If you spend hours a day in front of a computer, laptop or mobile screen, and have experienced anything like, eyes burning, neck aching, vision blurring, or head throbbing, you might have a common problem known as eyestrain.
In medical terms it's called Computer Vision Syndrome, and it comes from a combination of your monitor's bright backlight, glare and staring at a screen for extended periods of time. Staring at a computer screen can also effect your sleep patterns due to the blue light that is emitted from these screens.
There are ways to help lessen the strain on your eyes, mostly by altering the color and dimness of the monitor as well as taking the occasional break. Here are 8 apps that will help you manage the glare from your monitor, without a fuss.
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1. F.Lux App
The aim of F.lux is to adapt the color of the screen to the time of day. Example, F.lux will activate during sundown, gradually turning your screen a tint of orange as night falls. This helps negate the effect blue light has on sleep. F.lux is simple to use and set up, and you can change the "intensity" of the setting (how strong the effect will be).
2. Awareness App
If you want a very simple app to remind you to take a break, then Awareness is it. Its only function is to tell you to take a break in the most unobtrusive way possible: by the sound of a Tibetan singing bowl. You set how long your work time is, the break time and the volume of the sound then let it do the rest.
3. Time Out Free App
When this OS X app kicks in, it will dim your computer screen and display how long a break you should be taking. You can preset how long this break is, or set longer breaks under Normal mode, and shorter breaks under Micro mode. The display shown can also be adjusted, in terms of colors and transparency.
4. Pangobright
Pangobright dims the lights on your screen based on your preferences. It is a lightweight app that uses very little of your computer’s resources. When activated, it will sit in your System Tray. The app is useful for those that have a setup involving multiple monitors, as it is able to control the brightness of each monitor independently of the other.
5. EyeLeo App
EyeLeo lives in your System Tray, and has a mascot who will notify you of any incoming breaks you should be taking. The best part of this app is the eye exercises that it provides to relax and ease your eyes during your break. There is also a Strict mode, where EyeLeo will prevent you from skipping breaks; a useful feature for workaholics.
6. eyeCare - Protect your vision App
Protect Your Vision is a web extension that will remind you at certain periods to take a short rest. It comes with two recommendations: take a 20 second break every 20 minutes of work by focusing on an object 20 feet away (20-20-20) or take a 5 minute break every 60 minutes. If neither suits you, you can create your own custom break.
7. Twilight App
If you like to check your smartphone in the middle of the night, or read your feeds right before bedtime with the lights off, you might want to get Twilight on your Android device. It works like F.lux and changes the screen color temperature based on the time of day. The intensity and color can be adjusted to your preferences.
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