
Ask HN: How to avoid going blind - verroq
If you are like me then you probably spend hours sitting in front of a computer screen. Is your eye sight going from bad to worse? How many of you wear glasses? If your vision had been fairly stable through out your career, what techniques have you been using maintain your vision?
======
mwsherman
Not in any way an expert…and I assume you don’t mean going blind in the most
literal sense.

Two tips. Get back from the screen and use larger fonts:
[http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/10/07/16-pixels-body-
co...](http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/10/07/16-pixels-body-copy-
anything-less-costly-mistake/). Note the bit on “vergence”.

Second, against all odds I love F.lux: <http://stereopsis.com/flux/>. It
adjusts the color temperature of your screen based on time of day. Try it for
a while and then turn it off to see the difference, especially at night.

~~~
SkyMarshal
And if you have trouble getting F.lux to work on Linux, as I did, try Redshift
too. It does exactly the same thing.

<http://jonls.dk/redshift/>

------
SkyMarshal
My unscientific advice:

1\. Invert the colors whenever possible. Dark background, light text. Zenburn
is a good color scheme for this, and you can find it for just about
everything, from Vim and Emacs to Xmonad, to tons of other stuff.

2\. LCD only. Not a problem these days, you don't see CRTs much anymore.

3\. Don't hunch over your computer. Back straight, lean back, recline if
necessary or get a standing desk, and increase the font size.

4\. Look up frequently and practice refocusing on items of varying distances.
Treat your eyes like muscles, work out your focusing ability.

5\. Stay hydrated.

6\. Eat carrots.

7\. Use F.lux or Redshift.

8\. More if I think of it ...

~~~
jaylevitt
FWIW, I looked into this a few months ago. I don't have any cites, but I found
some reasonably persuasive articles that light-on-dark is best only for dimly-
lit rooms. If you're in a bright office, dark-on-light is best. (And being in
a brightly-lit room is probably best for mood and alertness anyway.)

The origins of dark-on-light as "readable" are old-school monochrome computer
terminals, where the resolution was so low that if you used light-on-dark,
you'd see all the individual pixels - light pixels lit up, dark ones didn't.
We're past that now.

~~~
SkyMarshal
Light-on-dark was also for CRTs that bombard your eyes with an electron gun,
iirc.

My opinion on this is based on anecdotal evidence only, but my eyes feel less
strained with light-on-dark, even to this day, on high res LCDs.

Everyone else, experiment for yourself. Hold all other factors equal, and try
one each straight for a few weeks, see if you can feel any difference.

------
juiceandjuice
Weird request... but does anyone else take some form of stimulant or drug that
dilates your pupils and work at a computer during the day? I've taken adderall
and ritalin for ADHD and my eyes will actually be sore at the end of the day.
It goes away by morning, but there's been times I just felt like shit at the
end of the day and go home and sleep because I just can't stand any more
light.

For OP's question... I don't think my eyes have degraded one bit, but I'm
still in my 20s and I had 20/10 vision to start with.

~~~
sbank
I have been thinking this exact thing lately, having been off Ritalin for
months and recently started taking it again. My eyes feel awful at the end of
the workday, something I did not notice in the exact same work environment
when I was off the medication.

------
djloche
Resist the temptation to turn off the lights and bask in the LCD glow. The
most influential thing you can do is to keep your workspace adequately lit.

------
joe_the_user
I don't wear glasses, I've never worn glasses and I currently spend up to 12
hours/day in front of a computer. I'm in my late 40's.

I usually use some system to take frequent breaks, usually an egg timer set to
10-15 minute intervals.

Every couple weeks, I'll isolate each eye and practice focusing near and far.
I use trigger point therapy to work on the small muscle around the eye-
sockets.

In general, I practice a couple of movement and relaxation exercises - Qigong
and the Alexander technique. I've been using a standing work station for last
six months but been using the computer heavily since about 1990 this is just
extra.

I tend not avoid categories like "bad eyes" or "need glasses". If my eyes
happen to have trouble focusing, I assume the muscle are tired and need some
attention. I've heard that glasses just encourage eyes to get worse. I don't
know if that's true but seems plausible. I'd view the body in general as
involving many nested feedback loops. I believe that people who experience
"health problems" often assume that they are "broken" in fashion akin to a
simple machine where they often simply need "recalibrating". Not that I won't
eventually "wear out" but I'm aiming to stay functional as long as possible.

