High Refresh Rates Tire Eyes

admin 18.08.2019

In today’s world, we are looking at screens all the time. For this reason, if we want to keep our eyes healthy, we should be choosy about screens we look. When choosing a monitor to use with a desktop or laptop PC or a gaming console, you should definitely consider its effects on your eyes. You will be staring at this monitor for many hours to work or game. If you have kids, this becomes more important because children are more vulnerable to eye problems like eye strain and eye fatigue. It may seem hard to choose the best monitor for eyes because there are so many technologies, factors, brands and monitors to consider. So we have prepared this guide to help you on this topic.

High Refresh Rate Phone
High Refresh Rates Tire Eyes Center

In the old days it was simple, anything less that a 75 Hz refresh rate on a CRT monitor hurt my eyes. Now things seem more complicated. As a programmer I spend a lot of time in front of my monitor, or using an android device (usually Nexus 7 (2013) or 10). Maybe your computers monitors screens refresh rate is too low and your screen flickers. Many users are used to the flicker, or your eyes are not sensitive enough to detect it, but the flicker is there. And till it flickers, it will irritate your eyes and cause eye strain. Higher refresh rates are less likely to cause eyestrain. What Font Color Is Best For Eyes? Enough by itself to give you a headache or tire your eyes. Typically have internal refresh rates in the 40 Hz to 120 Hz.

In this guide, you may read a detailed guide about how to choose the best monitor for eyes. You should go through this guide to learn more about eye health, Computer Vision Syndrome, monitor types and newest display technologies to reduce eye strain. We have made a deep research in eye health guides, forums, Reddit, shopping sites, tech communities and more to find the most eye-friendly monitors. Tons of programmers, designers, webmasters, and editors share their advice about choosing a monitor for preventing eye strain and we have built this guide regarding this advice. We have talked about all details you need to know about. In the end, you may find our recommended monitors list.

Monitor (Amazon Link)	Size	Resolution	Panel	Eye Care Technology
ASUS PB279Q Eye Care Monitor	27'	3840 x 2160	IPS	Flicker Free & Blue Light Filter
ASUS MX27AQ Eye Care Frameless Monitor	27'	2560 x 1440	IPS	Flicker Free & Blue Light Filter
BenQ GW Series GW2765HT LED-Lit Monitor	27'	2560 x 1440	IPS	Zero Flicker & Low Blue Light

How to Choose the Best Monitor for Eyes

Computer screens have some effects on your eyes and there are several reasons for eye strain and Computer Vision Syndrome. If you want to choose the best eye-friendly monitor, you should consider a few factors. These are causes of eye strain; blue light, display flicker, refresh rate, screen resolution, screen glare, brightness, display panel, ergonomics, good posture and working environment. Now, we will talk about each one and go into the details of each topic.

Causes of Computer Screen Eye Strain

Eye strain is a symptom occurs when your eyes get tired of intense use such as working at the computer or reading a book for an extended period of time. If you feel discomfort after looking something for a long time, it means you have eye strain. You may feel eye fatigue, pain around the eyes, headache, blurred vision or other symptoms. Eye strain is not an eye disease and it goes away once you rest your eyes. But it definitely affects your daily life and you should prevent your eyes from it.

Eye strain is a part of Computer Vision Syndrome which are eye problems caused by computer use. In these days, there are many people have jobs that require using computers for at least 5-6 hours. Research shows that more than 50% of these people suffer from eye strain. Not just working adults, kids and elderly people also complain about eye strain because tablets, smartphones, and most of the electronic devices have screens. So, what are the causes of eye strain? What should you consider when buying a new monitor for your eyes? Let’s get to the work!

Blue Light

First, what is blue light and why it is bad for your eyes? As humans, we can see red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet light. So blue light is one of the visible lights. It has some benefits like boosting alertness, helping memory and elevating mood. It also helps to regulate our sleep/wake cycle. But blue light can also be harmful to your eyes and cause eye strain, eye fatigue, headaches and more. But how does blue light affect our eyes? Let’s find out.

