen. Eye strain is often not from bright light, it's from being forced to compensate for low contrast or fuzzy text. I also recommend a second monitor that's a CRT if your first monitor is LCD, or vice versa. This means that your eyes aren't being fed the same type of light all the time.

    I also recommend against desk lamps unless you're reading a lot of stuff off paper. Lighting up your whole work area when you're looking at something that's producing (rather than reflecting) light is counter-productive. In fact, glare from light bouncing off the screen can be a major source of problems.

    I wear glasses because I'm short sighted. The glasses I've chosen are photochromatics ("peril sensitive", they get dark in bright light). At their clearesst setting they're about a 5% shade and they reduce a lot of glare. If you already need glasses, you may wish to try something similar. They're also great for driving at night as they reduce the glare from oncoming lights.