Sick of staring at computers?

buddikaman

Im not sure what it is with me, as other people dont seem to mind it, if i sit infront of a computer staring at it for even a second, my eyes go dry, i lose focus, my head hurts, and i just plain feel like shit!

If im infront of a computer for a day or two at a time, and thanstep outside not only can i hardly think straight, i can barely socialize, and i feel nearsided and my eyes/head hurts.

This is really bugging me because frankly, i dont look forward to doing this as a job the rest of my life. Well i look forward to making 3d assets, i DO enjoy it very very much, i just cant stand the feeling i get when i finnaly "unplug"

Anyone else have it this bad? Is this CVS??? This is really a bummer for me atm, its crazy how bad i feel after even glancing at that bright shiny screen.

-Buddikaman-

Eric Chadwick

I used to get that more often. Now I just make sure to do two things... bounce a desklamp off the ceiling behind the monitor (to prevent eye-burn), and take breaks. Heck, a guy's gotta take a piss. :poly142:

Pedro Amorim

do you use glasses? if not, you might start to need to use. go see your doctor.

MoP

bitmap wrote: »

you might start to need to use.

That sounds a bit extreme! :poly137:

Sage

You might need glasses or your so sick of just sitting there that the stress generated by forcing yourself to work in front of computer is causing this. Maybe both. If it's stress a way to deal with it is to throw your machine out the window or go to the gym before or after work to work off the stress. Also make sure that your monitors refresh rate is set high enough or it can cause what you explained as well, depends on the person. Try and keep your settings higher than 65. I keep mine at 70 or higher.

Alex

Ferg

get away from the computer for a few mins, walk around, force your eyes to focus on things different distances from you. My eyes can get to feelin kinda unhappy in front of the compy all day, but a little eye-ball-muscle-stretching usually helps.

Lee3dee

get up, walk around. play a game on the TV, then go back to the computer its easy

snemmy

In addition to what has been said:
Do not use any eye drops like Visine or the like that 'get the red out'. Use something like Optive that lubricates and hydrates your eyes. Recommended by my eye doctor. Works great. If they are dry and red then they are trying to tell you something. Try to keep your work area ventilated, have a good air flow going. Computers tend to dry out the air around them.

Schedule an appointment with an eye doctor. You may have slight astigmatism which is causing the focuslessness while at the computer (like me).

Blink a lot. Try to relax your eye/head muscles/shoulders while working. Make a conscious effort to every little bit.

And yeah, step away from the computer.
Get up, tell your work to go screw off and go frag something for an hour.

In addition, eat healthy while in front of the computer snacking, fruits and veggies.
Drink lots of fluids, water, juice (less soda/coffee which can cause you to lose focus).

thomasp

i believe it's all about the balance - indoor/outdoor things and stuff. plus posture, frequent blinking/eye-training, proper drinking and suitable setup of the work-area - lighting, TFTs instead of the old CRT ray-guns and may i suggest trying a dark desktop color scheme?

jdevin

If you notice these effects while you are working, try focusing your eyes at different distances. The human eye doesn't like to focus on one thing for long time spans and that can easily strain your eyes. When I was in school we would play hacky-sack during break and that was a great was to exercise your eyes. This has helped me a few times when I had to work late.

pliang

I find putting up a nicely color balanced room setting can help the eyes to focus somewhere once in a while and relax...

As for your vision...if you have a family history of visual impaired...it's important to get prescription if necessary from your doctor...

My dad + bro's nearly blind so I suffer a little from it.

Joshua Stubbles

My best vision is at arms length (ie; monitor distance). I've lost a lot of vision in the past 2 years, doing scripting. Doing art, my eyes weren't focused on high-contrast letters and numbers all day long. I recently got reading glasses, and need to get distance glasses as well. I can still see at great distances, just smaller details are blurred (road signs beyond 80ft or so, for example).
No cornea damage, no glaucoma, nothing wrong at all. Just general eye stress and gene defects is my guess. Both my eldest brother and mother have bad eyes. It seemed to happen really fast though, or I just never noticed it before. Now that I'm driving, It's painfully obvious.

ebagg

Take a walk for a break, make sure to get enough sleep, drink lots of water.

Slipstream

I'm a student, so I can work alot from home. What I try to do is spend every other morning away from the computer and just out, running errands, checking out the mall, or simply walking. Anything to get away from the computer for a little while and experience life.

I love what I do alot, but during those moments where I'm not working, it can be pretty depressing to realize that this is all my life is focused on for hours and hours weeks on end. Getting out helps offsetting that feeling alot.

snemmy

Slipstream wrote: »

I'm a student, so I can work alot from home. What I try to do is spend every other morning away from the computer and just out, running errands, checking out the mall, or simply walking. Anything to get away from the computer for a little while and experience life.

I love what I do alot, but during those moments where I'm not working, it can be pretty depressing to realize that this is all my life is focused on for hours and hours weeks on end. Getting out helps offsetting that feeling alot.

I try to get out and do things like that but here in this teeny college town that amounts to wandering around Wal-Mart for an hour.. Bleh...

And I'm so overworked/rushed/burnt out from my two years as a grad student and Graduate Assistant that I feel guilty when I take time away from my class work/duties... And THAT is depressing...

Slingshot

My arms and hands get really tense and to loosen'em up I have a 20lb barbell next to my computer and I do curls. It will make your muscles tense more and actually remind them of what tense is and relax them. Plus it gives you exercise and muscles. stretching help too.

Changing you background colors and interface of you computer to be darker shades will help out on the eye strain some.

I fold a old shirt in half in front of my keyboard & mouse and use it to rest my arms on it as I work. Lets the blood flow and takes the strain off my wrists.

If you have to get glasses remind you eye doctor that you work in front of a computer. My eye doctor actually told me that an anti-reflective coating on my lenses/ or something to this order would cause less eye strain, oh and I could tell the difference too.

If you get a Lamp or something make sure you get one that uses light bulbs with white light not those damn yellow lights because they screw with your color perception sometimes.

Some people need more breaks than others when doing computer stuff.

Their are ways to help your body out just listen to your body, If it hurts ask why and how can you prevent it or fix the problem now. Just think of your body as a machine. Basic maintenance is always needed.

Good Luck on your issues!

killingpeople

i computers