Blue light’s wavelength puts it close to UVA and that is the reason for the strain on your eyes. Below, you may find a great image that shows the relationship between blue light and our eyes. So, blue light from monitors, screens, and TVs may cause eye strain, headaches, eye damage, sleep disorders and may result in myopia and macular degeneration in long term. When we stare at a screen for hours of time, we have exposed the blue light. If you want to find the best monitor for eyes, you should definitely consider buying a monitor with a blue light filter.

There are several technologies to filter blue light on screens. They have different names but in fact, they all try to do one thing: Filtering blue light. ASUS, BenQ, EZIO and some other monitor brands provide a menu that allows you to choose between different blue light levels for different purposes. Some other monitors come with external filters and there are other solutions like blue light filtering glasses or software named flux.

Advice: If you want to prevent eye strain, you should definitely choose a monitor with a blue light filter.

Display Flicker and Low Refresh Rate

In these days, most of the screens come with LED backlight. When you use a monitor, LED backlight tries to maintain the brightness of the display. Flicker is caused by this because the backlight rapidly turns on and off to maintain the brightness at the same level. This technology has been used in LED monitors for a long time because it works well. But it can also cause flickering which hurts your eyes especially at low levels of brightness. Flicker cause constant changes in brightness and these changes in light intensity turns into eye strain, headaches, and eye fatigue. It controls brightness but also hurts our eyes. So what should we do?

Brightness controlling is also named as “dimming” and there are two types of dimming. First one is PWM Dimming and the second one is DC Dimming. LED monitors generally use PVM because its design is simple and this dimming technology is easy for mass producing. It controls the brightness by regulating flicker intervals. Even a screen is flashing at a high speed (like 200 Hz), some people still perceive flicker with PWM dimming.

But the other dimming technology, DC dimming, controls brightness through the electric current. This provides a flicker-free screen experience. DC dimming is an expensive technology but if you want to protect your eyes, you should definitely go after this one. EIZO and BenQ use DC dimming, ASUS uses Flicker-Free with Smart Dynamic Backlight Adjustment and other brands use different named technologies to prevent flickering.

Your new monitor should also have a high refresh rate which is better for your eyes. 120 Hz or 144 Hz monitors are pretty popular these days and if you ever tried 12o Hz or 144 Hz monitors, you will see that these monitors provide a smoother viewing experience. I should also say that a 120 Hz or 144 Hz monitor will definitely improve your gaming working experience. In these days, I would recommend buying a monitor with high refresh rate because they are not so expensive and things look a lot smoother on them. You may watch this video from Linus to get a better understanding of refresh rates on TVs and monitors.

Advice: You should choose a monitor with high refresh rate and a technology which minimizes or eliminates display flickering.

Too Low or Too High Screen Resolution

Screen resolution is the number of pixels on your screen in each dimension that can be displayed. The more pixels, the more information is visible on your screen. In these days, most popular monitor resolutions are 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440 and 3840 x 2160 which is also named as “4K resolution”. But, you should decide on the screen resolution considering the screen size. Either very high or very low resolutions are not so eye-friendly so my advice would be to stay in this range:

For screen sizes between 22″ – 24″, pick a 1080p monitor.
For screen sizes between 24″ – 27″, pick a 1440p or 4K monitor.
For screen sizes between 27″ – 30″, pick a 4K monitor.

In terms of screen resolution, a higher resolution (for same display size) is usually better for your eyes because increased sharpness is better for your eye health. Dr. Gary Heiting from AllAboutVision says: “Increasing screen resolution so it exceeds the discriminating ability of the eye lowers the risk of strain, by making objects and print more defined and comfortable to focus on.” So, I can easily say that you should use a 1080p, a 1440p or a 4K monitor with setting up the icons and text for the best view. Don’t let the icons and text stay small on the screen because it would be hard to see them on a bigger screen.

Advice: Choose a monitor with high resolution and high PPI (Pixel Per Inch).

