Before or after I study Grammar or Vocabulary, I try to practice reading Japanese from sources including J versions of games, news sites etc as much as I can. I do this mainly to speed up my reading skill. I usually read a bit every week day.

I noticed I get a headache often when I'm in the middle of this. And this doesn't at all happen when I'm reading all my everyday English. It usually occurs after I've been reading Japanese for a while, somewhere around 20 minutes to an hour which is the minimum that I try to do each time a night.

So far one of my thoughts is it has to do with my brain getting used to what I'm reading as a language, and since my brain isn't all the way used to it, it's overloaded. The other thing is that I sometimes push my self to read faster, thinking that's what I need to do in order to actually raise my normal reading speed, though i bet I'm wrong and should just keep reading but at a normal pace.

So I don't know if it's something that I should ignore and keep on reading so my head will get used to it, or if it means I'm doing it too much, or reading too fast (like mentioned above, I sometimes try to speed read).

While I'm asking this I just wanna make sure of something. Since I have a good habit of reading every day of the midweek...should I just stick to specific amount of time just reading Japanese text each day, or would it benefit me more if I spent as much more time as possible each day? It's just a thought I had that you have to give it time to sink in, where adding more time to it each day than (IF) needed would be a waste.
I could probably give myself a big, fat, pile Japanese text to read, if increasing more each day is recommended.
But again I may have to plan this out depending what these headaches may be about.

So does anyone happen to know what I'm probably going through with these headaches? Or possibly have even experienced them?

Well, one thing I would suggest is buying a very bright light-bulb to use in you desk lamp? I found that really helped me.

[Zgarbas]

I have a limit to how much Japanese I can take before I get headaches. At first it was about 10 pages, after a few months it was about 30 (time-wise, this means about an hour). I also had it with conversations; after about an hour i simply couldn't concentrate (more like 15 minutes at first). After about 2 years of constant exposre i've reached the point where i don't tire even after 10 hours of continuous exposure, though (unless it's something really intense, like my economics class, where i space out by the end of it...) Your brain needs time to adjust.
This isn't only with japanese, i had the same problem when i started reading academic papers in English, for the record. Don't push yourself too much; if you feel the headache coming on just stop and continue the following day; the book isn't going anywhere.

My guess: you are sitting in a bad position because the text is too small. Zoom it so you don't have to keep your head tilted forward. Keep your head balanced or your neck muscles have too much work to do.

If you are reading a book, you obviously can't zoom it. Are you reading in a well-lit room? If not, you will again tilt your head to see the text better. Do as ktcgx suggested.

ktcgx Wrote:Well, one thing I would suggest is buying a very bright light-bulb to use in you desk lamp? I found that really helped me.

I actually already have had a lamp close to me on my desk for a while, so sadly it's probably not that.

But thank you, and thank the others for the concerned advice, it means a lot.

vrada501 Wrote:

ktcgx Wrote:Well, one thing I would suggest is buying a very bright light-bulb to use in you desk lamp? I found that really helped me.

I actually already have had a lamp close to me on my desk for a while, so sadly it's probably not that.

What is the bulb like though? I am using a 1500 lumens one. So it gives about 1500 lux brightness over a square metre of my desk. It's much brighter than an ordinary bulb. I have to remember to turn it off about 30 mins to an hour before I want to go to sleep though, because it's bright enough to mimic daylight.

This may or may not be the problem, but you actually do need more light and bigger print when reading any less-familiar language, and that goes double when the language doesn't use Romaji (and probably triple when you throw in kanji).

But even in Spanish I can't read, say, the small print on a medicine bottle when I easily could in English (and can if it has both language versions). This is because our eyes pick up words very differently in familiar and non-familiar languages.

As I said elsewhere:

Arinocdcg to rencet rseaerch, the hmuan brian is plrectfey albe to raed colmpex pasasges of txet caiinontng wdors in whcih the lrettes hvae been jmblued, pvioedrd the frsit and lsat leetrts rmeian in teihr crcerot piiotsons.

Try reading that in a language you don’t know inside-out!

The mind picks up cues in a very different way in a familiar language. In fact you can read the above passage best if you don't look at every letter in an orderly fashion. You need to let the brain do its familiar-language magic of having the words jump out at you. So essentially when reading Japanese you are making your eyes do more work and your brain do different work than either are used to. That could account for the headaches.

PS I do find reading Japanese faster is useful for absorbing language in a more natural way, but that may depend on one's level. Also I am a very slow reader in English so it is probably better for me to err on the side of faster.

Is what you're reading (far) above your level? Or is it something you don't have any real problem reading and understanding?