#1  
  01-30-2014, 04:03 AM
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after spending time at your tv or monitor, do you feel tired?
do your eyes feel strained?
does your vision become blurry?
do you get headaches?

read on to find out why this is happening and possible cures...

most UV (ultraviolet) light is filtered out by the ozone layer.
but some UV light gets through and this can/might damage human skin, eg lead to skin cancer.

also, it is thought that some of this UV leads to cataracts and the degeneration of the retinal tissue.

back in the dawn of time, humans did not have to deal with a "blue light" world, eg smartphones, computer monitors, fluorescent lights in shops/work places etc.

as they grew up, aged around 20, their retinas yellowed a bit to protect their eyes from near UV radiation.

it was thought that we only needed protection from near UV radiation.
but now, it is thought blue light is also harmful.

today, our eyes still evolve the same way our ancestors did.
but many of us spend ages staring at a tv screen or computer monitor be it due to work, hobby, gaming, watching tv etc.
hence, prolonged exposure to UV light.

and think back to when we were young, watching all those shows/movies and playing computer games.
young eyes do not develop enough of the yellowing process to help block out harmful UV.

current thinking is that the blue light wavelength is the damaging factor rather than intensity and duration.

so, what can we do to combat UV blue light?

1) avoid it!
ok, perhaps this is not that simple to do.
if your work means you have to stare at a monitor for 8 hours a day, then there is no choice.
but you can take some small steps like looking away from the monitor for a few seconds or a minute. do this multiple times throughout the day.
further, once you leave the office, limit yourself from the tv/monitor/smartphone at home.

2) eat things like yellow carrots, spinach, leafy vegetables etc to boost your intake of lutein. lutein is thought to be an antioxidant which helps maintain the health of the eyes.

3) try setting your monitor colour temperature to yellowish - around 60,000k. on my monitor, at 65,000 it becomes blueish and at about 60,000 it becomes yellowish. a yellow cast does impact what you see, especially if you are an artist/photographer and need accurate colours on screen. so a "yellow screen" may not be ideal for you.

4) buy yellow tinted glasses. the yellow coating should cut out some/most of the blue light and raise contrast. this may help reduce eye strain.

5) try other things like using an anti-glare filter on your monitor, having more natural light coming into your room, make the text on your screen larger, taking breaks etc.

please note that i'm not a trained opthamologist!
so all my "advice" is very subjective.

we are all different.
different ages, different eye resistance, different exposure to blue light etc.
blue light may or may not affect you - "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"!

personally, in the last few years, i've found blue light to be intolerable.

small/normal text is also causing eye strains. i've set my browsers to have a larger font size as default and if that isn't enough, i enlarge/zoom in on websites if need be.

i definitely see an improvement after doing that.

i will be investigating yellow tinted glasses and if i do get it, i will write a follow up.

do you have similar problems with monitors?
have you found solutions?
please add to this thread and help out fellow members.
ta.
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  #2  
  01-30-2014, 04:47 AM
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I have to keep my monitors color-corrected for photo and video work.

But my iPad is very dim for the reasons you state. I've always gotten eye fatigue from monitors, but it's especially true with my condition these days. (MS has a predisposition for days-long bouts of fatigue.)
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  #3  
  01-31-2014, 04:40 PM
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there is a related issue: crt monitor refresh rate.

if the refresh rate is low, say at 60 Hz, then this can induce eye fatigue / eye strain / headache as well.

it is better to have the rate at 75 Hz, 85 Hz and even 100 Hz (if your monitor supports it).

lcd monitors usually have a refresh rate of 60 Hz.
however, they work differently to crts and hence you should not get any eye problems from the refresh rate.
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  #4  
  05-13-2014, 03:21 AM
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the excerpt below is taken from a broader topic on sleep - specifically how we are abusing our body clocks, depriving ourselves of sleep and how this action could lead to things like cancer, type-2 diabetes, heart disease etc.

but this bit is specifically about blue light in modern devices:

Quote:
"Light is the most powerful synchroniser of your internal biological clock," Prof Charles Czeisler, from Harvard University, told the BBC Day of the Body Clock.

He said energy efficient light bulbs as well as smartphones, tablets and computers [monitors] had high levels of light in the blue end of the spectrum which is "right in the sweet spot" for disrupting the body clock.

"Light exposure, especially short wavelength blue-ish light in the evening, will reset our circadian rhythms to a later hour, postponing the release of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin and making it more difficult for us to get up in the morning.

"It's a big concern that we're being exposed to much more light, sleeping less and, as a consequence, may suffer from many chronic diseases."
please do more reading on this (sleep deprivation, blue light etc). if you don't educate yourself (and your family / loved ones) and look after your health, who will?
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  #5  
  05-13-2014, 03:38 AM
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I sleep at least 8-9 hours per day most days. Because of the MS, sometimes I sleep much longer. I slept most of a day last week.

I think the big thing is not using computers daily.

Even going outside is not good. Always wear sunglasses. Even since my issue, I've been more light sensitive than I was in years past. And I was already somewhat sensitive to light. I would get major headache, and come to think of it. I would have sleep deprivation when exposed to too much outdoor sunlight.

My eyes are also better now, with my newer LED LCDs. The older non-LED LCDs were likely affected by the 60hz refresh issue.

Interesting topic you have here.


PS - Sorry to not respond to your PMs or emails lately. I've not been online as much.
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  #6  
  05-13-2014, 01:15 PM
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well, my body & eyes have broken down in recent times. so, i've had to look at how to improve my health. hence, i read these topics to try and educate myself.

we need to change how the world works so that our bodies/minds/spirits become better. ok, the world won't change, but at least we can do a little bit for ourselves - right?

as for not replying to my pm's & emails - no worries.
i know you're going through a tough time.
everything's cool man.
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