Screen Glare and Glossy Screens

A glossy screen affects your eyes badly. Smooth and glossy surfaces reflect light back and you may see some unwanted reflections of yourself or glare. These reflections are annoying, distracting and also bad for your eye health. Glossy screens cause eye strain, eye fatigue, and headaches.

If you want to protect your eyes from eye strain, you should buy a monitor with an anti-glare panel. Some of the ASUS monitors come with ASUS A+ Anti-Glare panel, BenQ has anti-glare monitors and most of the decent monitors have other technologies to prevent glossy screens. An anti-glare panel reduces reflections and glare in bright environments. I definitely recommend choosing a monitor with an anti-glare panel. That would be a must for choosing the best monitor for your eyes.

Advice: Choose a monitor with an anti-glare panel.

Too Low or Too High Screen Brightness

Screen brightness is another important factor you need to consider when choosing the best monitor for eyes. Monitors that are too bright or too dark can cause eye strain and eye fatigue. You should buy a new monitor with automatic brightness adjustment. For example, EZIO uses a new technology named Auto EcoView. This technology automatically adjusts the screen’s brightness to the correct level calculating ambient lighting. Brightness is related to screen flickering and like we said before, it is very important for eye comfort. Too bright or too dark screens can lead to eye strain, headaches, eye fatigue and other discomforts.

Advice: Choose a monitor with adjustable or auto brightness.

Monitors with Wrong Display Panels

There are three main display panel types for screens: IPS, VA and TN panels. Screens with TN panels are best for gaming but these are not the best for your eyes. If you want a monitor that goes easy to your eyes, you should pick a monitor with an IPS panel. There are several IPS panel types like S-IPS, H-IPS, Super PLS, and AHVA. These are all expensive but eye-friendly display panels and your first choice should buy a monitor with one of these. You may also buy S-PVA/MVA/VA panels because they also provide decent colors, contrast ratio, and brightness nearly as an IPS panel monitor.

Advice: Choose a monitor with an IPS panel or VA panel.

Non-Ergonomic Monitors

When people buy a monitor for their eyes, they usually don’t spend much time on its ergonomics or their working posture. I want to say that, ergonomics and good working posture is as important as other factors to prevent eye strain, headaches, sore necks and other discomforts. If you work with a bad posture and non-ergonomic monitors, you can’t have healthy eyes and a healthy brain.

First, you should choose a monitor with an ergonomic design. That means your new monitor should be highly adjustable. You should adjust its height, viewing angles, rotation, and orientation. Most of the new, decent monitors can be adjusted horizontally and vertically. If you want your monitor to be totally adjustable, you can always buy a monitor arm and create your own, comfortable monitor setup.

Advice: Choose a monitor with high adjustment capabilities.

Bad Posture and Wrong Monitor Placement

When its come to sitting posture, there are a few things you need to consider.

You should sit up straight, sit back in the chair and rest your back fully against the backrest of your chair.
Your line of sight should be straight ahead or slightly downward because looking straight ahead at the monitor is good for your neck but it can strain your eyes.
You should be at least 40-50 centimeters from the screen.
Place your feet flat on the floor.
Make minor or major adjustments to the angle, height, rotation or orientation of your screen to prevent light reflection.

5 Best Eye-friendly Monitors

Regarding the factors told above, we have listed the best monitors for eyes. You may pick one of these monitors for your working, gaming or multimedia setup. All these monitors have eye-protecting technologies, low blue light modes, quality display panels, adjustable parts and good color quality. Here are the 5 best monitors for preventing eye strain and eye fatigue.

ASUS PB279Q 27″ 4K IPS Eye Care Monitor

ASUS PB279Q is a 27″ monitor with 3840 x 2160 display. It has an IPS display panel which is the best one for your eyes. It comes with ASUS Eye Care Technology which provides Blue Light Filter and Flicker Free experience to prevent eye fatigue and eye strain. By using Smart Dynamic Backlight Adjustment, it gives you a smooth and eye-friendly using experience. You may select between different filter settings onscreen for the best eye protection. It is ergonomically designed to let you choose between different height adjustments.

