Couple of things I am doing right now. During the day, moved to single monitor and immediately noticed less strain on the eyes and neck. During night started spending at least couple of minutes in a room(not bedroom) with out any major light source either meditating or chatting with partner, it provides major relief.
What tactics are you following and any resources which talks about practical eye health.
To sum it up: reduce the amount of near-work you do (looking at your monitor, smartphone, books, etc) and, if you already have glasses, use glasses with a reduced prescription or no glasses for near-work.
With these rules I've managed to go from -5.5/-6 to -3.5/-3.75 in just these 9 months. And that's with me still spending 12h a day on my computer.
Pro tip: you can get very cheap (as little as $3) myopia glasses from aliexpress or a bit more expensive zenni optical. So there's really no big barrier to entry.
Side note: Lasik only cures the symptom of bad vision (just like glasses), but not the cause (elongated eyeball, which is what increases the likelihood of retinal detachment). If you don't change your habits after lasik, chances are you will need glasses again a couple years later as your eyeball further elongates, see: 35% are above 0.5 diopters again just 3 years after lasik https://bjo.bmj.com/content/103/4/565.abstract 58% are above 1 diopter again after 7 to 8 years. https://www.proquest.com/openview/722546068e4b0c9c1d3acba7e3...
I recommend you read more on endmyopia.org to learn about the scientific background and the eye biology behind it. But what I summed up above should easily get you started though and in just a couple of months you should notice improvements in your eyesight (you can test it at home by printing a Snellen eye chart).
Finally going to the eye doctor is no longer frustrating because my eyes are improving instead of getting worse year by year :)
Pro tip: with 6 diopters, make damn sure you get your PD correct. Otherwise the headaches you get from the induced prism just won't make it worth it.
The website claims the idea is based on peer reviewed research, but all the links and guides lead to what appears to be clickbait styled videos and testemonials. Overall it isn't clear and doesn't really sell the idea to me
You can find the research linked in these posts: https://endmyopia.org/category/science/
The summary is basically this: You increased your eyeball length from too much near work and lens usage. This further increases your myopia. To reverse it, use lenses appropriate to your task (reduced lenses for near work) and reduce near work in general. I can recommend the free 7 day email guide, it's probably the closest to a coherent overview about the whole topic.
Do you mean you've gotten used to a weaker pair of glasses? Can you actually see just as well, and how have you tested that? Are you around 40 (far vision improves around that age)?
To check my current eyesight, I use a printed Snellen chart and the focal calculator https://endmyopia.org/focal-calculator/calc.html
The focal calculator is less accurate, but over mutliple measurements it averages out and adds up to a similar result as the Snellen chart for me.
No, I'm in my early twenties.
Yes, fully corrected, I can even see better than before to be honest. My eye doctor told me last time (before I started endmyopia) that I only have around 80% vision, even with glasses. I noticed that when playing tennis, I had trouble telling if balls were still in the opponents field because I couldn't see the back line properly. Last time I played I noticed how much better I could see it :)
Seriously considering lens implants since my eyes are too bad for lasik.
You can find more information on that on the endmyopia page or wiki by looking for "differential glasses"
Not griping about capitalism, I think its the best thing out there for the economy, its just that we haven't figured out a way to prevent it from creating authoritative science backed research that somehow always promotes the funding party's product.
I do eyelid lifts and eye rolls. 3 sets of 20 6 days a week with a rest day on Sunday.
You can do these while on the treadmill and doing other excercise to increase efficiency.
You can also mix in some beta carotene into your protein shake to really maximize the eye pump.
Why on earth would you do hypertrophy sets for a body part that clearly benefits more from pure max strength training? Lower those numbers to 5 sets of 3-5 reps at max intensity, and recover for at least 48 hours. At 6 days a week, you're pretty much begging for an injury.
> You can also mix in some beta carotene
Holy cow you're crazy. Stay natty my friends.
Going to work on getting the eyes swole after some good endurance training first so there's a good balance between fast twitch and slow twitch so there's some definition but also function.
> Among current smokers, beta-carotene supplementation was found to be significantly associated with an increased risk of lung cancer (odds ratio [OR], 1.24; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.10-1.39).
