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Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:52 pm
by buckit
I have noticed issues more and more... If i have something I am working on intently that keeps my eyes hard focused on the screen I start to feel clouded, dizzy, nauseous, kind of makes it feel like I’m in a constant dream, you know, distant. I usually get up and take a break or once the day is over I quickly bounce back... never really gave much thought to it.

well... now I have been working a lot more on projects... I work and 8hr day then come home and continue for probably another 3-4hrs in front of a damn monitor. I find it more and more difficult to recover and at this point I am just wiped out and my eyes hurt to even stare at a monitor.

I read that monitors (LCDs included) that run at 60hz are known to cause health side effects (nothing long term) so then I was thinking that maybe a better monitor would make things better and easier to work at for long hours each day. Google didn’t return much...

so I thought I would ask people that have possibly addressed something similar and might have some feedback.

and no, I don’t need to see a doctor, I may make it sound worse than it is, my daily activities are not at all effected, in fact the more I do outside the better I feel. on weekends that I don’t work/use a computer I am right as rain and very refreshed by Monday.

oh, and I know, take breaks more often to rest the eyes. am looking for a more technologically based solution. :wink:

EDIT: at home I use 2x HP L2045W (1680x1050 5ms) monitors, at work I use 1x HP L2045W and 1x Dell 2408 (1920x1200 6ms) something or other.

Re: Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:57 pm
by JakeJ
Try blinking really, really fast while looking at the screen to off set the flicker effect.

...sorry.. i just couldn't help myself. :lol:

Re: Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:21 pm
by Benjamin
You may need glasses. This happened to a friend of mine. Went away when he bought contacts/glasses. Could be an astigmatism or something.

Re: Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:42 pm
by boredboy5
personally, i get sick from looking at my screen for more than 3 hours (sucks when im in the middle of a project) but when I push myself beyond that point my eyes go extremely out of focus when i look at long distance objects (even close on occasion) and then I get really, really light headed. And i believe that looking at my computer caused my eyes to be "permanently" damaged and now I need to wear glasses (oh what fun). And again, personally, it doesnt matter what my refresh rate is, any of them cause my eyes to loose focus.

Sorry if this wasn't helpful, just saying that i do get sick at looking at the screen.

Re: Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 11:01 pm
by JakeJ
You know, with a term like "refresh rate" one would expect it to feel more refreshing.

I'm not very helpful today; just being a bit of a troll.

Re: Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 7:56 am
by buckit
JakeJ wrote:You know, with a term like "refresh rate" one would expect it to feel more refreshing.

I'm not very helpful today; just being a bit of a troll.
JakeJ, I don't find you at all humorous! This is a serious issue! my monitors are killing me! 60"hurts"! :lol: sorry, best I could come up with right after a 6mi run in 90% humidity! Oi!

Re: Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 7:59 am
by buckit
boredboy5 wrote:personally, i get sick from looking at my screen for more than 3 hours (sucks when im in the middle of a project) but when I push myself beyond that point my eyes go extremely out of focus when i look at long distance objects (even close on occasion) and then I get really, really light headed. And i believe that looking at my computer caused my eyes to be "permanently" damaged and now I need to wear glasses (oh what fun). And again, personally, it doesnt matter what my refresh rate is, any of them cause my eyes to loose focus.

Sorry if this wasn't helpful, just saying that i do get sick at looking at the screen.
I think thats where I'm at... gonna start taking a 15 min break every couple hours and see if it makes things any better.

Benjamin wrote:You may need glasses. This happened to a friend of mine. Went away when he bought contacts/glasses. Could be an astigmatism or something.
my GP recently tested my eyes at 20/20, have always had 20/20, but you may be right. have always wondered if there were glasses of some sort that would help me relax my eyes more when reading a monitor. I think I am overstraining my eyes which in turn causes nausea and dizziness.

Re: Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 8:30 am
by Bill H
my GP recently tested my eyes at 20/20,
An eye test by a GP is inadequate. You need to be tested by an opthamaolgist, and have him prescribe specifcally for the distance your monitor is placed.

I got trifocals, with the middle prescription designed specifically for the distance of my monitor, and the difference was astonishing. What happens is that after long periods at a computer the muscles which focus your eyes can become spasmed and will not refocus properly at other distances for hours. Those muscles have no sensory nerves, so you are unaware of how hard they are working, and can not tell when they become tired. Getting glasses which reduce the strain on those muscles removes that problem.

Re: Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 8:39 am
by mikosiko
buckit... a few things to consider:

- Check if modifying your monitors refresh rate fix the problem.
- Check if you have some other electronic equipment close to your monitors, as per example, radios, lights with electric ballast like fluorescent lights or anything that could produce magnetic fields because normally this produce a practically imperceptible monitor's flick that in the long time cause symptoms like you described.
- Check also the type of light that are you using in the room... fluorescent light as the only source is not recommended moreover when your lcd monitors are using also of the same type of light.

hope this help you to fix your problem

Miko

Re: Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 10:21 am
by pickle
mikosiko wrote: - Check if modifying your monitors refresh rate fix the problem.
+1 - I've upped all of mine to 75 Hz

Re: Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 11:43 am
by buckit
pickle wrote:
mikosiko wrote: - Check if modifying your monitors refresh rate fix the problem.
+1 - I've upped all of mine to 75 Hz

None of them will do higher than 60hz... actually, the HPs will... but at 75 the screen is all garbage.. would at best have to lower the resolution... screw that! LOL

Re: Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 11:46 am
by pickle
Sounds like you have crappy monitors then.

Re: Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:16 pm
by buckit
pickle wrote:Sounds like you have crappy monitors then.

actually no, not at all crappy. finding a monitor that will go over 60hz native is damn near impossible.

Re: Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:26 pm
by pickle
We must have different experiences then, because I haven't seen one that doesn't go over 60 in at least 5 years. I've got 3 IBM Thinkvisions at work - 2 different revisions, a Sanyo, and a Dell at home, and they all go to 75 Hz. Weird.

Re: Monitor make you sick?

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:49 pm
by Weirdan
pickle wrote:Sounds like you have crappy monitors then.
Most modern LCD monitors do not allow for refresh rates higher than 60Hz because increasing it does NOT reduce flicker (if there's any) that is caused by incandescent backlight, flicker of which you can't control using software. In other words there's no reason to increase it, neither technical (60fps is enough) nor medical.

On the other hand, if you're still using CRT's increasing refresh rate makes perfect sense.