ASUS PB279Q has a DisplayPort 1.2, a Mini-DisplayPort and four HDMI 1.4 / MHL ports on it. Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture features are available and you can view four 4K sources on it. It has a really ergonomic design and you can use it in portrait mode too. ASUS PB279Q is one of the best monitors for eyes and with its powerful features, you should definitely check out this monitor and read user reviews.

ASUS MX27AQ 27″ WQHD IPS Eye Care Frameless Monitor

ASUS MX27AQ is another great choice for eye-friendly monitors. It comes with a 27″ 2560 x 1440 IPS display panel and provides a gets you a frameless screen. This one also has ASUS Eye Care Technology and this includes features like Flicker Free display and Blue Light Filter for less eye fatigue and eye strain. With an OSD menu, you can choose between different brightness and blue light levels. AH-IPS panel with wide 178° viewing angles minimizes color shifting.

ASUS MX27AQ has various ports on it; 2 HDMI ports, HML ports, and a Display Port. This monitor also provides a great sound performance with Band & Olufsen ICEpower so you will definitely be happy with the sound quality. I really liked its frameless design and this one is a really thin monitor with lots of ergonomic adjustments. If you want to have an eye-friendly monitor for work or entertainment, this one could be a really great choice.

BenQ GW2765HT 27″ LED-Lit Monitor

BenQ GW2765HT is a well-designed option for the best monitor for your eyes. It has a 27″ 2560 x 1440 IPS panel. For extended viewing comfort, it has Zero Flicker and Low Blue Light features which is crucial for preventing eye strain. BenQ names this technology as “Revolution Eyes” and I can say that it works for me and my office fellas. Its WQHD panel provides 109 pixel per inch that allows images and movies look gorgeous on it.

BenQ GW2765HT has lots of ports on it; VGA, DVI-D, Display Port and HDMI. Its built-in speakers provide enough audio quality for general purpose. Like other high-class monitors, it has a nice menu to choose between modes like Standard, Movie, Game, Photo, sRGB, Reading and Eco. I should say that Eco Mode will really help you to save some money by lowering electric bills. When choosing your new monitor, consider BenQ GW2765HT and read its reviews from different users.

BenQ BL2711U 27″ 3840×2160 IPS Monitor

BL2711U is a 27″ IPS monitor with 4K2K HD resolution with 20,000,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio for exceptional color accuracy. To prevent eye strain and eye fatigue, it comes with Zero Flicker and Low Blue Light technology. It renders colors professionally with 100% sRGB and Rec. 709 color space. For ergonomics, you can easily adjust its height and rotation for the best viewing experience.

If you are a designer, this could be the best monitor choice for you because it has CAD/CAM mode that offers superior contrast on 3D color lines. It also has the Animation Mode that enhances the creative process and provides a great experience for designers. PIP and PBP are also available on BL2711U. There are Display Port, DVI-D, and HDMI ports on this monitor and you should definitely read user reviews for it.

ASUS VX24AH 23.8″ WQHD IPS Eye Care Monitor

ASUS VX24AH is a 23.8″ monitor with 2560 x 1440 resolution and IPS display technology. This one also comes with ASUS Eye Care Technology; Flicker-Free and Blue Light Filter to eliminate eye strain and eye fatigue. Colors look great on it and it has an anti-glare panel which is great for choosing the best monitor for eyes. It provides really nice viewing angles up to 178° and comes with a frameless bezel for multi-monitor configurations.

ASUS VX24AH has a VGA port and two HDMI ports with MHL support on it. This one would be a great choice for anyone wants a decent monitor for both console or pc gaming and office work. You can also pick two or three of this monitor and create a multi-monitor beast setup. If you need an eye and budget-friendly IPS monitor with quality, you should definitely check out ASUS VX24AH.

