Strange health issue with using my new monitor

[doive1231]

Hi,

I bought a Philips 197E3L 19" widescreen LED monitor as its power usage is only 10W in operation. However, since the first day I used it, I have experienced a disturbed stomach ie. it feels unsettled throughout the day and night after using the monitor.

Its native resolution is 1366 x 768 @ 60Hz and my theory is that it's the 60Hz refresh rate that is messing with me. I contacted Philips customer support and they said the only way to increase the refresh rate is to use the monitor at 1280*1024 or 640*480 but they didn't recommend this.

Do you think the 60Hz refresh rate is to blame as when I switch to my old 1280 x 1024 LCD monitor at 75Hz, I have no health issues and my stomach feels fine?

I am running Windows 7, Intel HD3000 graphics with the latest drivers and the max 256MB video memory in the BIOS (MSI Z68S-G43), DVI cable (tried a VGA cable but couldn't get above 60Hz). Thx.

 

[smorizio]

could be two things...em feilds...some people are more sensitive to em fields then others. the 2 is that you eyes are picking up the screen as it refreshes. as you can change the setting to 70 hz. i would see if you can replace the monitor with one tha tcan do 75 or faster.

 

[azathoth]

LCD's are not like CRT's with refresh rate.
The screen at 60Hz means the pixels are updated 60 times per second. They actually stay on the entire time.

CRT's flash on and off rapidly. The refresh rate has nothing to do with your stomach.

EM fields are just a bunch of hysteria. Maybe it's something to do with incorrect lighting causing a migraine. Migraines do not necessarily come with head pain, what you might be feeling could be exactly that.

 

[doive1231]

Thanks for the replies.

I knew that LCDs were different to CRTs but did not know that the pixels stay on the entire time. This could rule out my refresh theory. Maybe I will try for a short period changing the resolution to 1280 x 1024 @ 75Hz, which is a supported resolution and see what happens. I do use a low wattage fluorescent bulb and the screen is in the darkest part of my room so I will explore things these too.

When I first had a computer in the 1990s, I had a CRT and experienced flickering when trying to sleep as I didn't know for a long time that the refresh rate could be increased.