My new 27" imac makes me feel sick, what can I do?

did you fix this?

i just talked to an apple support guy and he says the screen refresh is at 60hz. not visible with the naked eye.

he said 98% of people can't detect it, but 2% can. i'm in the 2% makes me feel motion sick.

when i look away i see dark and white horizontal lines. that's the screen refreshing.

it's visible with a video.

he recommended taking it to an apple store and seeing if they can turn the refresh rate up to 70hz so it's not visible at all to our senses or something like that.

I will find out tomorrow!

The difference is the screen size which makes all the "action" look bigger and more realistically lifelike, so you feel like you're on a rollercoaster. I am also very susceptible to this (motion sickness), so:

do not use full screen

do scroll very slowly using the mouse or the arrow on the keyboard

sit back far enough to feel 'disengaged' from the screen.

turn up ambient room lighting, turn down monitor brightness a bit, and unglue your eyeballs from the screen surface.

Youre too close and getting 'screen flickered' 😊

What type of lighting is in the room?

It is possible that there is some interference between the room lights and the screen lighting. Fluorescent lights for example, can cause this.

Easy way to check is to turn off the room lights temporarily.

Are you saying that you get sick by looking at a stationary page (one that does not move and is just text, no moving graphics/pictures/videos)? If that is the case, then I have no idea how that could happen - make the page smaller (no full screen).

Or do you only feel sick after looking at a video or playing a fast moving game? If that is the case, then reduce the size of the game/video from full screen down to a much smaller and more manageable size.

Hey BradHenryPottery,

Just wondering if you had any luck with the Mac store changing the refresh rate to 70Hz? I would like to get that done if it is indeed possible.

Also, was wondering if you could post to say whether or not it made a difference.

Thanks,

Brent

BTW everyone.. I noticed I never followed up with my orignal post. Gunner Glases do help a little bit, as well as turning down the brightness on the display. Adding more light to the room can also help. However, they are not complete solutions. I would really like to see if it would be possible to change the refresh rate ( understanding that these backlit LED displays do not have exactly the same type of "refresh" as old TFT monitors etc.)

Hi djaygray,

I am having the same problem. I absolutely love my 27" iMac, but it makes me feel sick about 5 minutes after using it. The problem has become worse, because when I first purchased it about a year ago I had no problems using it hours at a time.

Looking around at different posts, it seems others are having trouble with the backlit display.

So far I have played around with the color temperature settings and the brightness. Nothing helps. I have ordered some Gunnar glasses to see if they will cut down on the glare and help. Failing that, I am going to have to switch to a pro machine where I can buy my own display. I have two 24 inch screens at work side by side, same distance from my chair, and they cause me no problems whatsoever.

I am really bummed out about potentially having to buy a new screen or change computers. Part of the reason why I love the mac is that that it does not have wires all over the place. I ***** that I will have to go back to a cabled monitor...but it beats the alternative of feeling sick all of the time.

I sure hope Apple looks at some different screen technology in the future.

It took me a long time to figure out that it was just this screen and not other health issues like an inner ear probelm or something. It is definitely the screen.

Pleaee let me know if you find any resolution to the issue (no pun intended). I will post if the Gunnar glasses help.

I have the same issues? Does anybody know how to fix this problem as I am about to throw my iMac outside on the dumpster? I have written to Apple and called customer service, you would think I would get a reply or answer to this unique problem. To anyone out there my problem is that after 5 to 10 minutes of working on my 27"iMac I feel completely sick, with such bad motion sickness I want to vomit!

I get nausous scrolling the screen. Within 5 minutes I get this feeling as if I have been on a merry go round and I just feel like throwing up! I am at my wit's end and don't know what is causing this? We have another Mac book Pro, Mac Book AIr and three ipads in our home and these other products from Apple don't do what the 27" iMac does to me?

Ha, you're the only one whom I know that uses the keyboard the way I do.... mine (and the mouse) is on a Logitech non-slip lap tray (actually meant to use with laptops), so I'm slightly reclined and relaxed working at the iMac which is set up to be lower so I don't have to look up to see it.

I get the same feeling with daylight from the outside or when the the light is on in the evening. Writting this tonight I am on the MacBook Air and feel perfect?

The difference can also be the seating, the way you sit & the type of chair you using while using your iMac.

I personally use a high back leather chair on wheels made by Global. The chair swivels, lounges back, increases & decreases height & rocks. When I am using my iMac, I keep the chair locked in the lounge back position at the highest height (I'm very tall) using my keyboard on my lap. Very relaxing for when I help out here in the community & trolling the net. The only thing I have to worry about is falling asleep! 🙂

Just something to think about.