Live data from Hacker News

Computer Vision Syndrome

laravel-news.com

141–150 of 162 posts

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#141
post #30

I think there is something with reading angle too: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aos.13148/abstrac... "Reading in a sitting posture at myopia onset predicted the greatest myopic progression to adulthood and reading face up on one's back the lowest. Reading with eyes on turned more downwards was slightly connected with greater myopic progression." I had some major vision problems a couple of years ago, to…

How did you eventually get over your RSI? I've been struggling through my own for a few years now and haven't had any real improvement.

I realize you weren't asking me, but as I had it many, many years ago I'll describe it, before I go into what I did.

One day, I woke up and both hands felt a bit odd, painful and tingling all the time. The next day, I woke up and both hands were burning. I had no strength, and no fine control at all. When I did tense them, it felt like I was holding my hands under a running hot tap. I couldn't hold a fork to get food to my mouth, I couldn't even hold a key to get it into the lock to open the door.

I was studying at the time, and obviously couldn't continue that. No doctor was able to help me, I was put on anti-inflamatories that were completely ineffective. I started drinking to deal with the pain, and within a couple of months I was drinking 3.2 gallons (12 liters) of beer a day, just to dull the pain.

Once the pain died away, I was still left with some serious problems. Fortunately alcohol dependence was not one of them (I just stopped drinking). Any repetitive motion that lasted more than a few minutes would cause me a day or more of pain. I found I was unable to reliably hold things, and I could just lose my grip on whatever was in my hands. Many glasses and cups were smashed because I just couldn't hold them.

So here's when I figured out what was wrong: many of my problems were related to a significant loss of strength. Because I had been unable to do anything for more than three months, I had lost much of the strength in my hands and forearms. Stamina, too. This meant that when I did anything repetitive, I was straining the muscles beyond their ability to cope.

I sold my computers, and grabbed a pair of free weights I had lying around. The "free" part is important, because machines reduce the load on ancillary muscles. I started doing some very basic arm strength exercises (curls and reverse curls). However, training yourself is something I would recommend against - find a reputable physiotherapist and have them set you out a basic rehab program, and get a muscle balance assessment, too. You could find that you have other issues that are causing your problems - I still have serious muscle tension issues that I am working on, with the assistance of a physio.

I studied personal training some years after, and I've found that it's so very easy to screw it up when you do it all yourself. I met one guy who thought he was just a paragon of bodybuilding - he was bench pressing well over 200 pounds, but his lat pulldowns were limited to just 30 or 40 pounds. His shoulders were rounded so far forward that you couldn't see any definition in his pecs.

The main reason I recommend a physio rather than a Personal Trainer (PT) is that, as I said, you may have some biomechanical issues that need sorting out, and no matter how much a PT may claim they can do this kind of thing, they are not medical professionals. A PT would be helpful in making sure you you are biomechanically sound in implementing the physio's program, but there's no substitute for real medical help.

I hope this helps you, good luck.

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#142
post #5

Anyone know of a break-taking app that watches your activity and can wait until you've lost focus on your work before reminding you to take a break? Something like the alarms that wake you up at the right point in your sleep cycle. It would probably need to have a cut-off eventually, but I'd hate to be interrupted in the middle of tracing some complex logic if there's a perfect stopping point 10 minutes later.

Get a G-Shock watch and set the countdown timer to whatever duration suits you. Given the 20:20:20:20 rule I saw above, I figure a 20 minute countdown probably isn't a bad countdown.

At school, I was taught that we have a short attention span of something like 10-15 minutes, so you could always do that. Every time the alarm goes off, go for a walk around the office.

Not quite what you were asking for, I know.

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#143

Eye Health (not unlike other areas of health) has a lot of FUD around it. A lot of the recent "awareness" of CVS is based off people who want to sell you blue light blocking glasses. This infographic is one of my favorite examples: http://vspblog.com/blue-light-infographic/ There's lots of numbers and statistics there, but none of it is actually scientific. The closest you get is that "VSP Optometrists report a 50% i…

"From the American Academy of Ophthalmology[1]: "Staring at your computer screen, smartphone or other digital devices for long periods won’t cause permanent eye damage, but your eyes may feel dry and tired.""

I always believed this myself but I wonder what kind of research has been done to back it up. Intuitively, staring at a computer screen for 8+ hours a day for year after year would not seem to be a good thing.