[Beta-carotene in multivitamins and the possible risk of lung cancer among smokers versus former smokers: a meta-analysis and evaluation of national brands](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18429004/)
Like people are for real supplementing with arthropod moulting hormones. Seems legit. "Ecdysteroid" has "steroid" in the name. If that doesn't make you swol, I don't know what does.
My eyes aren’t great anyways, and I fear for the beating they are taking due to my proclivity to stare at a monitor hours on end.
I've been prescribed regular glasses for my myopia with blue light filter and the doctor insisted I use them while I am in front of the screen. These don't work. I started off as a biomedical engineer, so I know that myopia correcting glasses actually make your eye muscles work more i.e. not-relaxed. If anything I argue that you need to use a lower prescription or an opposite prescription to keep your eyes relaxed (not medical advice).
I was struggling with headaches and tiredness due to my excessive screen use even with my prescription glasses. Then I found Gunnar Intercept glasses with 65 Amber tint. Completely different experience. If I get up from the screen, it's not because of tiredness. As a matter of fact, I have been institutionalized - I cannot work in front of the screen without these glasses.
It takes an entire day to get used to the amber tint, but once you get over it, you can't go back. My opinion but I would recommend trying them out if you can afford a $50 experiment.
What actually works for me:
- be sure to have correct lenses for your glasses, sometime checking with an optician isn't enough and an ophthalmologist (i.e: a doctor) is required
- setup good lighting in your office/work area
- reduce display backlight during the day, when the daylight reduces
- do not set your display in front of a window, try to have it perpendicular instead. The contre-jour effect can be really tiring over time (i.e: when you're facing both the light source of your display and daylight)
As soon as I put on blue light filtering glasses, that feeling goes away. So I'd recommend it if you're in a dark setting or starting to feel the strain of screen light against your eyes.
I'm typing this on my machine connected to a 55" 4k TV that's about 33" away from my face. Given how inexpensive 4k TVs are compared to monitors and how well they work now it's an easy investment.
I do this for another reason: severe convergence insufficiency. People in their 40s basically get convergence insufficiency and require prism lenses. But, mine is due to a rare neurological disease affecting my peripheral nervous system, which I have lived with since I was too young to read.
I plan to use this until OLED or equivalent new tech is burn-in proof.
I'm still rocking a 32" Samsung 1080p HDTV from about 2010 at home.
I don't particularly felt that VR is easy on the eyes since while the illusion says otherwise, you have 2 very small monitors directly in front of your eyes, directly the opposite of what was suggested before. This is probably more relevant than the perception of distance.
That being said standard window management really falls down with the larger screen real estate and I use a 3rd party window manager mapped to keyboard shortcuts to split the screen up into smaller chunks.
This is so obvious now that I think about it. Name the number animals in our evolutionary lineage whose survival depended on staring at a tiny object closer than an arms length away. Besides us, I can't think of a single one. Even most humans were able to get by with mostly distance vision until very recently.
I'm glad that large screens are becoming so much more economical, because this just makes a whole lot of sense.
1. Daily eyelid hygiene - using special wipes to get the leftover from your eyelashes, to unblock Meibomian glands. It can dramatically improve how your eye is moistened. People who suffer from dry eye syndrome should at least try it.
2. Using eye drops daily - whenever I see them or I need them.
3. (Something that is specific to recurrent corneal erosion). I put some ointment/gel when I go to bed. As most of recurrent corneal erosion events happen during the night, it is crucial to be protected when you sleep.
Eye drops in my case didn't help, it mostly was caused due to producing to little tears at night when I sleep, I can't put eye drops in when I sleep.
But there where some things which did help:
- eating/drinking healthy, while unclear it seems my tear under production was partially linked to a unhealthy diet
- eye hygiene helped a bit not much
- Making sure air humidity is at a good level during winter times helped too.
- And while it sounds ridiculous: Getting used to carefully open the eyes when waking up, like very very carefully. That probably helped better then all the other effects combined as most damage seems to have happened when opening the eyes when waking up.
