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Arlen Walker wrote <paraphrase> about fatigue from watching a computer
monitor for too long. Daddy (an optometrist) reminded me that human
eyes evolved to watch the world at continuously varying distances,
from up close (the monitor) to far away (tell them you're staring out
the window because your doctor said to do so). The general
recommendation I've seen (Dad agrees) is to take a 5 minute break
every hour and stare at something farther away; if you need to work in
longer stretches, make that 15 min. every 2 hours.
The required "refresh rate" for monitors depends on something called
"flicker fusion frequency", the minimum rate of flicker at which you
are no longer able to detect gaps between periods of light and periods
of dark (the flicker). For most people, this is well below 60 Hz,
which is why lightbulbs on AC current run at this level. I'm extremely
sensitive to flicker, and can sometimes (when fatigued) see lightbulbs
flicker, so I find a monitor with a 70 Hz (or better) rate is a lovely
site (sic) to stare at for hours.
Also consider switching to a monochrome monitor. Since color monitors
form colors by converging three electron beams to form light (red,
green, blue), misconvergence is likely (you can see this as color
fringes around sharp edges such as letters). I work primarily in black
and white because there's only one beam to converge (?), thus focus is
generally sharper.
Finally, avoid interlaced displays: they give me major headaches, and
even people who don't see flicker on noninterlaced displays often see
it painfully well on interlaced displays at the same refresh rate.
This _is_ an occupational safety and health issue. You'll be much more
productive with a good monitor, and a poor one will not only decrease
your productivity and effectiveness, it _may_ cause eye damage in the
long term.
--Geoff Hart #8^{)} <---got these specs from reading too much
online info!
