posted on October 28, 2001 03:51:36 PM new
Lately I have been getting quick but potent headaches usually while sitting in front of this computer. I have not been bothered by headaches in the past and wonder if it has anything to do with the few hours a day I spend doing ebey or this and that looking at the screen. Any ideas??
posted on October 28, 2001 04:05:20 PM new
How close is the monitor to your eyes? Is the level of the monitor at the proper area? Do you wear glasses? When is the last time you had your eyes checked?
posted on October 28, 2001 04:05:37 PM new
I can relate to this. For whatever its worth, we got a large monitor and it made all the difference. Certainly you would want to check with your Dr. but thought I would pass the monitor thing along. Good luck to you. I know it's no fun at all.
posted on October 28, 2001 04:15:30 PM new
Some older small monitors also have a "flicker" that you may or may not notice. That will cause a headache, quicker that spit.
posted on October 28, 2001 05:53:21 PM new
It could be the refresh rate set on the montor. I have a 17" sony and It came with a disk with a program to change the refresh rate to 170 mhz per sec. Some montors defalt to 60 mhz which is so slow it that you can see the flicker. Do you have a manual for the montor? If so check how to change it.
I do user support for a large company and run into this problem all the time..
posted on October 28, 2001 07:15:36 PM new
There's a book called Computers and Visual Stress that deals with this subject in quite some detail. Well worth your time.
You should have your eyes checked out every couple of years and spend the money on a good sharp monitor. Makes a big difference. Serious computer users may find it worth the investment to have a pair of glasses specifically for computer use.
posted on October 28, 2001 08:54:32 PM new
I'm a computer professional (NOT any sort of medical professional), and over the years, I've found several trouble points, at least for me. Your mileage may vary.
These should not, however, be considered a replacement for any possible need of consulting with a medical or vision professional (of which I'm neither). They are not listed in any particular order.
1) Refresh rate (already mentioned, but I'll reiterate). 60MHz (typical default) is too low. Such settings can be altered under "Display" in Windows (in some "Advanced" tabs/dialogs). I'd consider 72 MHz to be an absolute minimum, and 75 MHz to be a more preferable minimum. Different monitors support a different set of ranges, and may have different procedures for setting them. You are best off checking documentation or with a knowledgeable person.
2) Reflective glare. If you can see lots of reflections from the surface of the monitor, find a glare shield or consider lower-glare monitor.
3) White backgrounds. I don't care how many systems or webpages default to having white backgrounds, I think it or any high-contrast color schemes (black/white or garishly over-colored schemes) are subtle trouble. Lower-contrast shades of grey, with some blues or something thrown in for the title bars, seems the best.
4) Re-focusing. The eyes use muscles, and like any muscles, need to be "moved" once and awhile. Close them, focus to other distances, and move them around. I glance away from the monitor very frequently, any time I think about what I just read, or decide what to do next, etc. Of the time I spend in front of a monitor, I'm actually looking at it less than a quarter of the time (on average, anyway).
5) Overdone or insufficient ambient lighting. Too-powerful fluorescent lights too close to the wall behind your computer, glaring on the wall in sight, can be trouble. I also find it hard to have the computer being the only source of light in the room either. Avoid extremes.
6) Too-small fonts. If your eyes have to strain too much.... Also, certain very "pencil thin" fonts (which seem pretty uncommon nowadays) "swimming" in a bright white background is a nasty combination, I've found.
7) EM disturbances. This is where the monitor is too close to a source of electromagnetic disturbance (such being placed immediately under, as in 5 mm separation, an under-bookshelf fluorescent lamp), and distortion effects can appear on the screen, especially in the corner/side nearest the influence.
8) Position/posture. Are your monitor and body both positioned so that your neck (and eyes for that matter) is in a more "neutral" position, not straining upward or always downward? Is your monitor too close to your eyes?
9) Big monitors can help, but don't get too close to them. I don't like to have the computer totally dominating my field of vision.
10) Loose color gun(s). If the color seems to vary slightly (or "swim" ) from moment to moment, or the whole view suffers from little jerky or "swimming" disturbances, this may be more of a problem than you realize.
11) The older the monitor, the more problems may be accumulating with various things. These devices aren't anywhere near as durable or reliable as TVs, IMO. I haven't seen one yet that can last beyond its third year before starting to have hardware problems.
12) Good monitor or not, try tweaking with the brightness and contrast settings on the monitor itself.
The eye and mind are great at adjusting to things, filling in blanks, smoothing over tiny variations, ignoring distractions, and so on, so some of the above can go unnoticed for a long time, but there are limits, and the more of the above there are, the harder it might be on your eyes, and the more stress (e.g. leading to headache? ) it might be on your brain.
OTOH, don't look too hard for a problem. A monitor is not like real life. It is pixelated, and like seeing colored dots when looking real close to a TV, you might see tiny, tiny versions of some of the above if you look too hard. Instead, sit normally in your usual spot, consider each point above and in other people's notes from this thread, and look in a reasonable way as to whether it might be an issue.
Some of the above can become problems on short notice. If you didn't have headaches before, and now you do, did something about your computer or the immediate environment around the computer change?
These are, again, personal observations, and can be tried in general circumstances, but in the case of sudden symptoms, especially if a change or reason cannot be found and the symptoms continue, are intense, or have already been going on for awhile, it may be best to contact a professional (eye or general doctor -- of which I am NEITHER).
----
What's being done in the name of direct marketing nowadays is crazy.
The above are all just my opinions, except where I cite facts as such.
Oh, I am not dc9a320 anywhere except AW. Any others are not me.
Is eBay is changing from a world bazaar into a bizarre world?
[ Edited to be more concise and to the point. ]
[ edited by dc9a320 on Oct 28, 2001 09:18 PM ]
posted on October 29, 2001 06:12:49 AM new
When you are sitting in front of your computer, are you drinking? I was having awful headaches, almost daily. Then I got pregnant & had to give up my beloved coffee. Guess, what? The headaches stopped as soon as I stopped drinking anything with caffiene.
The more I was in front of the computer, the more coffee/cokes I drank. I was just on caffiene overload.
posted on October 29, 2001 06:52:32 AM new
some really great points. Along the lines of deanaw post what you are drinking. Are you drinking any diet drinks containing aspertaine ? my wife was haveing a lot of back pain and I was getting unexplainble sick every few months I read a article about aspertaine (we were both dinking a lot of it ) we both quit and those problems went away
I have read a bit since on aspertaine and it is really nasty stuff effects differnt peaple diffrently.
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spock here...... TILL NOV 1 ANYWAY
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