What is very interesting that there is a certain set of actions that you can take and the ones that helped you, didn't help me (diet - I've been eating healthy for a long time, air humidity - we use air humidifier for a long time too), but the ones that were great for me (eye hygiene) didn't help you.
I started wearing glasses at 16 for 20/40 vision and then switched to contacts at about 25 years old. My vision has remained stable since then except for presbyopia. That is really the only effect of age that I've experienced yet and it is a pain to deal with.
If I don't have glasses on/contacts in I can read something right up against my nose with no problem but obviously have trouble seeing further away.
If I have glasses on/contacts in seeing things close up becomes far more difficult.
So if anyone has a fix for presbyopia, hit me up!
I wear sun glasses outside when it is even moderate bright.
I take lutein, "the eye vitamin."
I keep pretty far from my monitor and its elevation keeps my head in a neutral position.
I also have semi-regular exams at a retina specialist to monitor some thinning.
It was shown on a BBC program to help. I tried it and it changed things drastically for me. I used to have my TV very close to my couch because I was struggling when watching movies or gaming. It also made my sight better at night.
Obviously this is my personal opinion only.
> Three months later, out of 120 subjects in the first group (1 slice), only 35 still experienced eye floaters, an improvement of 70.8%. In the second group, only 19 participants still saw floaters, an improvement of 72.8%
> How does it work? Scientists believe that enzymes in the pineapple can decompose extracellular substances that cause the formation of microscopic fibers. Apparently, these same enzymes can absorb free radicals leading to the degradation of hyaluronic acid.
As an adult, a lot! I go each year for a test that includes a extended 3D scan of my retinas. I always have glasses that match my prescription. I have "night shift"/reduced-blue mode turned on my computer and phone almost permanently to reduce eye strain and reduce the chemical effects later in the day. I wear sunglasses whenever I feel eye strain outdoors, even if it's winter. I increase font sizes on sites where it now, post 40, feels necessary (such as HN). This all seems to be working well so far.
Can someone with some strong contextual knowledge provide ANY references actually linking myopia/astigmatism to reading?
I would argue actually being on the street in quickly changing weather (very dry air, very humid air, extreme cold/heat) probably has a larger effect on what happens to your eyes, but even that is arguably very weak.
Using, no; straining, yes.
NOW I AM FINE. The magic solution for me was to ask for intermediate-distance computer glasses. These were supposed to be for short/intermediate distance only. However, after a single day of usage, my eyes adapted to this depowered version of my formula and I never again used the regular glasses. I see 20/20 far with the intermediate distance eyeglasses. This strongly suggest that I was over-prescribed for years and now I feel so much better.
Summary: Tell your optometrist that you want intermediate distance eye glasses because you spend many hours in front of the computer. It _could_ make a great difference for your life as it did for mine.
Over the next two years, I was able to better correlate these symptoms with sleep deprivation, as well. Lack of glasses exaggerates fatigue, but fatigue onset is much more aggressive when I don't sleep enough.
Also, I have two monitors so naturally switch my gaze between the two through the day as I work, which helps.
One monitor is very large, and I set the resolution low so fonts and such are uncommonly large. Why strain?
Remember to look up and into the distance every few minutes.
Going to give a similar self-care routine a try! Thanks for sharing this.
Sitting so close to the screen it makes sense, and the “stretch” you feel when focusing on something close and then far away has really decreased my eye strain.
https://www.menshealth.com.au/peeing-sitting-down-is-good-fo...
[1]: For those wondering, the calculation for required SPH is your_prescribed_SPH + (1/desired_distance). If you don't already wear glasses, then it's just (1/desired_distance).
You can also just wander over to a pharmacy's glasses rack and hold some reading glasses in front of your normal ones to test how much SPH you need to add. (Optical power is approximately additive.)
I should have noted: if you don't wear glasses already, or if that the formula gives you a SPH > 0.0 and you don't have astigmatism, then there's no need to order prescription ones. You can just go to the reading glasses rack in any store and buy ones with that SPH.
