Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!oucsace!bwhite
From: bwhite@oucsace.cs.OHIOU.EDU (Bill White)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: my eyes are killing me...
Message-ID: <1618@oucsace.cs.OHIOU.EDU>
Date: 29 Jul 90 02:12:43 GMT
References: <1921@gmuvax2.gmu.edu> <32129@cup.portal.com>
Organization: Ohio U, home of the mighty Hocking River!
Lines: 28

In article <32129@cup.portal.com> Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com writes:
>The biggest problem is the relatively close distance between the monitor
>and your eyes.  It strains the muscles in the eye to keep focussed on
>a plane at the distance of a typical computer monitor for long periods of
>time.. (it's a lot easier on the eye when it's focussed at "infinity", or
>far away...)

	Uh, I'm not sure that's correct.  If I remember correctly from my
days of dissecting cow eyes, the lens is naturally in a contracted state,
and the muscles pull it "flat" (ie focussed at infinity).  Mind you, I'm
not an optometrist, but like I said, that's how I remember it.  This seems
to fit with my real-life experiences; I can consciously change the focus of
my eyes (among other things, including moving them somewhat independently
away from each other; I think I'm part lizard), and I noticed that when I
am most relaxed, and when I wake up, my eyes are focussed at closest
range.
	I suspect that this fellow's problem might be that his vision is
slightly poorer at close distances.  I would encourage him to go see an
optometrist and get a full eye exam.  Or it could actually be illumination
levels, that can cause eyestrain too.  Or his monitor could be out of focus,
or jittering up and down, or otherwise bad in some way.
	Finally, there is one other possibility; it might be that he has a
flickery monitor (especially if he's using a 50Hz monitor); I often get
headaches from fluorescent lights that are old enough to "hum" at 60Hz,
even if I'm not consciously aware that they're flickering (ie it's too fast
to see unless you're looking for it).
	
>BobR