What height should my monitor be?
Set the top edge of the screen at or slightly below your eye level when you are sitting upright, with the screen about an arm's length away and tilted back roughly 10 to 20 degrees. From that position your eyes rest naturally in the upper part of the display and drift down slightly to read, which is the range they are most comfortable in without your head moving.1
How do I set it without measuring anything?
Sit the way you actually sit, not the way you sit when someone is watching. Close your eyes, relax your neck, then open them. Wherever you are looking should land near the top third of the screen. If you are looking at the desk, the screen is too low. If you are looking at the wall above it, too high.
Why is too low worse than too high?
Because a low screen makes you flex your neck forward and hold it there, which is the loaded position. A slightly high screen makes you extend your neck slightly, which is uncomfortable but carries less sustained load.
Neither is good, and too low is by far the more common problem — nearly every default laptop and many monitor stands sit below eye level.
| Screen position | What your neck does | Typical result |
|---|---|---|
| Well below eye level | Sustained forward flexion | Aching at the back of the neck, tension headaches |
| Slightly below the top edge at eye level | Near-neutral | The target |
| Above eye level | Sustained extension | Ache at the base of the skull, dry eyes |
| Off to one side | Sustained rotation | One-sided neck and shoulder pain |
What about two monitors?
Put the one you use most directly in front of you, and the second immediately beside it at the same height. Do not centre yourself on the gap between two screens — that arrangement guarantees you spend the day rotated to one side or the other.
If you genuinely use both equally, centre on the gap and turn your whole chair rather than only your head.
I wear varifocals. Does that change anything?
Yes, significantly. Progressive and varifocal lenses put the reading correction at the bottom of the lens, so a screen at standard height forces you to tip your head back to see it clearly. That is a well-recognised cause of neck pain in people over about 45.2
Lower the screen by 10 to 15 cm from the standard recommendation, or ask your optician about dedicated computer glasses with the intermediate correction across the whole lens. Do not try to solve it with posture — you will lose.
How far away should it be?
Roughly an arm's length, about 50 to 75 cm for a typical monitor. If the text is too small at that distance, increase the font size rather than moving the screen closer. Leaning in to read is one of the most common routes into forward head posture, and it happens gradually enough that you never notice yourself doing it.
Does any of this matter if I move regularly?
Movement matters more than the exact setup, but they are not alternatives. A well-set screen reduces the load you accumulate; regular movement clears what you do accumulate. A perfect setup held motionless for four hours is still four hours of static loading.3
Set the screen once, correctly, then set a reminder to move every 30 to 45 minutes. The setup is a one-off; the movement is the habit.