Coffee and stress

madmozg

Hey guys, just wanted to ask ppl if they noticed that the amount of stress and coffee could worse the symptoms of flickering even with non problem displays. In my case if I have a stress situation and also drinking coffee, literally any screen would give me a flickering problems, not like nausea, but a brain fog or some slight eye strain.

Akhaaten

madmozg As someone with a severe anxiety issue : yes stress messes with your vision. It often gives tunnel vision, difficulties adapting to light, eye floaters, dryness and blury vision. So it wouldn't be surprising if it also makes you sensitive to flickering. And considering that stress makes you more aware of any movement, then yeah i guess it makes you more sensitive to flickering too.
As for coffee, it increases stress so same thing.

Sunspark

Stress will mess with you in dozens of ways. It can even kill you.

Coffee is a stimulant drug and for sure if you have too much of it you will get dehydrated and jittery.

madmozg

Akhaaten yeah that what I was noticed as well.

ploaian

Yes, that seems to be the case for me as well. Mostly if i'm stressed i get this issues. If i'm relaxed and have a coffee i'm less affected by screens.

Deepdeep

I find that stress makes me more sensitive to flicker etc on screens too, resulting in anxiety, tension, brain fog etc (depending on the device).

keh566

For me drinking coffee seems to have different effects, depending on brewing method and hunger. If I drink coffee without eating something big, I have problems with concentration, then switching through windows on my monitor during worktime more often and then comes the eye strain in greater effect.

BloodyHell619

Yes mate, stress, anxiety and coffee which all lead to increased blood pressure and more focus can definitely have a massive effect on making a BAD screen many times worse but from my personal experience if a screen is BAD it is BAD and if it is GOOD it is GOOD. So don't drive yourself crazy thinking that a screen has become bad because you are stressed or focusing too much on it. Stress, anxiety and coffee only determine how long (and by how long I only mean how many hours not days or weeks or more) you can withstand a BAD screen (because a bad screen will finally become unusable after a few days), they will never turn a BAD screen into a GOOD screen or a GOOD screen into a BAD screen.

The only question that remains for myself is if blood pressure itself might have a big role to play on our increasing strains. My mom is a doctor and though she is clueless about PWM and TD, she keeps telling me it might be because I have a high blood pressure which increases the pressure in my eyes. Do any of you have a high blood pressure, and can you withstand a display when you take blood pressure pills ?

AGI

BloodyHell619 she keeps telling me it might be because I have a high blood pressure which increases the pressure in my eyes.

I do not have high blood pressure, I do not smoke, I do not drink, I do not have any pathology or take any medication, still I am desperate. I have seen a million specialists of any sort in the last few years, I have heard the fanciest speculations and tried rather expensive and long treatments (vision therapy, neuro-rehab, physiotherapy, personal training, osteopathy, acupuncture, supplements). Nothing has ever given me the confidence I was making significant progress. I reckon all the problems I am facing are just the consequence of an underlying issue at eye/brain level that has always been there and is now exasperated by inconsiderate although unavoidable use of electronics and the replacement of light sources with LEDs, which are a nightmare for me. IMHO, coffee, blood pressure, posture, unbalanced diet etc are eventually factors of the second or third order. That said, I would still try to lead a life as healthy as possible.

CorvusCorax

It's interesting because a few days ago I decided to give up eating sweets and drinking coffee. Interestingly, I immediately felt the difference (maybe it's a placebo?). The monitor and my phone no longer affect me negatively so much. Maybe the reason is different, I don't know, I'll keep an eye on it. I'll let you know.

wlmsn

CorvusCorax Has this improvement still held up?

Zodios

Caffeine have effect on eye and vision:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22863322/

Conclusions: The present study showed a significant vasoconstrictory response of the retinal vessels 1 hr after caffeine intake in young healthy subjects. Retinal vessel diameter changes were negatively correlated with MAP after caffeine consumption. These effects seem to be elicited by an autoregulatory response of the retinal vessels to the increased blood pressure changes after caffeine.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/fullarticle/413456

Reduced cardiovascular function impacts the ability of the normal visual system to adapt and regulate flicker sensitivity. Elevated intraocular pressure and increased age reduce flicker sensitivity relatively uniformly across a range of stimulus conditions. Because the ratio of mean arterial blood pressure to heart rate equals total peripheral vascular resistance multiplied by cardiac stroke volume, and because total peripheral resistance is determined largely at the arterioles, it is likely that even modest changes in arteriolar function are associated with measurable alterations of visual function.

So coffee/caffeine can be a trigger

Zodios

Overall, the psychostimulant caffeine slightly increased the response of the retina to light and color stimuli, the effect in the evening being stronger in subjects with melancholic temperament.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:HUMP.0000013764.12354.7d