How many frames per second can the human eye see?
This is a tricky question. And much confusion about it is related to the fact, that this question is NOT the same as:
How many frames per second do I have to have to make motions look fluid?
And it's not the same as
How many frames per second makes the movie stop flickering?
And it's not the same as
What is the shortest frame a human eye would notice?

Imagine yourself watching movie of an unbelievably slow fog. You don't see edges and sharp borders. Now play the movie with 10fps. It will look fluid. Why? Because the difference from one frame to the other is very low. The extreme would be a totally unmoving wall: Then 1 fps would equal 1000 fps.

Now take your hand and move it slowly in front of your face. Then move it faster until it's blurry. How many frames per second do you see? It must be little, because you see only a blurred hand without being able to distinguish every change per millisecond, but it must be many, because you see a fluid motion without any interruption or jump. So this is the eye's trick in both examples: Blurring simulates fluidity, sharpness simulates stuttering. (It's similar to 'rotation simulates gravity'.)

Motion blur example1: Capture from a live performance of The Corrs 'What can I do' at MTV Unpluged

Motion blur example2: Capture from 'Basic Instinct', where you see a woman plunging an ice pick into a man's body while sitting on him.

The fact is that the human eye perceives the typical cinema film motion as being fluid at about 18fps, because of its blurring.

If you could see your moving hand very clear and crisp, then your eye needed to make more snapshots of it to make it look fluid. If you had a movie with 50 very sharp and crisp images per second, your eye would make out lots of details from time to time and you had the feeling, that the movie is stuttering.

Also 25fps but without motion blur: Footage from BBC's story about Ed Gein, the murderer, who's case inspired Hitchcock to make 'Psycho' and Jonathan Demme to make 'Silence of the Lambs'. The music is from CNN's 'Marketmakers' (0.52 MB).

Just think of modern games: Have you ever played Quake with 18fps? There is no motion blur in those games, thus you need a lot of frames per second more.

However, you see the spots and the dirt of single frames in a cinema film, don't you? And those movies are played at 24fps. So there is a difference between seeing motions fluid and seeing that there's something (dirt) at all. Read on.

Imagine you look at a shining white wall. Now this wall turns totally black for 1/25th of a second. Would you notice it? You surely would. 1/50th of a second, well maybe harder. 1/100th of a second? Very difficult. Think of your 100Hz TV sets. They are called flickerfree, because at flicker rates of 100 times per second you stop to notice the blackness of the TV screen, though the TV screen isn't shining all the time, but pulsating 100 times per second. Brightness eats darkness.

Take again 'Test 1: Smoothness of motion'. You have a fluid film with 24 fps. The film roll has to roll thru the projector. To not see it rolling you have to make the picture black while the film rolls on. You would have to blacken the screen 24 times per second. But 24 black moments are too visible. Thus you have smooth motions but flicker.
The solution is: Show each frame 3 times and make the screen black 3 times per frame. This makes the black moments shorter and more frequent: 'Triple the refresh rate'. So you see about 72fps in the cinema, where 3 consecutive frames are the same. Strange solution? Solution of an analog world. And an example how 'Brightness eats darkness'.

Let's do the opposite test to 'Sensitivity to darkness'. Let's talk about, how sensitive the eye is to brightness.

Imagine yourself in a very dark room. You have been there for hours and it's totally black. Now light flashes right in front of you. Let's say as bright as the sun. Would you see it, when it's only 1/25th of a second? You surely would. 1/100th of a second? Yes. 1/200th of a second? Yes. Tests with Air force pilots have shown, that they could identify the plane on a flashed picture that was flashed only for 1/220th of a second.

That is identifying. So it's pretty safe to say, that recognizing, that SOME light was there is possible with 1/300th of a second. Now if you take into consideration, that you have two eyes with different angles and different areas of sensitivity (you probably know, that you see TV flickering best, when you don't look directly into the TV screen, but with the sides of your eyes) and you can move/rotate/shake your head and your eyes to a different position, you probably needed flashes as short as 1/500th of second to make sure, nobody sees them in any case.

