Dark Mode | Tips & Tricks
I suffer from migraines, like many others I know. And the sensitivity to light initially motivated me to look for ways to reduce brightness and darken my monitors as much as possible. But once I moved most of the applications on my computer and phone into dark mode, I found that even when I wasn’t in the migraine cycle it had a huge benefit on reducing my eye strain.
So, what is dark mode, you’re wondering? No, it’s not the dark web. Most often it’s a toggle switch in the settings of an application or website that allows you to flip the color scheme so that the bright white background becomes black or dark gray and the text becomes white or light gray.
Why does this help? Well, I’m sure there are more scientific answers than I can give, but a fair part of the white we see on the screen is actually part of the blue spectrum, which triggers certain parts of the brain. Without having medical credentials, all I’ll say is that reducing the white background in favor of the dark gray backgrounds has reduced my eye strain and made my screen time less of a trigger for my migraines.
I tell anyone I know that gets migraines or struggles with eye strain to consider switching their electronic screens to dark mode. Hopefully this will help you too!
Authored by Heather Brown, Grants and Contracts Administrator
Duke Human Vaccine Institute
SRAI Catalyst Co-editor
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