is a pc monitor harmful for your eyes

^TANK^ · 20 Jan 2006 at 19:34

is a pc monitor harmful for your eyes as some times i get really bad headaches and my vision goes abit funny :confused:

daz · 20 Jan 2006 at 19:36

It is harmful to stare at anything for extended periods of time. You should take breaks every so often, go for a wander and focus your eyes on distant objects to give them a rest.

William · 20 Jan 2006 at 19:36

Yes and no. In terms of eye damage there is no real conclusive evidence as far as I know, I asked my optician the other day. But headaches might be due to the refresh rate try raising that to a higher frequency. Any further than that, its see your GP.

Werewolf · 20 Jan 2006 at 19:36

Check your refresh rate is set to at least 75 if you're using a CRT.
Make sure your room is reasonably well lit.
Take a break from using the monitor every hour (at least, go get a cuppa every hour would be enough).
Try a lower resolution
Get your eyes tested

Sirrel Squirrel · 20 Jan 2006 at 19:37

CRTs give me a headache because I notice the flickering, pretty sure its against health and safety that I have to work 12 hours a day and stare at a screen for at least 10 of those hours

they should give me a TFT!

MNuTz · 20 Jan 2006 at 19:41

Ive used a monitor for well over 10 years, for at least 5 hours a day and my eye sight is perfect.

Chances are your eye sight is faultering and using the monitor makes your head hurt. My g/f had exactly the same problem, turned out she was far sighted, it just started developing with age!

You should get a free eye test from your employer if you use a VDU as part of your job!

William · 20 Jan 2006 at 19:51

If you are in full time education eye tests are free.

^TANK^ · 20 Jan 2006 at 19:54

cheers for all the replys had new glasses for about two months now

Kreeeee · 20 Jan 2006 at 19:56

Monitors only cause dryness of the eyes from not blinking enough according to my opticians. Looking at a monitor has brought to light that I was born far sighted because of the extra strain it puts on the eyes.

Solouko · 20 Jan 2006 at 19:57

MNuTz said:
Ive used a monitor for well over 10 years, for at least 5 hours a day and my eye sight is perfect.

Chances are your eye sight is faultering and using the monitor makes your head hurt. My g/f had exactly the same problem, turned out she was far sighted, it just started developing with age!

You should get a free eye test from your employer if you use a VDU as part of your job!

can you get a free eyetest if you already have eyesight problems but you've not had a test for say 3 years? as i'm allways up for getting more mony out the company

PardonTheWait · 20 Jan 2006 at 20:00

I'm of the opinion (and so's my optician) that for many people, spending such a lot of your time focussing on something so close to you can gradually make you somewhat short sighted. I dunno if that's why I'm short sighted, but I dunno.. it sort of makes sense.

The worst thing is the dryness though as Kreeeee mentioned. Especially if you're working - concentrating on a monitor, you don't blink enough. Apparently if you do design/data entry/any work that means you concentrate on a monitor a lot it can cause a couple of problems for contact lens wearers, because your eyes dry out easier. I have quite dry eyes anyway, apparently, and I smoke, which makes them drier still, so when I finally get round to trying contact lenses, I need to see if my eyes can get used to them because they're so dry

Solouko said:
can you get a free eyetest if you already have eyesight problems but you've not had a test for say 3 years? as i'm allways up for getting more mony out the company

It's either the law, or a very very common goodwill gesture for any employee who uses a VDU all the time to get their eye tests paid for by the company. I'm not sure which, I always thought it was the law.

MNuTz · 20 Jan 2006 at 20:04

http://www.hazards.org/haz58/cvs.htm

Scroll down to : You need your eyes testing!

Psyk · 20 Jan 2006 at 20:54

Mohinder said:
I'm of the opinion (and so's my optician) that for many people, spending such a lot of your time focussing on something so close to you can gradually make you somewhat short sighted. I dunno if that's why I'm short sighted, but I dunno.. it sort of makes sense.

The worst thing is the dryness though as Kreeeee mentioned. Especially if you're working - concentrating on a monitor, you don't blink enough. Apparently if you do design/data entry/any work that means you concentrate on a monitor a lot it can cause a couple of problems for contact lens wearers, because your eyes dry out easier. I have quite dry eyes anyway, apparently, and I smoke, which makes them drier still, so when I finally get round to trying contact lenses, I need to see if my eyes can get used to them because they're so dry

Yeah I have a bit of a problem with dry eyes. My eyesite is also very bad (short-sighted) and is continuing to get worse. I'm sure it must be partly down to too much time spent in front of a screen.

ACPCUP · 20 Jan 2006 at 20:58

I have terrible trouble seeing my monitor! Whatever i do i just can't make out anything on it!! Thing is, i only get this problem when i am in the other room and not sitting in front of it!!!

Solouko · 20 Jan 2006 at 21:17

anyone else ever wonrdered why CRTs start flashing when you start getting really far away from them?

finite · 20 Jan 2006 at 21:43

Not sure, but years of discomfort and a recent increase in floaters is making me strongly consider an LCD.

Greenlizard0 · 20 Jan 2006 at 21:56

It depends what type of porn you're looking at.

*boo boom tish!!*

But nowadays newer moniters with faster refresh rates tend not to be a problem. The problem with officers and lots of machines isn't the screens in there making all their users eyes hurt, it's the many computers blowing cold dry air out which dries the local atmosphere.

finite · 20 Jan 2006 at 22:04

Well I've been using mine on 100-120Hz I assume the problems are due to the EMF.

Solouko · 20 Jan 2006 at 22:05

greenlizard0 said:
It depends what type of porn you're looking at. *boo boom tish!!*

But nowadays newer moniters with faster refresh rates tend not to be a problem. The problem with officers and lots of machines isn't the screens in there making all their users eyes hurt, it's the many computers blowing cold dry air out which dries the local atmosphere.

i bet all those flurecent tubes dont help either

at the moment our bright spark of an electrical/facilities engineer has taken it upon himself to srat replacing all the flurecent tubes with 9500 degrees K rated daylight bulbs x_X' wow those things are bright, he's only replaced 2 of the 4 above my desk and i think im starting to get a suntan

Puppetmaster · 20 Jan 2006 at 22:26

ive heard that if u stare at something for to long, your eyes temperally become focused on it ie a monitor, so when u stop looking at it, it takes a while for your eyes to ajust. Also if your eye sight isnt right, if your having to squint (sp) id imagine u may get head aches