- most important make sure the light conditions in your room are good, no light source directly shining on the monitor, no light source directly shining from behind the monitor. That can be hard or even outright impossible to setup in some rooms, most smaller companies I had been in get this wrong. Worst the perfect desk positioning might change depending on the time of the year you are in, due to changing angles of the sun (at least in more northern countries). For me as a slightly more then usual light sensitive person this is probably the biggest point).
- then proper monitor setup
- choose readable font sizes
- make sure your font/UI is rendered clear (which in case of wayland + non scarlar scaling is often not given, it's an health issue and completely ridiculous)
- blink, from time to time move your eys focus thinks far away and then think close away
- drink enough and eat healthy, it can affect tear production, which can affect the health of your eyes
- make sure the air is not too dry (in winter) if you have issues with tear production
As far as I know, only Windows try to align font rendering to the pixel grid, Macs decided on skipping the 1-2x range and providing higher density displays and only doing integer scaling — which you can easily do with Wayland as well.
- the compositor insists of doing (with interpolation, depending on the compositor you use the results do hugely differ in quality)
- scale to "exactly" that fraction.
But if I "as a normal user" ask for a scale factor of 1.33 I do in general not mean "scale exactly to 1.33", neither "scale exactly to 4/3" but what I mean is "make it roughly 4/3 larger as 3/3 is to small and 6/3 to large".
And a lot of program can do that just fine, especially wrt. fonts.
Like e.g. a terminal which is set to font size 12 on 3/3 would just scale the font size by 4/3 and then round. Result is a crisp font roughly 4/3 larger which fulfills all requirements. Only drawback is that:
- it needs to be handled by the application, but so does any HiDPI support
- due to rounding the ratio of font sizes might be of by 1 pixel, irrelevant on a HiDPI screen
- this doesn't help with pictures or other layout, but even they can be handled better by the application then the compositor(1).
Wayland should just give applications the choice to to handle fractional scaling themself, like it does for HiDPI scaling. Any mainly text based program can support that reasonable well (terminal, editor, etc.), so can many games. Also due to HiDPI screens becoming increasingly more common (e.g. 1440p on gaming laptops) it also becomes more common that programs come with a layout/style/prictures for that, in the same way they have one for 4k.
Just to be clear a program should be able to opt-into "fractional scaling hidpi" mode based on the specific scaling. And I think it also would be fine if wayland or DEs doesn't support arbitrary fractional scaling but just a set of common scaling factors like 11/10, 5/4 (for 4k), 4/3 (for 1440p) maybe 3/2, 7/8.
(1): The compositor is in generally the place least well equipt for doing any scaling. As it only knows the final result "as image". But UI/Layout scaling is not the same as scaling an image. Which yes, doesn't work well for fractions.
There is a collagen cross linking treatment that I’m considering, but I’m somewhat scared of it. It almost sounds like putting varnish on my eyes to make them harder. I’ve read of people getting hazy view after the treatment and there is nothing I would hate more.
My hobbies are racing cars and tennis, both need very good vision.
Other than that my prescription is not so bad, -1.75/-1.5 but the double vision drives me nuts.
I don’t know what I’ll do yet.
I used to have headaches sometimes, but that disappeared with it.
There's an app called f.lux and when I work on my computer in the evening and turn it off, the screen becomes really bright/annoying.
Perhaps it doesn't make a difference on eye health in particular, but it's easy to try that and i do notice a difference immediately concerning eyestrain.
Note: I'm aware of the difference during the day and my situation during the night. It's mentioned as an easy to reproduce example from personal experience, not as a fact supporting any research.
Wear sunglasses with polarised lenses.
I bought an IPS monitor when they were really expensive, and ate an insane amount of carrots, both raw and cooked. This helped, but the strain was still there, occasionally accompanied by mild headaches.
Eventually, at an age of 30+, I decided to give up full time desk work (also because I was anxious about "sacrificing my body to the computer"). Now I'm a forestry worker on most days: avoiding logging, but cutting brush and planting trees. 5-7 hours in the woods almost every day, currently surrounded by lots of snow and the trees' green palette (which is good for the eyes, isn't it?). Hacking and other creative computer work has become something that I do on the side when I have time or physical/mental energy, or when I wish and manage to escape from our kids.
