Look at a monitor in a dark room for awhile and then turn it off. You should see strobing in your vision if you have a low refresh rate monitor. This induces eye strain more quickly.
Obviously visible strobing only indicates low refresh rate in CRTs and the rare few monitors with black frame insertion or scanning backlights. In most cases strobing is caused by PWM brightness control, which has the visual disadvantage of strobing without the sample-and-hold-blur reducing advantage of frame-syncronized strobing. PWM brightness control is purely a cost saving measure. At high frequencies it might not bother you but it's rare for PWM frequency to be listed in the specifications.
My phone uses PWM brightness control at about 200Hz so I run it at full brightness (100% duty cycle) if I'm using it for a long time which negates the strobing.
Continuation of: Spend Money on Ergonomics, by Kevin
Three years have elapsed since Kevin wisely told us to spend money on treating our bodies well. It may be time to check for new gadgets, to verify what has worked and what has not etc...
If you have purchased an item for this purpose, or intend to buy one and don't know which, tell here, ask here.
Nick Bostrom uses a mouse that looks like a plane controller joystick.
I've seen keyboards that bend sideways, that are concave, that are convex, and that look like a sphere.
At FHI, dozens of books are used so that computer screens stay at eye level or above.
But I am no expert and I have not looked myself, nor would know how to. So please share in the comments the best knowledge about:
Keyboards
Mice
Chairs
Balls to sit on
Pillows
Beds/Matresses etc..
Screens - Size, position, brightness etc...
Other household office items - Stairs, Handles, Shower etc...