Your mileage may vary. I certainly get eye irritation if I use the computer
too much or don't get light.

------
breathesalt
Decrease your screen brightness and invert its color. Remember to blink.
Drinking lots of water will help keep your eyes hydrated and force you to take
breaks away from your computer to go to the bathroom. Try to make a habit of
zooming content rather than squinting closely at it. Give computer glasses a
try.

------
kabdib
No problems, 30+ years of staring at monitors of various types in all kinds of
light.

I do have bifocals now (the type that have a gradual transition so one doesn't
look like an obvious grandpa :) ). These helped enormously in my mid 40s, took
less than a day to get used to.

Other than that, my corrected vision is better than 20/20.

~~~
zackattack
> better than 20/20

If I could improve to better than 20/20, I might have to start wearing
glasses. What are the best glasses to give super vision?

~~~
redthrowaway
Any old glasses. How much your vision improves depends upon your prescription.
For someone like me with astigmatism, getting better than perfect is
difficult. If you're simply myopic, you could very well improve to 20/15 or
20/10.

20/20 is just an average, so it's far from "perfect vision". It's like having
an IQ of 100.

------
adrianwaj
\- Mirror behind the screen, look at the wall behind occasionally (or when
thinking) with the mirror, or even better, angle the mirror to see out a
window. Maybe use two mirrors to do this.

\- outdoor light directly on retina (?)

\- lutein/zeaxanthin (raw eggs), epa/dha (seafood)

~~~
jaylevitt
I'd never heard this, but it's a great idea.. if you want to change your focus
from near to far, a mirror will get you double the distance. Brilliant.

~~~
adrianwaj
Yep, only thought of it when composing the reply but a small mirror attached
to the edge of the screen would also work.

------
keeptrying
Epidemiologists have more or less proven that the more time you spend
outdoors, the less chance of your eyesight worsening. You need to spend more
time where you can see the horizon.

I posted this study twice before on HN. It's a really useful result because it
could save u and your loved ones from having to wear glasses.

<http://bjo.bmj.com/content/93/8/997>

This is not the only paper citing this finding. Go through the references and
you will see more.

------
jarin
Keeping the lighting appropriate for your screen(s) is the most important
thing, along with positioning your screen(s) at about arm's length. I try to
use bright pure white lightbulbs whenever possible.

After that, using a larger font is good (I use 16pt Inconsolata with Monokai
theme for good contrast). I tried out those Gunnar computer glasses and they
work pretty well (I got the clear lens ones), but I always forget to wear
them.

------
kleiba
Is there any evidence that looking at screens for a longer period of time
decreases eye sight?

------
karlzt
[http://www.eye-exercises-for-good-vision.com/eye-
relaxation-...](http://www.eye-exercises-for-good-vision.com/eye-relaxation-
exercises.html).

~~~
VladRussian
second problem that may hit after many years starting at the display - eye
dryness. When people stare at the display, they typically blink less
frequently and the blinking is what keeps the eye lense wet.

In my personal experience the various problems started to appear only after
almost 20 years of staring into display. Yet once it started, there is no good
way back, only trying to slow it down.

~~~
jaylevitt
Second. If you wear contacts, dryness is a killer. Hydration is critical; I
keep a glass of ice water at my desk at all times. (This also forces you to
take brief breaks for the bathroom, which are good for both your eyes and your
spine.)

------
dirkdeman
No problems here. 25 years of screen work/play and no sore eyes/hands/wrists
or anything. I do have glasses but I've had them ever since I was little.

------
kprobst
I've been staring at monitors for close to 16 years now... mostly perfect
vision except in very low light.

------
vaksel
you can always get Lasik later

------
rorrr
It's mostly your genetics. I've been staring at the screen for 12-16 hours
daily for 15 years. Still nearly perfect vision.

~~~
mitko
I doubt it - my vision is worse than that of my brothers because I've been
standing in front of computer and reading math books too much in the past.

A golden advice from an eye-doctor that makes my eyes much less tired (ymmv)
even though I don't strictly adhere to it: every once in a while (~30min) rest
your eyes by just looking at something about 15ft away or by keeping them
closed for about 1 minute. Don't necessarily try to focus on something far,
just look at it.

~~~
rorrr
Unless you and your brother are clones of each other, you have different
genetics.

Even identical twins have different genes.

[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=identical-t...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=identical-
twins-genes-are-not-identical)

------
chugger
My wife had lasik surgery last month. Best decision of her life.

