How to protect my eyes?

[Renecek]

Hello,
I'm working with macbook pro 16 hours per day and my eyes hurt. Can you recommend me anything for protect my eyes?

I found this https://health-e.com/collections/eyesafe-laptop-covers/products/eyesafe-laptop-screen-cover-15

But I don't know if it's good solution for me. Have you any experiences with that please?

Thank you

 

[AllieNeko]

Use night shift mode... yes, even during the day, if eyestrain is bugging you.

P.S. to clarify, all adding a yellow film like that will do is block blue light. Night shift will do the same with no degradation to image clarity, and easily reversible when you don't want it!

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hello,
I'm working with macbook pro 16 hours per day and my eyes hurt. Can you recommend me anything for protect my eyes?

I found this https://health-e.com/collections/eyesafe-laptop-covers/products/eyesafe-laptop-screen-cover-15

But I don't know if it's good solution for me. Have you any experiences with that please?

Thank you

Spend less time looking at screens its that simple really, you can use night shift modes, turn down brightness as low as you can stand it and filters etc, but this is really just making things slightly better. Looking at a screen 16 hours a day will hurt your eyes its that simple. OLED screens when they finally arrive on laptops may be a big help though.

 

[960design]

Hello,
I'm working with macbook pro 16 hours per day and my eyes hurt. Can you recommend me anything for protect my eyes?

I'm the same as you: 16+ hours per day staring at computer screens. My secrets? Turn brightness down as low as you can without straining ( this is the big thing... if you are not already at 50% brightness, your eyes will get tired, your eyes will quickly adapt to the lower brightness and you should feel the difference within a few minutes ). The second is to get up and get away from your screen at least ten minutes every hour. I use my Apple Watch, get up and move notification to get also get away from the screen. Better even if you can get outside for minute. This will allow your eyes to focus on far away objects and give them a rest on focusing on close up screen stuff. Outside is not always possible, but at least get up and look down the hall for a couple of minutes every hour.

 

[Stefan johansson]

Try out a pair of screen glasses,would,if it's done right,solve some of the problem.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Reading print books for 16 hours a day can also lead to eye strain. Sure, there may be tweaks you can make to brightness and the like, but a trip to the eye doctor may also be in order.

Don't assume the display is solely to blame. Our eyesight changes with age, like everything else in our bodies.

 

[craig1410]

First thing to do is get an eye test. I'm not being snarky, you need to see if a slight vision correct is required even if only while at a computer monitor or for reading. Sadly anyone has perfect vision so even a slight correction could work wonders for you.

As others have said, try to turn down your brightness to a lower level. Screen brightness isn't an absolute thing though, it needs to be tuned according to the ambient brightness in the room and specifically behind the displays. I find having lights behind my displays helps to reduce the brightness difference between the screens and the wall behind them. This helps a lot.

Last thing is to take regular breaks away from the screen and ideally allow your eyes to focus on the middle or long distance during that time. I usually go make a coffee or get some water and play with my dogs, ideally in the garden. If I'm feeling fatigued then splashing some cool water in my face helps too. Relaxation of the facial muscles is also important so practice releasing the tension in your face or give yourself a face massage. Same thing with neck and shoulders. Often headaches start in the shoulders and rise via neck into head. Seating and general ergonomics is a whole other topic so I'll not get into that for now.

Another quick suggestion might be to get either an external display to get some distance between your eyes and the display, or get an external keyboard if you want to continue to use just the MBP display.

Hope this helps.
Craig.

 

[CarlJ]

It's not just the light level of the screen. Lighting in the room makes a big difference. If, say, you're in a dark room staring at a bright screen, it's a bit of a constant assault on your eyes. Also, it's very important to get up and wander away from the screen occasionally - specifically, get your eyes looking at something that is farther away than a couple feet. Go outside (or at least look outside). Your eyes have muscles that control the focus from up-close to infinity. If you're staring at a screen for long periods without a break, your racking the focus nearly all the way to one end of the scale and tightly holding it there. Giving yourself a change of view isn't some psychological trick, it has a positive physical effect on your eyes.

Don't look for technological devices to let you keep doing exactly what you're doing in exactly the same setting - instead, change what you're doing a bit (get up and wander around occasionally, staring off into the distance), and change your setting (google for information on ergonomics and proper room lighting for screen use). That screen cover you link to advertises itself as blocking UV light (great, but there isn't any coming from your screen), and blue light ("Night Shift", or f.lux for older systems, does this by cutting down the amount of blue light generated in the first place).

Another thing to try, which is similar to using Night Shift, is to go into System Preferences : Displays : Color, and calibrate your display. Change the "Target White Point" from (its likely default of) D65 (a color temperature of 6500 kelvin, equivalent to noontime sunlight, and by its nature very blue) to a lower point, say D50 (5000 kelvin). You can save this as an additional "display profile" so you can switch back and forth as desired.

And, as craig1410 mentioned, consider getting an eye test. It may turn out that glasses with a very mild correction (or even off-the-shelf reading glasses) might significantly reduce eye strain while you're looking at the screen. Lubricating eye drops might help as well (especially if the air in your environment is fairly dry).

 

[Ulenspiegel]

I protect my eyes with Gunnar which is the only patented eyewear recommended by doctors to protect and enhance your vision.

 

[phybron]

Applying the Solarized color-scheme to your most used applications should help, especially if you're writing or coding. I have it applied to spreadsheets as I spend most of my time looking at them.