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Computer Vision Syndrome

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Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#51

Post by lovelearning »

giberson wrote: post #44

I use to get headaches every day (the kind that seem to originate behind the bridge of the nose). One day in effort to reduce the ache (a desperation move I didn't know would work out not) I reduced the brightness level in my monitor to the lowest possible setting. It slightly helped me cope with the rest of the day at work, but I forgot to reset the monitor. The next day I didn't get a headache. Turning down the bri…

Yup, my personal experience too. I keep screen brightnesses and ambient brightness low.

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#52

Post by ianai »

soylentcola wrote: post #46
paublyrne wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can give only anecdotal evidence. I do this reasonably regularly. It's mainly to combat meibomian gland dysfunction and works by heating up the oils in and around the glands so that the dry build-up clears, and the glands can function a bit more normally. They should be releasing oil throughout the day to keep the surface of your eye from drying out. I think you need to be careful not to overdo compresses, and asso…

I've been doing this on and off for decades now, thanks to blepharitis and the associated gland dysfunction you mention. The fact that I stare at a screen all day certainly doesn't help and I've had to stop wearing contact lenses even though my prescription is quite strong and any sort of glasses screw up my peripheral vision. The downside to the compress (other than the one you mentioned) is the simple fact that I c…

Well no cure aside maybe not looking at a backlight. I really wish there were marketed displays without a backlight. There's got to be a way.

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#53

Post by gr3yh47 »

over the last 10 years of being on a computer for at least 10 hours a day my distance vision has been obliterated. i used to have 20/15 vision and now i have 20/50 vision.

I'm positive the screens are the issue. My toddler nieces stand a foot away from tvs and every time i see it i beg their parents to not let them subject their developing eyes to that.

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#54

Post by Bartweiss »

pmoriarty wrote: post #8

"He recommended I use a hot compress at least once a week for 10 minutes and to look away from the screen in a method called the 20-20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes take 20 seconds to look at an object at least 20 feet away and blink 20 times." Is there any evidence that this treatment actually works?

Yeah, there's clinical backing for at least some of it.

The 20 seconds, 20 feet part is closely matched to eye exercises for people with certain types of nearsightedness or eyestrain. One example for nearsightedness is "close, middle, far" practice, where you cycle your focus across three visually-adjacent objects at different depths, which forces quick refocusing without saccades.

This has been pretty consistently shown to help strengthen muscles and improve refocusing speed. I haven't seen CVS-specific results, but for now I'll trust that treatment for older syndromes is a good start.

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#55

Post by sbierwagen »

dotancohen wrote: post #47
giberson wrote: post #44

I use to get headaches every day (the kind that seem to originate behind the bridge of the nose). One day in effort to reduce the ache (a desperation move I didn't know would work out not) I reduced the brightness level in my monitor to the lowest possible setting. It slightly helped me cope with the rest of the day at work, but I forgot to reset the monitor. The next day I didn't get a headache. Turning down the bri…

Turning down the brightness had the opposite effect for me. My monitor at the time "turned down the brightness" by reducing the duty cycle of the backlight. This caused flickering that was imperceptible yet caused much eyestrain. Actually turning up the brightness, moving the monitor as far back as possible, and using yellow-tinted Gunnar lenses have made a huge difference for me. Edit: This is the technique used to…

Basically every monitor with a LED backlight controls brightness by PWM. It only causes problems if the frequency is too low. (Contrast with fluorescent lights: every single fluorescent tube in existance flickers, but only some flicker slowly enough that people can notice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjyhFyUN_zQ Ditto CRT monitors, back when they were still used. Refresh rate of 60hz is flickery and annoying, refresh rate of 72hz is totally fine.)

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#56

Post by Bartweiss »

ianai wrote: post #52
soylentcola wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been doing this on and off for decades now, thanks to blepharitis and the associated gland dysfunction you mention. The fact that I stare at a screen all day certainly doesn't help and I've had to stop wearing contact lenses even though my prescription is quite strong and any sort of glasses screw up my peripheral vision. The downside to the compress (other than the one you mentioned) is the simple fact that I c…

Well no cure aside maybe not looking at a backlight. I really wish there were marketed displays without a backlight. There's got to be a way.

I've been wanting this for ages. And more simply, I want brightness controls that go all the way down to zero.

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#57

Post by TwoFactor »

gr3yh47 wrote: post #53

over the last 10 years of being on a computer for at least 10 hours a day my distance vision has been obliterated. i used to have 20/15 vision and now i have 20/50 vision. I'm positive the screens are the issue. My toddler nieces stand a foot away from tvs and every time i see it i beg their parents to not let them subject their developing eyes to that.

How do you know it was computers and not just age in general?

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#58

Post by Bartweiss »

mod wrote: post #38
edroche wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can only provide anecdotal evidence, and I was not officially diagnosed with it, but I definitely have plenty of the issues listed. Since I adopted the Pomodoro Technique (25min work, 5min break), I have noticed that a lot of my symptoms have subsided. My biggest issues were headaches and blurry vision.

Doing things outside helps me. Which makes sense, the whole point is to ease work for the ciliary muscles and allow them to fully relax. That happens by de-flexing the lens...which happens at a focal distance of 'infinity.' (I'm a layperson, hopefully all of my terms were correct.)

Time outdoors is my best cure for this. It seems to be some combination of doing less active, narrow-target focusing, and having the option to look longer distances. 20 feet is doable indoors, but focusing 500 feet away is often out of the question.

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#59

Post by RyanOD »

pmoriarty wrote: post #8

"He recommended I use a hot compress at least once a week for 10 minutes and to look away from the screen in a method called the 20-20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes take 20 seconds to look at an object at least 20 feet away and blink 20 times." Is there any evidence that this treatment actually works?

I find that soaking my face for 20-30 seconds in very cold water multiple times each day seems remarkably helpful. Plus it gets me away from my laptop for a few minutes. It's also the last thing I do before I go to bed and the first thing I do when I wake up.

The initial thinking was that I could do this to help reduce swelling (tired, puffy eyes). No idea if that works, but it sure is refreshing.

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#60

Post by Bartweiss »

dudeget wrote: post #24

one of the most essential pieces of software in my opinion: flux: https://justgetflux.com/ and now that I've been running linux, redshift: http://jonls.dk/redshift/ I find it hard to use a computer without these now

Whenever I'm not using flux, it feels unimportant. And then I turn it on, darken it, and I can actually feel my focus relaxing.
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