Now, what happens if I flashed you 1/500th of a second once in a second for 365 days directly into your eye? Would you feel something strange? Would it feel different than without it? Would you notice that something is wrong?

So, we should add a security value, to make sure nobody sees ANYTHING even unconsciously and feels comfortable about it.

Maybe the industry didn't add enough security factor to CDs and that's why many people still feel that analog is sometimes better. It's like in a room full of neon lights. You just know that something isn't right.

High Refresh Rate Phone

The reasons for the results of Test 2 and Test 3 are afterimages. Bright light creates an afterimage in the eye. The same way you see light in your eye seconds AFTER the doctor shined a light into it. This afterlight makes it possible to see what was there seconds ago. The brightness of the afterimage of the cinema canvas produces such afterimages and thus helps the movie to be flickerfree.

So the question 'How many frames do I need to make the movie flickerfree' = to not see the blackness between the frames (about 70-100 fps) doesn't answer the question 'How short can a bright image be to see it?' = the Airforce question and this doesn't answer the question 'How short can a (not bright) image be to see it?'.

So the conclusion is: To make movies/Virtual Reality perfect, you'd have to know what you want. To have a perfect illusion of everything that can flash, blink and move you shouldn't go below 500 fps.

If your screen refreshes at 85Hz and your game runs at 50Hz (=50fps): Are you sure that you don't need to synchronize them? Are you sure, you don't need to play with a multiple of 85 to enjoy synchronized refresh updates? So the game running at 85fps may better than at 100fps. Maybe even a TFT display was better. It displays only with about 40fps but progressively.
Even though single eye cells (rods and cones) may have their limitations due to their chemical reaction times and due to the distance to the brain, you cannot be sure how they interact or complement or synchronize. If 1 cell is able to perceive 10fps, 2 cells may be able to perceive 20fps by complementing one another. So don't confuse 'The human eye' with 'The cell'.
Some eye cells are reacting only when a stimulus is moving. Some react when it's moving from A to B, some when it's moving from D to Z. This may complicate frame-based simulation of reality.
Motion of your body could alter the way how you perceive. Do you get headaches after watching 3 movies in the cinema in a row? Maybe that's because you didn't move with the filmed motion? This is the reason for front-passengers' indispositions (= somebody else moved the car) and seasickness (=the sea moved the ship suddenly). Maybe this is the reason why 3D gaming glasses will never work perfectly. And this has nothing to do with frame rates.
When you look straight (= with the center of your eyes) it's not the same as if it was with the sides of your eyes. The sides are more sensitive to brightness and to flickering. The next time you are in the cinema do the following: Look up to the ceiling while the movie is playing. Especially during bright/white scenes you will clearly notice that the movie flickers.
Sensitivity to blue is different than to green: You see green best, even when it's dark, e.g. leaves in a forest at night. So 'blue frames per second' may differ from 'green frames per second'
Do you like to play Quake? Do you think 'More is better'? Maybe that's why you think 200fps is better than 180fps.
Do you think moving in 3D games is stuttering? Maybe your mouse scans motion with too little dpi (Dots Per Inch) or fps (Frames Per Second)?
Do you think it is important that a graphics card can display 250 fps in your favourite game, because that's a feature they write about in PC magazines and on covers?
Now this is just a figure to show how fast the card is, not to show that you need such a high frame rate. It's like with cars: 100km/h in 5 seconds. When will you ever need to go 100km/h in 5 seconds?

So what is 'Enough fps'? I don't know, because nobody went there so far. Maybe 120fps is enough, maybe you will get headaches after 3 hours. Seeing framewise is simply not the way how the eyebrain system works. It works with a continuous flow of lightinformation. (Similar to the effects of cameras' flashlights ('red eyes'): flashing is simply not the way how we see). So there are still questions. Maybe you need as much as 4000fps, maybe less, maybe more.

The same question as for fps will arise for resolution. How many pixels can the human eye see? Does 2000x1000 (=Star Wars Episode II resolution) look like reality? Or is it just enough to make a film 'cinemable'?