
Ash HN: How do you handle looking at the screen for long hours? - theSage
Some measures I take include breaks after 20-30 minutes, wearing caps, dvorak and, using flux like software.<p>What measures do you take and recommend to prevent damage to health due to usage of computers over long periods?
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setra
Generally I don't finding using a computer for very long periods to be much of
a problem. Granted I am still young. I found that sometimes typing for long
periods made my hands hurt. I have done a few modifications to make my
experience nicer:

\- Mechanical keyboard, cherry MX blues \- Dvorak keyboard layout \- Tiling
window manager \- Dark color themes for night

Thats about it.

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rufius
For eye strain specifically - f.lux on all computers, Night Shift on my
iPhone, and anti-glare coated glasses. Combine that with getting up every 20
minutes to walk for a few minutes.

Additionally, I use some good quality eye drops like Systane Balance which
help lubricate my eyes when I wake up and before bed.

A new thing I've been trying to do for multiple reasons is write out my
designs on pen/paper before sitting down at the computer. This has helped with
eye strain and also helped me better clarify my ideas instead of sitting at my
computer and "wandering" through the problem space in my IDE.

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theSage
How effective is anti glare? I was thinking of getting those since I already
wear spectacles.

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rufius
I think anti-glare is helpful. For a while I had a pair of glasses with and a
pair without and I definitely preferred anti-glare on work days.

It is something that is added when they make the lenses.

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fern12
I also wear anti-glare lenses and find them to be helpful.

I use Refresh Optive Advanced in the morning for my dry eyes, and take a high
quality fish oil supplement (Minami).

Last but not least, I sleep. A lot. Once in a while I will stay up late
watching TV, but then my eyes really feel it the next day.

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qwrusz
I found adjusting lighting around the screens helpful. I can't comment on any
heath-related pros or cons as this is not scientific.

Specifically, adjusting ambient lighting near my desk that is brighter/darker
than the displays.

I work at night a lot and try to keep a couple lamps on - not work in a dark
room. Likewise, I work near a window during the day but added a pull-down
perforated window screen to allow sun in but dull (~25%) of the bright
sunlight.

My eyes looked off screen more than I realized and adjusting ambient lighting
feels like it reduced eye strain and reduced time to return to focus.

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theSage
This is pretty good. I didn't realize how different my ambient lighting was
from my screen.

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zerognowl
I recommend buying a vertical mouse if you're doing a lot of precision mouse
work. I generally don't consider surfing the web precision work, and I can
offload a lot of muscle twitching to the scroll button.

You can use ambient lighting which changes color to match what's on the
screen. This is a well known technique to reduce eye strain.

Grab yourself a decent chair with memory foam padding. A lot of the pain that
comes from sitting is in the lower back, so it's absolutely crucial that the
lower back is looked after.

A lot of the other comments regarding breaks and eye strain are generally
fine, but can be overdone very easily. Flux + eyeglasses + antiglare screen
covers combined together can be overkill.

Try to use autofill as much as possible and isolate applications so everything
is not in one place and thus difficult to find. For example, I have one
browser for Reddit, one browser for hackernews, one browser for casual
surfing, etc. I'm pretty sure an SSD can handle multiple contextual browser
like this and it doesn't take long to split a browser up like this, and
believe me it's worth it!

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theSage
How does splitting the browsers help?

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zerognowl
It makes it easier to surf different sites, as each browser is tailored for
specific content. So on Reddit, I can disable images globally and it only
affects Reddit and not other sites. And the bookmarks menu doesn't have to be
a cluttered mess either. You can do this easily in Chrome by creating
different profiles. In Firefox you can do it by switching profiles. It helps
because I find it's easier to navigate the web

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f_allwein
One side benefit of the pomodoro technique (focus for 25 minutes, then take a
break for 5 minutes) is that it gives you a good excuse to get up and look
away from the screen.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique)

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WaltPurvis
Most obvious one for me is I try to do as much work as possible (where work =
typing) in dark mode, i.e., amber or colored type on a black background.

I wish there was an acceptable way to view web pages in dark mode, but the
vast majority of web sites look like garbage and are functionally unusable if
you change their color scheme.

I rarely read long documents on a monitor. If it's something that will take
longer than 2 or 3 minutes to read, I will print it and read it away from the
computer.

Other than that, I just try to make sure I take breaks, and one thing I've
trained myself to do is to recognize when I'm pondering something and to turn
my head/body away from the monitor and look at something 10 or 20 feet away
while I'm pondering.

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tedmiston
In addition to f.lux and Night Shift as others have mentioned, I'm using a Mac
menu bar app called Awareness [1] that reminds you to take breaks regularly.

The Pomodoro style timing of 20+5 never really worked for me. I found a lot of
my light tasks need 5–10 minutes while for serious dev tasks, 45 minutes of
work is a better period of time to dig in deeply and get something done. Then
I'll take a longer break of 10–20 minutes to balance that out. If I'm really
in the zone at the 45-minute mark, I'll go ahead a plunge through a second
45-minute period without stopping.

[1]:
[http://iamfutureproof.com/tools/awareness/](http://iamfutureproof.com/tools/awareness/)

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WaltPurvis
One other big thing I forgot: computer glasses. I'm old enough that I need
reading glasses (I don't _have_ to have them, but they help), and I actually
got a pair of reading glasses calibrated specifically for reading at a
distance of ~24 inches, i.e., monitor distance. I call them my computer
glasses. I think that was the term my optometrist used too. They are a _huge_
benefit; I can't even hardly look at my monitor for more than a few minutes
without them.

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cauterized
I have mild myopia/astigmatism and also use a different prescription for
computer use than for distance. Using my distance glasses at monitor distance
gives me an eye-strain headache, but without glasses I get a headache from
squinting and back pain from leaning in to keep my nose 8 inches from the
screen.

10 years ago it took some persuading to get an optometrist or ophthalmologist
to prescribe something like that, but nowadays it seems to be routine.

Even if you are able to get by in daily non-computing life without glasses,
that doesn't mean they couldn't reduce eye strain. Focusing a couple feet away
means engaging your eye muscles pretty strenuously unless you have moderate
myopia. And a lot of people have astigmatism without even knowing it.

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id122015
I'm using an app that blocks my screen at the interval I set. But it has the
option to skip that break with a single click. When I'm focused on reading
something important I dont even rember if it was me the person who skipped
absolutely all breaks for 8 hours. But when I watch a video, that app must be
disabled.

I think the best option is not software but hardware. For example when I need
to wake up early in the morning, I put my alarm clock 3 meteres away from my
bed, so the other ME doesnt turn it off.

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borplk
This might be a bit weird but I find washing my face with water helps. When
you get a chance wash your face with water and if possible try not to dry it
too much afterwards, a bit of moisture sticks around for a while and helps
your eyes.

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tedmiston
Just curious to hear if anyone has considered something like Philips Hue bulbs
to adjust light temperature and intensity with fine-grained control around
their desk / office (for example, as a complement to f.lux).

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nicholas73
I get less eye strain when I wear contact lens instead of glasses.

