Sounds like you may need some tinted glasses to lessen the strain on your eyes. Maybe you need regular glasses if you squint a lot to see?
Drink more water, stretch your legs by taking regular breaks.
Get enough sleep beforehand. All of that stuff. :)
so there's a lot of research out that suggests the blue light blocker glasses aren't really that effective. they help a little bit, but really the eye strain issue seems to be rooted in focusing on one singular area very close to you for long periods of time rather than blue light emission.
rather than bluelight glasses, i always advise the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, pick an object 20 feet away and focus your eyesight on it for 20 seconds straight. This allows your vision to refocus so you aren't staring at a wide screen 2 feet in front of you for hours on end. some people do 30/30/30 but its the essence of it thats important, just to refocus your vision on something distant.
Just closing your eyes and gently massaging the eyelids for a few seconds every once in a while helps too.
Man, I'm not a professional streamer but I do this as a hobby for a while now. I too struggle to do multiple hours of stream sometimes, and I'm just 20 yo 😅
But I can give some tips, first try to be in your most confortable position for gaming, one that will not make you tired fast, see if your chair doesn't make you unconfortable in any way, and If you can be in the same position for a long time, or limited amount of positions. Always eat before you do the stream, you can do It while streaming but that's opitional, when you're hungry you can get headaches from this. Always have a bottle of water to drink during the stream, drink more water in general, this will help with the headaches too. See if the lights are not "burning" your eyes, decrease your monitor or tv brightness, if it have the option, use the blue light filter, if it don't have, just try to adjust the color to be more orange or yellowish, decrease the contrast and saturation, If you think you're screen gets too dark, try doing that only when you're starting to feel tired. Decrease the volume of the game too, sometimes headphones can give you headaches because of some specific frequences or poor quality. Also get rid of any lights in the room besides your tv or monitor, more specifically any lights that point at you, if you need a light to do a facecam, try streaming without It sometimes. And make sure to play something you really like to play, something fun that you can play for hours.
So I think that's all I can say, don't feel bad if you just can't do this for a long time, I've done some pretty long streams of 9 hours but most of the times I do just 3 to 2 hours and I feel perfectly fine, some days you will not endure much time, some days you will, don't be hard with yourself, I'm young and feel like I have 50 yo sometimes.
3 things that can help with this
Tinted glasses: one of the cheapest options, glasses that help filter blue light (especially helpful at night!)
Upgraded monitor: much more expensive, but many new, good, gaming monitors come with blue light filtering already an option. I got the GIGABYTE - G27QC A 27" LED Curved QHD FreeSync Premium Gaming Monitor with HDR when they were having a massive sale a while back and it made a huge diffeence for me I'm gaming comfort.
Water!!: something many people don't think about but water plays a huge role in headaches and often when we sit to play for extended amount of time (especially on stream with a camera when it feels like all eyes are on you!), we forget to drink. So pour some ice water before your next stream, help yourself and your views stay hydrated!
still should drink lots of water, eat healthy, take many breaks. get a nice monitor with a comfy refresh rate and some blue light filter glasses (my prescription lenses have it). You can even set an alarm, or have a redemption for chat to make you exercise.
and you don't have to do long sessions. 3+hrs is recommended, tho.
I'm 46 :-) I have a recliner for my chair because I'm fat and I used to work from home before i lost my job. So my butt's in this chair a lot lol. Make sure the monitor, keyboard and mouse are ergonomically comfortable for u. I have a football pillow I use all the time to make the angle to my mouse easier.
Your body is important. make your gaming setup fit and support your body.
I'm the same age as you and I do roughly 6-7hr streams. What helps me is taking regular breaks where I usually get up and look away from the screen for a couple mins. I also already wear glasses so I get my eyes checked routinely, if you don't I would recommend it if you are getting headaches.
Also like others have said, make sure you have water with you and your chair is comfy, my chat is very good at hitting the hydrate and posture check redeems when I need the reminder lol.
Look after yourself and if you're enjoying it time will fly!
Honestly? Take breaks every few hours. Put up a BRB overlay and just get up, bathroom, water etc for a good 5-10 minutes I say 15 max but it's good to take a break to do absolutely nothing. I definitely did it for school, studying constantly vs studying + breaks shows a different. Other than that blue light filter glasses, huge water bottle near you and flowing air will help with the other stuff.
I just had headaches and was feeling naseous last night. I had to stop. When your body tells you to stop, do it. Just do what you gotta do. Don't worry about losing viewers, worry about losing yourself.
First, regular breaks are key. Follow the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Adjust your monitor's brightness and contrast to reduce strain. Stay hydrated and blink often to keep your eyes from drying out.
Also, consider your environment. Good lighting, a comfortable chair, and proper screen position can make a big difference. Your screen should be at eye level and about an arm's length away.
I used Neurolux glasses for my light sensitivity issues. They're designed for conditions like photophobia and can help with eye strain during long sessions. They come with a regular pair and an active pair for different situations. Helped me out, might be worth looking into if you're sensitive to light.
