With the advent of the summer vacation, in order to guide children and adolescents to use their eyes scientifically, work and rest regularly, and actively prevent and control myopia during the summer vacation, the National Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Myopia in Children and Adolescents Publicity Group has revised and formed the "20 Questions and Answers on the Prevention and Control of Multi-scene Myopia in the Summer Vacation of 2024" released by the National Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Myopia in Children and Adolescents in January this year, which will answer questions and provide guidance for children, adolescents and parents. Let's take a look!
Proactive Prevention: Early Detection and Early Prevention
01 Why is summer vacation a key period for myopia prevention and control?
The long sunshine hours in summer vacation are a favorable time for "eyes" to bathe in the sun and prevent and control myopia. However, due to the hot summer weather in most parts of the mainland, children and adolescents are prone to insufficient outdoor activities, long-term indoor close-up eyes, irregular life and rest, etc., from the practice of myopia prevention and control for many years, many children and adolescents have myopia or myopia deepening in the summer vacation. To this end, parents are encouraged to establish a scientific concept of parenting, guide children and adolescents to reasonably plan their holiday life, regular work and rest, actively participate in outdoor activities and physical exercise, housework, social practice, volunteer service, travel, etc., and consciously and actively control the use of electronic products.
02 Do I need to have an eye test during the summer vacation?
Primary and secondary school students are in the sensitive period of refractive development, and regular visual acuity and refraction examinations can clearly understand the child's farsightedness reserve or myopia status, so as to achieve early detection, early warning, and early intervention. Parents take the initiative to pay attention to their children's eye health, and take their children to regular medical institutions for examination in time if they find that their children have visual squinting, frowning, tilting their heads, and vision loss. When it is found that the child's farsightedness reserve is insufficient or myopia is deepened, take active measures to prevent and control myopia scientifically.
03 Why should we pay attention to children's hyperopia reserves?
There are thousands of myopia prevention and control, and the first one is to prevent the occurrence of myopia. Hyperopia reserve is an important indicator to monitor the development of refraction, due to too early and too much near eye use, some children and adolescents have exhausted the farsightedness reserve at the age of 6, and they are very likely to develop myopia in primary school. Normally, a 6-year-old child should have a hyperopia reserve of +1.0-+1.5D. Parents should take their children outdoors more during the holidays to reduce their children's close-up use of eyes and effectively protect their children's farsightedness reserves.
04 If I have just noticed myopia, should I wear glasses?
If you are sure that you are short-sighted, you should go to a professional institution for examination and correction. Whether to wear glasses or not needs to be determined comprehensively in combination with professional examination.
Outdoor sports: Don't stay at home, go outdoors
05 How long is outdoor activity effective in preventing myopia?
Outdoor activities are the most effective and cost-effective way to prevent myopia. Outdoor activities can be done intermittently, which can increase the frequency of outdoor activities. It is recommended to spend no less than 2 hours outdoors in the sun every day, and no less than 14 hours per week. The key to outdoor activities is "outdoors", not the content, method, and intensity of activities. For infants and toddlers, parents should take the initiative to take their children outdoors to soak up the sun.
06 If you don't want to go out in the hot weather during the summer vacation, can indoor exercise prevent myopia?
The prevention and control effect of myopia in indoor activities is not ideal. The key to preventing myopia is that the indoor vision is not wide and the light intensity is not enough, while the outdoor activities are sufficiently illuminated. In summer, the weather is hot, and outdoor activities should be carried out in the early morning and evening when the sun is not too strong. Even on cloudy days, the light intensity outdoors is greater than that indoors, so outdoor activities on cloudy days are also effective in myopia prevention and control.
07 What are the recommended outdoor sports?
All kinds of ball games are great ways to play outdoors. When playing, both eyes track the trajectory of the ball, which can effectively exercise the ciliary muscles and promote blood circulation in the eyes. Running, doing exercises, group play, games, walking, etc. are all good ways to exercise outdoors.
Extracurricular Reading: Positive posture, bright enough
08 Does reading paper books for a long time hurt my eyes?
Compared to electronic screens, paper reading materials are relatively less harmful to the eyes. However, improper reading posture and prolonged use of the eyes at close range can cause eye strain. When reading, it is necessary to take timely rest, and the maximum continuous eye use time should not exceed 40 minutes, and the younger the child, the shorter the continuous eye use time.
09 What should be the correct sitting posture for reading at home during the summer vacation?
Correct sitting posture can effectively prevent the occurrence and progression of myopia. When writing and reading, it is necessary to keep a reasonable eye distance and a correct head position, and adhere to the "one foot, one fist, one inch", that is, the eyes are one foot away from the book (about 33 cm), the chest is one fist (about 10 cm) from the edge of the table, and the fingers holding the pen are one inch (about 3 cm) from the tip of the pen. Do not lie on the table or lie on the bed, sofa to read, let alone read in the traveling carriage.
10 What are the requirements for light to learn to read?
Children should have good light when learning, and unreasonable lighting will have a negative impact on children's eyes. Parents should place their children's desks in a well-lit location indoors, and make full use of natural light to avoid direct light on the desktop when studying during the day. When studying at night, in addition to turning on the desk lamp, you should also use appropriate background auxiliary light sources indoors to reduce the difference between light and dark in the room and keep the desktop light in harmony with the surrounding environment. The lamp should have a lampshade and be placed in front of the opposite side of the writer's hand.