Am I happier? It's sometimes difficult to switch to mental work from physical labor, staying motivated in my mental pursuits etc. The pay would be poor to most standards. But all in all -- happier, hell yes! Eyestrain is gone completely. Heck, I've occasionally totally forgotten to put glasses on while driving a car, which is something I'd noticed right away during the office work days. I haven't tested my eyesight for years, but I do feel there has been a remarkable change to the better. I happened to shoot some hoops just this weekend after more than a year, and it was an absolute joy: indoor lighting of the court didn't annoy my eyes as it usually does (this used to be a major issue when I was younger), and I made shots with a surprisingly good percentage in spite of not wearing contact lenses.
It's also important to note that my eating habits have probably changed quite a bit since middle school / early to late 20s. I've always loved vegetables, but for now, I've almost completely cut of all processed sweets: cocoa, chocolate, you name it. All the bad stuff I used to love -- but, as cocoa contains caffeine, it's actually bringing fluids out of the body, doesn't it? Based on this, I occasionally think that a big part of my earlier eyestrain issues might have been too big an amount of cocoa-based "foods". Dehydration, basically. Haven't done any research on that, though, so it might as well be BS.
All in all: we're animals from nature, so I suppose the best one could do to his or her eyes is try to spend as much time outdoors (or in wilderness, if you ever can) as possible. And drink a lot of plain water, this also seems to have a positive influence. Or, if you're lucky enough to have other issues with your life as well (like I did), you may also consider changing your job for something that has the "no eyestrain" batteries included by design. :)
I have an e-reader, which feels great. And I do wait for e-ink displays with consumer-level prices. :) I've read a lot about all the "Kindle as a Raspberry Pi monitor" hacks, but a more straightforward solution would be great.
This technique helped me a lot.
I also use a 32" 4K display at 125-150% scale so, fonts are nice and big.
Disagree on the latter though - I hate stuff big! Browser default set to 80% and a lot of things I use at 67%.
PWM is also present on iPads and smartphones, but the laptop screen is something that is used more often and for longer periods of time; which is why I'm primarily interested in PWM in laptops.
[1]: "Like on the iPad Pro's Mini-LED screen, we can detect constant PWM flickering at all brightness levels.", https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Pro-14-2021-M1-P...
It suggests to read at an inch or two past comfortable for a few hours a day. At first it seemed too good to be true, but not completely implausible. I'm curious if anyone has tried or had luck with it.
Also, zooming the websites (can't comfortably read HN below 150%).
-- use of the [Ctrl]+[Wheel] or equivalent on the relevant software;
-- a keyboard shortcut for inverted colours (e.g. `xcalib -a -i`);
-- different instruments for different environments (e.g.: Sunlight? Maybe prefer EPD. No light? Maybe prefer OLED light on black. Etc.)
should be base strategy - extended adjusting of your comfort through the, well, "hacking" we normally practice.
I'm a software engineer by trade, so I am looking at code all day long, plus lots of web searching and other text-heavy computer use.
I thought the LG UltraFine 5K and Apple XDR Pro Display were "good enough for my eyes" since I couldn't see the pixels.
Compared to the XDR (same size) the text on the 8K screen is WAY WAY sharper. Even though I thought the 218ppi XDR (basically same as 27" 5K monitor) was crisp before I saw the 280ppi Dell, I immediately realized it totally wasn't.
I can feel the eye strain difference, too. The lower res monitor is just fuzzy. I can't see the pixels individually, but when I slide my chair from the Linux box with the 8K to my Mac with the lower-PPI 5K display (sold the pricy XDR immediately after seeing the 8K panel next to it), I can see the fuzziness at the edges of text.
So I am kicking myself for not getting this much earlier. The Dell is ancient, came out years ago and requires 2 DisplayPort cables.
I am not an ophthalmologist so I can't speak to what this will mean for my long-term eye health, but I can say that my eyes are significantly less tired at the end of the day, and I never have to use the computer glasses I bought a couple years ago (the kind that are like reading glasses but for a little farther distance). I was using those a lot before, since my middle-aged eyes are indeed deteriorating.
