2023-10-22 03:50:02
For three years, Magali Lacroix has worked in front of two computer screens all day. “And I often look at my phone, I’m a bit addicted”, she admits, looking guilty. And it has been three years since this 46-year-old Montpellier woman has felt “headaches, pain between the two eyes and visual fatigue” recurrently following his working day. She quickly made the connection between these symptoms and time spent in front of screens. Before being a consultant in a consulting firm, Magali had a job ” ground “ which didn’t force her to stare at a computer from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and she never complained of headaches. Likewise, on vacation, she had never experienced a migraine.
This state of discomfort is described by researchers as « visually-induced motion sickness », which can be translated as “motion sickness caused by vision”. This is opposed to motion sickness caused by “a real movement like that of a car, a boat or even a spaceship”, explains Behrang Keshavarz, researcher at the Kite Institute at Toronto Hospital, Canada, and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. There is a conflict in the brain between what the eyes perceive (movement) and what the inner ear feels (stillness). The number of people affected by too much exposure to screens varies depending on the type of device and its use. “This can go up to 70% of users for certain virtual reality videos”says M. Keshavarz.
A word has even been created to speak specifically of these inconveniences caused by virtual reality: “cybersickness” (cybersickness, in English). Headaches, visual fatigue, sweating, paleness… The symptoms are diverse. It can even lead to nausea and dizziness.
This is the case of Pauline Perrier, 28, an IT consultant in Sanary-sur-Mer, in the Var. She spends the majority of her time in front of a computer for her work, sometimes ten hours in the same day. “My eyelids often flutter, and when I get up, my head is dizzy, I see everything black for a few seconds”, she describes. She continues, annoyed: “I am often told that I have a magnesium deficiency or that I lack sleep, but I see very clearly that when I am on vacation, I do not have these sensations. »
On several occasions, she took vitamin and magnesium treatments – “even if I’m not a fan of taking pills every day”, she confides – but that in no way solved her problem. She exercises outdoors four times a week, walks her dog following work and never uses her computer for entertainment, but that’s not enough. “I would need a four-day week”she suggests, even if it is not at all on the agenda for her employer.
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