Electronic products: It is advisable to have a large screen and control time
11 How much screen time is appropriate at home during the summer vacation?
It is recommended to look up at the screen for at least 20 seconds after looking at the screen for at least 20 seconds, which is the "20-20-20" rule. Children under the age of 3 should avoid contact with electronic devices as much as possible, and preschool children should use electronic products as little as possible. Children and adolescents should not spend more than 1 hour a day on entertaining videos. The younger the age, the shorter the continuous use of electronics should be.
12 What factors should I look for when choosing electronics?
The video screen uses electronic products, and it is recommended to use projectors, TVs, computers, tablets, and mobile phones are not recommended. The general rule is that the larger the screen and the higher the resolution, the better, and the brightness is adjusted according to the environment. When the surrounding environment is dark, turn on the lights in the room and avoid using electronic products in a dark environment.
13 What is the appropriate distance when watching TV and computers?
When watching TV, the eyes should be more than 3 meters away from the TV screen or 6 times the length of the TV screen diagonal. When using the computer, the distance between the eyes and the computer screen should be greater than 50 cm, the line of sight should be slightly downward, and the center of the computer screen should be about 10 cm below the eye line of sight, which can effectively reduce the phenomenon of dry eyes and visual fatigue.
Scientific eye care: focus on health care and prevent fatigue
14 What should I do if my eyes are dry and tired?
Continuous use of electronic products for a long time is prone to discomfort such as dry eyes and visual fatigue. You can close your eyes, look into the distance, and do eye exercises correctly to give your eyes a full rest. Maintain the right indoor temperature and humidity, blink your eyes more often to moisten your eyes with tears. Warm compresses are one of the effective ways to relieve dry and tired eyes. Some eyes are severe, and artificial tears may be used to relieve symptoms. If necessary, ocular surface function analysis is carried out to identify the cause and intervene symptomatically. Refractive error that is not corrected in place can easily lead to visual fatigue, so you should go to a formal medical institution for vision and refraction testing, and do the corresponding refractive error correction.
15 What is the function of traditional acupuncture point eye exercises?
Traditional acupoint eye exercises are a kind of massage therapy based on traditional Chinese medicine massage, acupoint massage, and sports medicine. Standardized eye exercises can stimulate nerves, promote eye blood circulation, relax eye muscles, and relieve eye fatigue by massaging the acupuncture points, skin, and muscles around the eyes. When doing exercises, pay attention to cleaning your hands, find the acupuncture points, and the strength is in place, so that you can feel the feeling of soreness. Clinical studies have shown that compared with no eye exercises, doing eye exercises can improve the symptoms of subjective eye fatigue and help delay the onset and progression of myopia. Advocate the majority of primary and secondary school students to consciously insist on doing eye exercises once a day in the morning and afternoon during the summer vacation.
Regular work and rest: sleep enough, not picky eater
16 Does getting enough sleep help with visual development?
Adequate sleep is not only important for the physical development of children and adolescents, but also for visual development. It is recommended that parents lead by example and guide their children to work and rest regularly, go to bed early and get up early, do not stay up late, and get enough sleep. Preschool and primary school students should sleep no less than 10 hours a day, junior high school students should sleep no less than 9 hours, and high school students should sleep no less than 8 hours.
17 What should I pay attention to in my diet to prevent myopia during summer vacation?
In the hot summer, it is recommended to replenish sufficient water, parents should diversify the diet, balance nutrition, guide children not to be picky eaters, not partial eaters, eat more vegetables and fruits, and eat less sweets, sugary drinks and fried foods. Moderate intake of high-quality proteins such as fish, soy products and eggs, as well as healthy foods such as carrots and blueberries.
Intervention and correction: control progress and focus on intervention
18 What should I do if I notice myopia or myopia is progressing too quickly?
It is necessary to go to a regular ophthalmic medical institution for examination. According to the doctor's advice, you can dilate your pupils for refraction, follow the doctor's instructions for scientific correction, and do not believe false claims such as myopia can be cured. At present, the scientific methods that can be used for myopia prevention and control include wearing functional glasses, orthokeratology lenses (OK lenses), and using low-concentration atropine eye drops. These methods have some effectiveness in controlling the progression of myopia, but they need to be selected and used under the guidance of a doctor, and reviewed regularly.
19 Why should we control the progression of myopia and prevent it from progressing to high myopia?
High myopia is very harmful, not only is it easy for the eyeball to bulge and affect the appearance of the eye, but also the thinning of the eyeball wall will occur, resulting in the lesion of the eye structure. High myopia is often accompanied by fundus complications, namely pathological myopia, which is one of the main diseases leading to low vision and blindness. People with high myopia should pay attention to avoid violent impacts when exercising, and should not participate in bungee jumping, diving, diving and other sports.
20 Can laser surgery cure myopia?
Laser surgery here is a refractive surgery method for myopic eyes, which uses a laser beam precisely controlled by a computer to cut a suitable concave lens in the cornea, so that the external light can accurately converge on the retina to achieve the purpose of correcting myopia. During the summer vacation, some students after the college entrance examination will use laser surgery to "remove the lens" due to various needs. There are certain surgical indications for laser surgery, and it is necessary to go to a regular medical institution for scientific evaluation through examination. Although laser surgery solves the vision problems caused by myopia, it cannot change the structural changes of the eyeball, especially the fundus changes caused by myopia. For adolescents with advanced myopia, laser surgery is not recommended. If you choose laser surgery, you should also pay attention to eye hygiene and habits after surgery, reduce near eye use, avoid eye fatigue, pay attention to your vision condition, and have regular check-ups.
Source: Weiyan Education