BTW, for a few weeks I had the 8K Dell and the 6K Apple displays side by side. They are the same physical size, and the text was just about exactly the same size. Most of the people I asked to come look at them agreed the 8K display "looked better" or "looked sharper".
There is also the factor of Linux vs Mac font rendering. I am using Pop OS with 200% UI scaling on the Linux. I kinda wanted to compare them side by side in macOS, but I don't have any Macs that can drive the weird 2-cable Dell. So that could also be part of the difference, but I think it is basically just that 280ppi is way, way better than 208ppi.
-- frequently check if your reading (etc.) is comfortable. If it is not, adjust your position, fix your environment etc.
(As opposed to those who strain themselves intensively or prolongedly out of inattention. You check your posture, your inner states, your state in general: you also keep a watchdog that your eye comfort is given.)
Edit: like for the rest, memory of the triggers for awareness of the indirect causes. Some factors have effects only after time, and they are of course more dangerous. Local attention is the base ("comfortable now" is the first requirement); practices that strain you with effect hours later can still be identified; the less evident factors could be a concern but they will probably gain relevance only if the former basics (avoiding causes for immediate and recent impact) are observed.
I got Lasik a little over two months ago. Prior to that, I had severe myopia - 20/400 or so in both eyes. Corrected with glasses, my eyesight was 20/15.
I'm still in the blurry phase of healing, so anything past about 20 feet is about the same level of blurry. Making out license plates from the car ahead is possible if I squint just a little if they're over two car lengths away.
Even before Lasik, once that 8:00 PM time hits, I depart from all digital screens entirely. I try to remember to do the 20/20/20 rule, but I mostly forget.
If you cannot justify a true break, think about work problems while walking. Plan out what you will do when you get back to the desk. When you return, do it without disruption. Don't check email or messages. I find this to be an effective way of working.
Get up and go for a walk helps too.
Keep monitor brightness around a white paper in whatever ambient light. Sometimes this requires dropping brightness to 0 and then decreasing contrast/sharpness.
Wear sunglasses after several hours of monitor use. Sometimes I’ll put a hat on to block the overhead lights, too. (Work in a shared/undimmable work area.)
What I did was to get a pair of computer glasses. I measured how far away I usually keep my monitors, and I took that information to my optometrist. She put the eye chart at that distance and we went through all the questions (is A better, or B?) to figure out the prescription. Now, when I'm at the computer, my eyes are at the same relaxed focus that they would normally be at for faraway things, and the computer glasses are providing the focus adjustment for close up.
I learned one other thing as well. If you have progressive lenses, only the small "intermediate" zone in the middle of the lens is really good for computer use. The top "far" zone makes your eyes work hard to focus close up, and the bottom "close" zone is generally focused too close for the computer screen. The problem is that you can't really scan well across the screen with your eyes while wearing progressives -- instead, you have to turn your head to keep the screen in that intermediate zone, which started to give me neck trouble. The computer glasses took care of that as well, since the whole lens is at the correct focus for the computer screen and you can scan with your eyes instead of your head.
One last thing. If you do hobbies or work that is really close up, I would recommend an Optivisor or a jeweler's loupe. I used to be able to do fine soldering without one, but I'm in my mid-30s now, and it really helps. And check the ergonomics for your setup. A high bench and a low chair, plus a Optivisor or a loupe, is way easier on the eyes and neck than a high chair and a low bench, which will make you crane your neck to get it closer to the work, and then strain your eyes from focusing so close. Look at a watchmaker at their bench for an example. There are plenty of watchmakers who work on tiny little parts into their 60s and 70s without messing up their vision.
Another things mentioned here that help: use reduced lenses corrected for work, work next to a window and take a look at the passing dog once in a while, take daily walks and focus on looking at something far away.
As for preventing fatigue or strain then short breaks are good not only for your eyes but also your back or neck.
If working with screens a lot, I first make sure they are properly balanced (brightness/contrast/color) for the ambient light, so eyes don't receive too much energy off the screen.
