Through the many years of consulting with end users, I often get the question – "Why do my eyes hurt so badly at the end of the day?"…If you have ever had a poorly setup monitor that you are forced to work with you have felt the discomfort, even pain and headaches that a poorly setup monitor and workstation can bring….

In this little article we will look at three different ways you can protect your eyesight, reduce headaches, and gain much better endurance during your sessions working at the computer.  Let's get started!

Often, the first response to a complaint of eye strain and headache are met with the suggestion to get your eyes checked.  I agree with the comments on getting an eye test… and there are also particular circumstances that will lead to RAPID eye strain when viewing CRT or LCD monitors for long periods of time.

First Tip:  Eye strain is *particularly bad* when you have fluorescent lighting in the room!  Incandescent light bulbs don't seem to be nearly as bad to work around.  If you have a choice, choose incandescent lighting.

Second Tip:  You need to review your Monitor Refresh settings.  Here is how you check that:

For Windows XP:  Find a blank spot on your Windows Desktop, right click, then select Properties at the bottom of the dialog box.  IN the Display Properties box, click on the tab at the top that says Settings.  Now click the Advanced button in the lower right hand corner.  In the next dialog box which should be labeled Default Monitor click on the Monitor tab near the top/middle are of the box.  In the middle of the box you should see Monitor Settings and a box labeled Screen Refresh Rate.

For Windows 7:  I use the right click on a blank spot on your Windows Desktop, select Screen resolution (near the bottom of the dialog box), then select Advanced Settings (should be on the right side sort of in the middle) in the Screen Resolution window.  When the Advanced Setting window comes up you should see a Tab near the top of the box labeled Monitor – click on that tab. As with Windows XP, you should see Monitor Settings, and below that a box labeled Screen Refresh Rate.

{whew}

Often this is set to 60 Hertz. This is what creates the issue.  The short story is that 60 Hertz on a monitor WILL be more likely to flicker.  It's the flickering that gives us eye strain.

Most monitors will accept 70 Hertz, sometimes as high as 75 Hertz or beyond. 

You really just need to get it off of the 60 Hertz setting!  But the higher your monitor and video card combo will go, the better it works for our eyes.

Some settings will warn you that you might damage the monitor – I usually will listen to those warnings on equipment I that don't really KNOW what the best Screen Refresh Rate for the monitor is.  If you are really wanting the best Screen Refresh Rate, Google your monitor make and model number to see if you can get the specifications for the monitor.

Simply moving from 60 Hertz to 70 Hertz will make a *BIG* difference for most people, so start there.

*Special NOTE* – sometimes all you will see is the 60 Hertz selection.  Your system is hiding additional Screen Refresh Rates to protect your monitor.  In this case, you must work with your video card drivers and monitor drivers to get them to work to their fullest potential.  If you are comfortable with updating drivers you can usually overcome this limitation.

Third Tip:  Another thing that will WIPE YOU OUT QUICKLY is placing your monitor with a window immediately behind it.  This makes the eyes work MUCH harder to adjust to the contrast of a brightly lit window behind the much darker monitor!  Your eyes will shift back and forth working to focus on the dark screen with the bright background and it does become a problem rapidly. 

If you do have a window behind the monitor, find a way to seriously darken the window, or move the monitor to a new location against a wall. 

These three tips can be used on most Windows based computer systems.  I need to finish the work to figure out the Mac system.  These little adjustments will make a huge difference in your endurance during long sessions at the computer.  And, the best part, the word we like to hear is… It's FREE!  and you can use it to amaze your friends too!

Let me know if that helps you out!

Be Safe Out There – Till we talk again,

Patrick Seeber . President of Seeber Consulting . The Seeber Consulting Blog Any questions, please send me an email.

 

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