My eyes are killing me!

[Rabid pitbull]

I would recommend not working in darkness it can cause eye strain especially when tired. Be sure to have some lights on, possible lighting behind the screen. I know that it seems like a old wives tale but there has been alot of research that says this can be a problem for some people. Also be sure to take breaks look at things that are further away to give when possible. Last but not least it could be you need a visit to the eye doctor. You should not be in pain, and if you continue then it is best to have a doctor investigate sooner than later.

[Dreamabyss]

Here's a few personal recommendations:

See an eye doctor to get your eyes checked
Take regular breaks and focus on distant objects (take a walk outside).
Increase ambient light
Buy a better monitor
Get some sleep

[Valkyrien]

I second the recommendation of sleep ;)

[xsenos]

"Hey, I haven't slept in 5 days and have been working on my 19" TFT. I'm using Maya and Photoshop for my work. My eyes really hurt. What should I do?"


Welcome to the material world, baby. :D

[anevsky]

normal eye drops help. but get it checked to be safe.

[Sully]

One thing that ive found that helps if using the comp for long periods is to turn the brightness down a little when im modelling (No good for rendering though) Another thing is to make sure youve set up your screen properly and you got the highest refresh rate your graphics card\screen can handle....This should help a little...

[prixatw]

Don't forget to blink:)

[GregHess]

It's not just the monitor either. Studies are starting to pop up showcasing that continous exposure to electric devices has all sorts of effects on the human body. ie if you sit working in front of a computer for a very long period of time, you're going to feel like crap, and your chances of becoming ill increase in relation to the amount of EMI exposure you get.

Take a break, get some sleep, and move those legs to get the blood flowing.

[thomaspecht]

yep, blink a lot. helps for me, anyway. taking a walk every few hours helps greatly, too. or doing sports. i have my mountain bike on a home trainer right next to the desk.

also, i never understood how people could stand the default color scheme on most OS'es - glaringly white background, thin black text. horrible to look at especially in the dark, eyes on fire! osx color scheme for example, couple that with their weird blurry font antialiasing and tiny screen fonts and you just guaranteed an endless stream of customers for the eye doctor.

i found it relaxing to have really dark screen colors ("discreet-dark"-style), regardless of operating system or application.

[newman]

Your problem is probably that you work in total darkness - the contrast is just too high for your eyes to handle. Notice how your eyes gradually get used to complete darkness over time? At first you see nothing, then your pupils adjust to new lighting conditions and you can suddenly see more... Here you have a situation where you have, on one side, complete darkness, and on the other, a very powerfull light source - your screen. When you look at your bright screen area your pupils contract to allow less light to get to your optical nerve, and they naturally dillate when in darker areas. With such lighting differences your eyes simply can't adjust to both conditions, so your pupils probably dillate more then they should. This results in too much light getting through to your optical nerve, and that's where the pain is from - your brain is telling you something is wrong. To cut the long story short, get some more background lighting... i have an adjustable light switch in my room, and i keep the lights at about 20% when working at night - never had problems with my eyes... :)

[lots]

It's not just the monitor either. Studies are starting to pop up showcasing that continous exposure to electric devices has all sorts of effects on the human body. ie if you sit working in front of a computer for a very long period of time, you're going to feel like crap, and your chances of becoming ill increase in relation to the amount of EMI exposure you get.

Take a break, get some sleep, and move those legs to get the blood flowing.
Heh, you'd think I'd be really ill then :/ I sit in my office most of the day surrounded by electrical devices, I work in IT after all :P Heck I've got 4 monitors hooked up to my computer (cuz I was bored :)). And its mostly dark in my office :) I always forge to flip that lightswitch on as I pass it in the morning.. and well I dont bother getting up to go fix it...

I havn't been sick in 4 years...

*shrug*

[GregHess]

Well I've always debated that the bodies only EMI fields effect the computers as much as the computers effect the people.

Here's the way I see it.

All electronics emitt some level of electrical interference. Humans emitt their only level as well. I think some humans emitt the exact OPPOSITE field that the computer frequencies do, which means the two fields counter each other out, or at least reduce in intensity.

This would explain the "IT Admin syndrome" of an IT administrator being able to walk over to the computer that is having a problem, and having the problem fix itself by them just standing there. Less electrical noise and interference = stronger signal strength = greater stability

This would also mean individuals with compatible fields would be less effected by electronic devices.

On the opposite field, you've got people who have completely incompatible fields which actually increase the electronic noise/fields, and create instability where there is none. An example of this occuring is when a user sits at a computer that hasn't crashed in an entire year of uptime, and promptly crashes it within 5 minutes of using it.

Anyone who has worked in the IT field has seen most of these instances occur, that's just my theory as to why it happens.

Maybe I should get a grant to test DCC artists :).

[lots]

Greg, thats a good hypothesis ;) I know plenty of people that seem to cause an increase in interferance *snicker*

EDIT: Though one wonders how strong the EM field from a person is..

[newman]

haha great theory! I know some people which must be walking neutron bombs then :)

[MattClary]

Greg, the interference will be less if a tinfoil hat is worn! ;) LOL!


I agree with Pitbull and others, turn the lights up. Make sure to avoid glare on the screen though. Probably not a bad idea to have you eyes checked too.

Also, if you are using a 15" widescreen, what is your resolution, like 1200x700 or something? You might want to consider getting a larger monitor. In the days of the CRT that would have been an asinine statement, but with LCDs a 17" and 19" monitor run at the same res, but the 19" displays things larger. Kind of sucks is you want more real estate, but is easier on the eyes.

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