Then distance it, preferrably farther than arm length, with something visible behind the monitor (not just a wall of screen). This way I can direct eyes farther away to relax.
Also good quality sleep, which at times is very much a non-trivial task.
Ah, the most critical, and both hardest and easiest task - taking breaks to give eyes and mind some rest. Advice that all parents give to kids, yet often fail to follow themselves...
I shared it with one of our developers who was having eyesight issues and he found it helpful.
Things which help: - Exercise - Morning walks facing direction of light - Keeping screen eye level and posture - Other “protocols” mentioned in this episode
“Dr. Andrew Huberman is a tenured professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford University School of Medicine.”
- Go outside at least once a day (no later than lunch) and get and get a good deal of sunlight. Without glasses.
Preferably more than once a day.
- Take frequent breaks away. - Crank up the lights.
I can still function and read without glasses, though Covid has taken a toll (eyesight used to be 20/30, until covid; probably more like 30/40 now).
I try to spend some time outdoors, looking into the distance. Natural light and focusing on distant objects to counteract the tendency to short-sightedness.
- Bias lighting behind the monitor
- Blue light and anti-glare glasses while working
- Little to no computer on the weekend
- Limit phone use by removing addictive apps
Not a cure but it helps a lot.
-clenching or jutting jaw
-furrowing brow
-sleeping on one side consistently, without upper body elevated
-not breathing freely/ab tension
When you do this, you will need to dim the ambient light.
I now work for hours without feeling tired.
I used to have occasional symptoms of dry eyes without knowing what it was. It all changed after I got LASEK (a bit different from LASIK, but the ultimate goal is the same) about 2 years ago. It's not clear whether LASEK contributed to my condition, or whether it was a coincidence, but my life changed afterwards.
I used to have days when I was physically unable to look at a computer screen, due to the discomfort (burning sensation) and photophobia (light from the screen would look really uncomfortable).
Right now I've adjusted my life and equipment to make living and work more bearable/comfortable. I also got a bit of medical advice/help.
Posting a short summary of what helped and what didn't, in case someone else will find it useful. I've tried so many things, so I might have omitted something.
What helped:
- Changing displays: now I'm using BenQ EL2870U (I went through multiple "eye-care" and non-eye-care displays before I settled on this one). I'm using low-blue-light configuration in the display as well as in macOS. I'm really sensitive to displays with PWM (e.g. 16" MBP). On my OnePlus 7T Pro I switched to DC dimming, which seemed to help too.
- NuLids (https://nulids.com/). It's a "massager" for the eyelids, which stimulates meibomian glands and cleans the eye lids. Both the device and the tips (I boil them and reuse them several times) are a bit pricey but I did feel the difference.
- Sleep position: make sure your eyes aren't pressing on the pillow, as this can prevent them from closing or create unnecessary pressure on the eye/eyelids.
- E-Ink displays: these are good to look at, but hard to do useful work on due to poor refresh rate. I'm using them for reading only (I have Dasung 13.3" monitor and Boox Max Lumi).
- Natural light in the room. There seems to be something about natural light that makes my eyes feel more comfortable when in front of a screen.
- Preservative-free eye drops targeting the lipid tear part (only for short-term relief, but sometimes that's needed).
Not sure whether it helped:
- IRPL (E-Eye). I'll have the 4th treatment soon, but it's hard too judge this because of other parallel things I'm doing (like NuLids). My eyes feel quite good for several hours after a treatment, but then they're back to the usual state.
- Diet (Omega 3, Vitamin A, vegetables, etc)
What didn't help:
- Optimel Manuka Honey Eye Drops/Gel. Some people said that these were revolutionary for them, but my eyes at first felt better and then I got horrible swelling and redness.
- Blue light glasses (I've tried ~10 different brands, including the more expensive and "science-based" ones (Gunnar, BLUblox).
What I want to try:
- Omega 3 supplements with higher EPA/DHA ratio (like PRN Dry Eye Omega)
- Autologous serum eye drops. I can't find anyone who can produce them in my country, but I'm thinking about getting them from abroad.
- Computer glasses for relaxing eye muscles (as mentioned in other comments).
