My telephone was giving me migraines, so I made these 5 modifications

Round 2022, I used to be recognized with power migraines. Not like regular complications, migraines include quite a lot of neurological signs on prime of the ache, akin to nausea, mild and sound sensitivity, and problem concentrating.

As I took the time to determine what my migraine triggers had been, just a few culprits stood out, together with the time spent on my smartphone. The intense display screen would usually set off migraines or worsen my current signs — so I needed to make just a few modifications to scale back the influence it had.

Most of those modifications additionally assist cut back eye pressure, so you may attempt them out even should you don’t have migraines or complications from display screen use. Since altering these settings and options, I discover my eyes don’t twitch after utilizing my display screen for lengthy intervals of time. However the greatest impact was on my migraine signs, with me experiencing fewer migraines triggered by display screen use and making certain I may nonetheless use my telephone throughout gentle migraines.

Whereas there could also be explanation why you would possibly need to keep away from darkish mode, the characteristic is crucial for me. I used to solely use darkish mode at evening time after I was making ready for mattress, however I’ve now made certain that darkish mode is the default mode on all of my units.

In some ways, darkish mode has develop into an accessibility characteristic for me. With out it, I wouldn’t have the ability to use my gadget with out risking triggering a migraine or making an current migraine worse.

On my Oppo Reno 10 Professional+, I even have the choice to set a darkish mode model: Enhanced, Medium, or Mild. Since Enhanced contains essentially the most darkness, with a black background, I opted for this model.

Switching over to darkish mode on my telephone additionally implies that most of my apps are additionally on this mode. For the few that didn’t swap over mechanically, I manually toggled darkish mode inside the app settings.

Eye Consolation, also referred to as Eye Safety or Evening Mild (relying on the precise OS you’re utilizing), is a blue mild filter accessible on Android smartphones. I used to make use of a blue mild filter app on my telephone, however since Android launched the flexibility to customise the filter setting, I can use the characteristic immediately by way of my smartphone software program.

I additionally made certain to toggle Eye Consolation to the default setting, moderately than limiting it to sure hours. In the meantime, I at all times regulate the temperature to as heat as doable to enhance my consolation when experiencing mild sensitivity.

Since my eyes regulate to this filter, it isn’t as distracting because it might sound. Nonetheless, the disadvantage is that it might probably have an effect on the colour accuracy of photographs you’re viewing. However I favor this caveat over the choice of getting my telephone trigger complications and eye pressure.

I’ve been which means to make the swap away from Chrome for some time now since I need to be much less reliant on Google apps. However the lack of the flexibility to make use of my darkish mode extension on Chrome’s Android app was the ultimate push I wanted to cease utilizing the app as my default cellular browser.

As an alternative, I’ve switched to Courageous, which permits me to drive darkish mode on internet pages that use a lightweight theme by default. Whereas many web sites assist darkish mode, there are nonetheless just a few that solely have a lightweight theme. I seen this essentially the most when studying information or trying up recipes.

The characteristic to drive darkish mode is obtainable in Courageous’s Look settings, the place you may select to allow evening mode.” To date, I haven’t encountered any points with getting websites to ship a black background and white textual content, which has made the change to a distinct browser worthwhile.

Whereas Adaptive Brightness on Android is beneficial, I discovered that my mild sensitivity usually meant that the brightness my telephone mechanically set was just too vivid. That is particularly an issue at evening, after I set my display screen to 0% brightness after I’m in mattress.

The principle disadvantage of it is a slight lack of comfort. After I go exterior, my telephone display screen doesn’t mechanically regulate, and I’ve to make use of muscle reminiscence to show the brightness again up. However the primary profit is that my telephone doesn’t mechanically flip the brightness again up as soon as I’ve turned it down.

Typically I might be utilizing my telephone after I began to really feel the acquainted ache in the back of my eyes, and I’d notice my display screen was too vivid — however by this time it was already too late, the migraine cascade had began. So, manually adjusting the brightness has been well worth the comfort trade-off.

Whereas most of my modifications profit eye pressure normally, this one is a little more particular to migraines. Movement sensitivity is a typical symptom in migraines, and I discover that sure motions on my smartphone could make my nausea worse.

That’s why I at all times make sure that my show refresh price is about to my telephone’s most (120Hz). This larger refresh price reduces stuttering on my display screen whereas scrolling, which in flip helps me not really feel as sick from the jittery movement.

In fact, growing my display screen’s refresh price doesn’t do something in relation to watching movies that set off my movement sensitivity — like movies recorded with a shaky digicam. However at the least I can simply scroll by way of my telephone’s settings and Reddit threads with out inflicting points (so long as I don’t scroll too quick).

Making these modifications not solely decreased my eye pressure and lightweight sensitivity but additionally made my telephone a lot much less of a set off for my migraines. When a migraine does hit, these modifications permit me to nonetheless use my gadget after I’m caught in mattress and must atone for messages.

If you end up having an identical expertise or experiencing eye pressure from display screen use, I’d additionally counsel attempting out other ways to scale back the influence of display screen use — each in your smartphone and your pc.