Published: 2026-07-24
Yesterday I had the worst migraine I have had in a long time. But this is not new. For over a decade I have had at least one full-blown migraine a month. The level of which makes staring at a screen for work impossible. Each minute is like a nail driving into my forehead. The base of my skull where it meets my neck is stiff along with my shoulder on the same side. And sometimes it has gone so far that I dry-heave.
It is a nasty thorn I have lived with for ten years. But some good has come from it. I now own a standing desk, split keyboard, use blue light blockers, special font, and even learned light theme is best for any with an astigmatism. All of these have taken a week of migraines a month down to maybe a day.
But they are still there, they still come when I least expect it. They derail my productivity in writing, programming, and jockeying messages around important people over Slack. The screens I have been using are the same everywhere, which makes it worse. I will take a break and the pain will lessen enough that I can focus again. So I log back on, do some work, and within minutes the migraine is ramping up. So I push through, gotta get that last batch of agents kicked off so I do not miss the deadline.
And then it is full debilitating once more.
I am starting to think screens are most of the problem. But I am a technologist, I make software, build systems, and solve problems using computer technology. I am not going to give up the one thing I am sure God has gifted me the ability to do and do well.
Migraines affect 14% of the world's population and are the second leading cause of years lost to disability [1]. The third leading cause of DALYs (disability adjusted life years) [2], and ninety-three percent of the economic cost is productivity loss. That's about 50 billion euros a year in the EU alone (no idea how they figured that out) [1].
Migraines are most common between ages 30 and 40 [2]; which is exactly where I am. These are the most productive years of our lives but those of us who get frequent migraines still need to be productive. We still have goals to hit and just because we have a migraine does not mean the whole day should be lost.
Cognitive dysfunction is the second most disabling symptom of a migraine attack, after pain [3]. 90% of migraineurs (the studies love that descriptor) say they cannot focus during an episode. 40% say they cannot focus during the postdromal phase, which is the part after the pain subsides [3]. Some have even reported a fear of doing anything involving cognitive load [1].
Just because our cognition is proven to be impaired does not mean there is no cognition. I can directly attest to that in yesterday's episode. It was very painful but I still was able to read, send messages, and get work done. Even though it was often in bursts since staring at a screen made it worse. From what I can tell this is not going away with our traditional screens.
From the research it seems that the increase in pain is triggered by wavelengths and sub-visual flicker, flicker that is there but we cannot see. Both of these triggers are present in the screens we use for laptops, mobile devices, and monitors. Photophobia (light sensitivity) is a trigger for at least 80% of people suffering from a migraine. It turns out that colored light makes migraines worse, not so much green light though [4].
There is a lot of deep science around the eye that I am not going to pretend to understand here but from what I do understand; there are parts of the eye that are not part of seeing but still pick up these short wavelengths of light. During a migraine, the study proved that this light is not simply uncomfortable but it triggers the exact parts of the eye that cause migraine pain [5].
So the wavelength of these screens triggers the parts of the eye that cause the pain. Which is why looking at them makes our migraines worse.
But there is still flicker and this flicker is a documented migraine trigger.
Most of our screens dim their backlight through Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM), a rapid on and off of the backlight. This fast on and off is normally harmless and nobody usually notices, but it does trigger headaches, eye strain, and migraines. The brighter the screen the less it flickers. Great but then we are staring at a stronger variant of these short wavelengths that trigger pain. Turn the brightness down and the wavelength of light is less intense but now the flicker is worse.
This seems like a lose-lose for those of us with migraines.
But luckily, we have E-Ink displays.
My first e-ink device was a third generation Kindle, the Kindle Keyboard. The moment I started reading on it I knew something was different. It felt better than reading on my phone, tablet, or computer. I also loved carrying a massive library in one device (I am not one to care about turning a physical page).
More importantly, I do not get the same eye strain after hours on a Kindle. E-ink displays, like the ones in the Kindle, do not have a backlight. So there is no abundance of short-wavelength light to trigger the pain. And e-ink does not flicker the way LCD does. There is a refresh on a page turn or when new data is to be displayed but it only fires when the page actually changes. Not every few milliseconds like a laptop screen.
There was a study done in 2013 to compare e-ink to LCD screens and paper [6]. What was found is that compared to paper, LCD screens (like in your laptop and phone) show significantly higher visual fatigue and E-ink showed no difference. They measured blinks per second, which when using an LCD display shows significantly slower blink rates compared to paper. Again, e-ink showed no difference. They also found that when using LCD screens our pupils get smaller, making our eyes work harder.
To keep this fair, the study I just referenced was conducted with a sample size of 12 young adults with no history of migraines. Each device was used for reading over 73-minute segments and used Kindle products (Fire HD and Paperwhite) against a paper book. The study was measuring fatigue and not its direct effects against migraines.
So I'm going to test whether using e-ink displays lessens migraine episodes, helps me keep working through them, or has no effect when my brain is being stabbed by my biology. I found no studies on e-ink and whether it helps, hurts, or is neutral during a migraine attack. But I want to know; can I be productive with a migraine without making it worse? How do the newer e-ink computer monitors hold up? Will the lag of input make it useless?
The American Migraine Foundation tells us to rest in a dark, quiet room and avoid screens. I cannot do what I love in a dark room with no screen. I do not want the migraine to be an excuse for a day off. That is why God made sabbath, and when it is a normal work day I would rather be creative and productive than laying in bed with only my thoughts and a migraine.
E-ink may be the path to staying productive when a migraine hits. It may even be the path to fewer migraines if the screen is the trigger. Performing a normal day of work and writing during a migraine without making it worse is a successful case study.
My normal day includes programming (I mean talking to AI coding agents), writing essays, and coordinating with coworkers over Slack. Currently I am stuck with either a MacBook Pro laptop screen or a traditional monitor. Everything I do is through a screen like these. I know devices exist for writing that use e-ink, and there are even mobile phones that use e-ink now. These devices will be more manageable for me to get my hands on than a full e-ink monitor that costs $1,500 USD. I also use my phone a lot on the go to capture ideas or help my coworkers which leads to a big source of screen time.
This morning I had the end of the migraine from yesterday and I tested reading my Kindle during that phase. I did not get any new pain like I did using my phone to check my email. This gives me hope that my hypothesis has a possibility of proving true.
I cannot test the full idea on my Kindle alone. My work requires many interactions across many apps and devices. I am looking for manufacturers willing to loan or donate e-ink devices for the experiment. My plan is to follow up with another post, disclose what tools I used, and if they helped keep me productive during migraines. As well as if using them daily lessens the frequency of my migraines.
If you make an e-ink device meant to help people work differently, I would be honored to partner with you.
This experiment asks a narrow question but there sits a bigger one behind it. Do we have to keep adapting our bodies to fit the machines we use? Or can we adapt the machines to fit our bodies?
If e-ink reclaims one lost day of creating for me, it shows one small way we can make technology work with nature instead of overpowering it.