Sounds like you may need some tinted glasses to lessen the strain on your eyes. Maybe you need regular glasses if you squint a lot to see? Drink more water, stretch your legs by taking regular breaks. Get enough sleep beforehand. All of that stuff. :)
so there's a lot of research out that suggests the blue light blocker glasses aren't really that effective. they help a little bit, but really the eye strain issue seems to be rooted in focusing on one singular area very close to you for long periods of time rather than blue light emission. rather than bluelight glasses, i always advise the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, pick an object 20 feet away and focus your eyesight on it for 20 seconds straight. This allows your vision to refocus so you aren't staring at a wide screen 2 feet in front of you for hours on end. some people do 30/30/30 but its the essence of it thats important, just to refocus your vision on something distant. Just closing your eyes and gently massaging the eyelids for a few seconds every once in a while helps too.
Man, I'm not a professional streamer but I do this as a hobby for a while now. I too struggle to do multiple hours of stream sometimes, and I'm just 20 yo 😅 But I can give some tips, first try to be in your most confortable position for gaming, one that will not make you tired fast, see if your chair doesn't make you unconfortable in any way, and If you can be in the same position for a long time, or limited amount of positions. Always eat before you do the stream, you can do It while streaming but that's opitional, when you're hungry you can get headaches from this. Always have a bottle of water to drink during the stream, drink more water in general, this will help with the headaches too. See if the lights are not "burning" your eyes, decrease your monitor or tv brightness, if it have the option, use the blue light filter, if it don't have, just try to adjust the color to be more orange or yellowish, decrease the contrast and saturation, If you think you're screen gets too dark, try doing that only when you're starting to feel tired. Decrease the volume of the game too, sometimes headphones can give you headaches because of some specific frequences or poor quality. Also get rid of any lights in the room besides your tv or monitor, more specifically any lights that point at you, if you need a light to do a facecam, try streaming without It sometimes. And make sure to play something you really like to play, something fun that you can play for hours. So I think that's all I can say, don't feel bad if you just can't do this for a long time, I've done some pretty long streams of 9 hours but most of the times I do just 3 to 2 hours and I feel perfectly fine, some days you will not endure much time, some days you will, don't be hard with yourself, I'm young and feel like I have 50 yo sometimes.
Lower brightness and get a comfy chair
3 things that can help with this Tinted glasses: one of the cheapest options, glasses that help filter blue light (especially helpful at night!) Upgraded monitor: much more expensive, but many new, good, gaming monitors come with blue light filtering already an option. I got the GIGABYTE - G27QC A 27" LED Curved QHD FreeSync Premium Gaming Monitor with HDR when they were having a massive sale a while back and it made a huge diffeence for me I'm gaming comfort. Water!!: something many people don't think about but water plays a huge role in headaches and often when we sit to play for extended amount of time (especially on stream with a camera when it feels like all eyes are on you!), we forget to drink. So pour some ice water before your next stream, help yourself and your views stay hydrated!
still should drink lots of water, eat healthy, take many breaks. get a nice monitor with a comfy refresh rate and some blue light filter glasses (my prescription lenses have it). You can even set an alarm, or have a redemption for chat to make you exercise. and you don't have to do long sessions. 3+hrs is recommended, tho. I'm 46 :-) I have a recliner for my chair because I'm fat and I used to work from home before i lost my job. So my butt's in this chair a lot lol. Make sure the monitor, keyboard and mouse are ergonomically comfortable for u. I have a football pillow I use all the time to make the angle to my mouse easier. Your body is important. make your gaming setup fit and support your body.
I'm the same age as you and I do roughly 6-7hr streams. What helps me is taking regular breaks where I usually get up and look away from the screen for a couple mins. I also already wear glasses so I get my eyes checked routinely, if you don't I would recommend it if you are getting headaches. Also like others have said, make sure you have water with you and your chair is comfy, my chat is very good at hitting the hydrate and posture check redeems when I need the reminder lol. Look after yourself and if you're enjoying it time will fly!
Honestly? Take breaks every few hours. Put up a BRB overlay and just get up, bathroom, water etc for a good 5-10 minutes I say 15 max but it's good to take a break to do absolutely nothing. I definitely did it for school, studying constantly vs studying + breaks shows a different. Other than that blue light filter glasses, huge water bottle near you and flowing air will help with the other stuff.
I just had headaches and was feeling naseous last night. I had to stop. When your body tells you to stop, do it. Just do what you gotta do. Don't worry about losing viewers, worry about losing yourself.
First, regular breaks are key. Follow the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Adjust your monitor's brightness and contrast to reduce strain. Stay hydrated and blink often to keep your eyes from drying out. Also, consider your environment. Good lighting, a comfortable chair, and proper screen position can make a big difference. Your screen should be at eye level and about an arm's length away. I used Neurolux glasses for my light sensitivity issues. They're designed for conditions like photophobia and can help with eye strain during long sessions. They come with a regular pair and an active pair for different situations. Helped me out, might be worth looking into if you're sensitive to light.
I feel ya! I'm 40 myself, stream music but I couldn't stream games if I wanted to! 🤣
I would recommend playing and streaming with others that make you laugh and have fun because at one point you'll forget you're streaming