Indeed this article seems to claim different:

"As you sit in front of the screen, your eyes dry out, and you stop blinking. Over time this leads to damage of the eye muscle that is used to focus on far away objects and damage to the tear ducts."

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#144
post #5

Anyone know of a break-taking app that watches your activity and can wait until you've lost focus on your work before reminding you to take a break? Something like the alarms that wake you up at the right point in your sleep cycle. It would probably need to have a cut-off eventually, but I'd hate to be interrupted in the middle of tracing some complex logic if there's a perfect stopping point 10 minutes later.

http://www.workrave.org/

Wow, talk about your Mystery Meat interfaces.

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#145

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…

I was diagnosed with blepharitis two years ago. Amusing (not really...) little story:

Usually, for me, it occurs in just one eye. I haven't had it for months, but I do religiously clean my eyes every day now. The last time it happened in both eyes, and I ended up on the floor holding my eyes in the most intense pain I've experienced in a while.

My partner took it upon herself to fry up some onions. She hadn't friend them for more than a year before. A minor screaming fit at her for being so incredibly stupid and ignorant for doing that (I couldn't even take my hands away from my eyes for a day after she did that) and I thought she'd never do it again.

23 hours.

She did it again, and claimed that it never occurred to her that it would hurt me again.

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#146

I suffer of CVS big time, I had to apply tons of eye-drops every few hours due the dry and burning sensation on my eyes and some days I won't even catch much sleep because my eyes hurted so badly and keept me awake. What helped me a lot was a pair of Gunnar glasses (cristaline version) plus taking short brakes every 25min (Podoro Technique helps with this). The Gunnar glasses alone took me to cut down my use of eye-d…

This sounds like you are diagnosing yourself with something that may not exist.

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#147
post #142
post #5

Anyone know of a break-taking app that watches your activity and can wait until you've lost focus on your work before reminding you to take a break? Something like the alarms that wake you up at the right point in your sleep cycle. It would probably need to have a cut-off eventually, but I'd hate to be interrupted in the middle of tracing some complex logic if there's a perfect stopping point 10 minutes later.

Get a G-Shock watch and set the countdown timer to whatever duration suits you. Given the 20:20:20:20 rule I saw above, I figure a 20 minute countdown probably isn't a bad countdown. At school, I was taught that we have a short attention span of something like 10-15 minutes, so you could always do that. Every time the alarm goes off, go for a walk around the office. Not quite what you were asking for, I know.

Why a G-Shock?

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#148
post #143

Eye Health (not unlike other areas of health) has a lot of FUD around it. A lot of the recent "awareness" of CVS is based off people who want to sell you blue light blocking glasses. This infographic is one of my favorite examples: http://vspblog.com/blue-light-infographic/ There's lots of numbers and statistics there, but none of it is actually scientific. The closest you get is that "VSP Optometrists report a 50% i…

"From the American Academy of Ophthalmology[1]: "Staring at your computer screen, smartphone or other digital devices for long periods won’t cause permanent eye damage, but your eyes may feel dry and tired."" I always believed this myself but I wonder what kind of research has been done to back it up. Intuitively, staring at a computer screen for 8+ hours a day for year after year would not seem to be a good thing. I…

I'm always suspicious of advice from organizations that would benefit from misinformation (e.g. "Cigarettes are good for you" - the Cigarette Industry or "Looking at screens isn't going to cause you to need more eye doctor services" - some eye doctors).

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#149

I suffer of CVS big time, I had to apply tons of eye-drops every few hours due the dry and burning sensation on my eyes and some days I won't even catch much sleep because my eyes hurted so badly and keept me awake. What helped me a lot was a pair of Gunnar glasses (cristaline version) plus taking short brakes every 25min (Podoro Technique helps with this). The Gunnar glasses alone took me to cut down my use of eye-d…

This sounds like you are diagnosing yourself with something that may not exist.

It could be that the name I give to the symptoms is not appropiate (even when who diagnosed me with CVS was an optimetrician not me...) nevertheless the symptoms are quite real... And, fortunatelly, I have found a solution that works quite well on coping with it.

Re: Computer Vision Syndrome

#150

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…

Often, the minimum brightness is still too bright. An Android app called Screen Filter helps with this on phones - it turns down gamma or another setting - not sure about a PC equivalent.
Post reply on HN