Whenever you’re in front of your computer you’re staring at the screen for a prolonged period of time. It doesn’t matter if you use a laptop or a desktop monitor, you’re going to expose yourself to serious health risk if you choose a poor quality monitor because it’s cheaper or simply don’t know what the signs of a good monitor are.

A good quality desktop screen is usually TFT. This isn’t always true, because there are professional CRT monitors that produce better quality picture than a cheap TFT, but most of the old big heavy monitors are plain bad.

Tft monitors aren’t good quality every time either. If you buy a cheap one you’re most probably getting a TN panel TFT that loses and twists colors even at the slightest nod of the head. These monitors are considered low quality and for a better color gamut people usually crank contrast and brightness way up thinking it will be better.

They’re risking their eyes, as high too high contrast and brightness can damage sight easily. Contrast makes it harder to make out plain black text on white background and that strains eye muscles while high brightness for multiple hours a day is like staring into the sun for a while. It damages the cones.

Good quality monitors cost a bit more but they well worth the investment. Any dollar you spend on ensuring proper health safety is a dollar well spent. Try to pick a monitor that has an IPS or S-IPS panel, such as Apple Cinema Display or particular high-end Dell and Samsung models. Recent iMacs are fitted with this type of desktop screen as well.

It’s not only the quality of the present panel that matters on the long run. A large computer screen can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. While larger desktop screens are usually good for people who multitask a lot. They will find that they get frustrated on a large screen less often and that is obviously a good thing for your blood pressure.

People who use a big computer screen will also notice that they move their eyes a lot more. A 22″ monitor takes a lot more eye movement than a 10″ netbook screen. This can be either good or bad. Bad because it may strain eye muscles, and good because it keeps them in good shape with all the exercise.

Large monitors are often used on the desk and while it isn’t a bad thing on its own, people sit really close to them. Radiation is much stronger in bigger monitors because the backlight is usually stronger. If you get a large desktop monitor, make sure you sit far enough from it to keep your eyes safe.

It’s not only the eyes that can suffer strain from an improper monitor placement. If the monitor is too much under the natural eye height or too high above, you’re going to risk back strain. Keeping the head in an unnatural position is just the door for long term neck injuries and back pain.

Make sure you read all the safety tips on the boxing of the monitor you buy, manufacturers are now obliged to disclose health safety instructions with all their new monitors, keyboards, mice and other appliances.

Choose from good quality desktop monitors and make sure you follow health safety guidelines and you’ll be able to stay healthy and be able to spend more time in front of the computer at the same time.