Wellcure
Wellcure
02:15 PM | 14-01-2021
With a digital world becoming a norm and an increasing amount of time spent on phones and tablets for schooling, homework, and entertainment, eye strain, and short-sightedness have become a cause of concern for many parents. Children are spending less time outdoors. The rising incidence of glasses even for young children is indeed a worrying trend. What can be done?
Eye health starts from an early age, and when it comes to eye care, prevention is always better than cure. The increasing incidence of myopia is mainly due to the wrong usage of eyes and mental and physical strain.
In young kids, the eyes are still developing and adapting to how they are being used.A s the saying goes – Use it or lose it; slowly the eyes start adapting to close distance work and start losing the ability to focus and work well for long-distance viewing. This is the beginning of myopia or short sight.
Reasons for Myopia in Kids
Excess screen time: Eyes are meant to view reflected right. When considerable time is spent looking at screens emitting light, it causes eye strain. The blue light emitted by devices is known to be harmful to the eyes and disrupts the circadian rhythm of the body.
Spending less time outdoors: Sunlight is food for the eyes. Spending too much time indoors starves them of the nutrition from sunlight. Reading and doing a lot of school work indoors with poor lighting or artificial light causes eyestrain.
Wrong posture: Due to the proliferation of handheld devices, children watch devices or play games lying down or holding gadgets too close to the eyes.
The habit of staring: Children often get so involved in what they are reading or watching that they develop the habit of staring. Children learn to stare in school when they are forced to keep their eyes on their books or on the board.
Did you know that the eye is at rest and not in strain when it focuses on 6 meters or more?
Eyes do not wish to be locked up at one position. They are at ease when moving and watching the world go by. The habit of staring and forgetting to blink causes a large amount of eye strain.
Wrong foods that physically strain the body, dehydrate it and reduce the strength of eyes.
Processed foods high in sugar, salt, and oil
Dense foods, like, too many grain meals in a day
Less consumption of fruits and vegetables
Why does myopia keep increasing with glasses?
Eyes, like any other part of the body, have an amazing power of adaptation as peruse. Glasses and contact lenses 'correct' the vision. They change the point where the light lands on the retina to create a clear image. It is only a symptomatic treatment that doesn’t address the root cause. The eyeball changes shape to accommodate for the correction. In addition, as kids grow, the eyeball loses shape even further and the eyes start using the glasses as a crutch to further weaken the eyes. This is the reason for stronger and stronger glasses every year.
Natural Ways for Removing & Preventing Spectacles
1. Using natural light – Encourage your child to use natural light more often. Let him read, do homework, or use the computer in places well lit with natural light like a balcony, verandah, or next to an open window.
2. Limit gadget use: Agree upon a device-free day or device-free time as a family. Offset blue light damage by installing a blue light filter on your device.
3. Inculcating good posture – Discourage slouching, watching or reading while sleeping, watching TV reclining on the bed, etc. Encourage healthy posture with a properly designed chair. Let the device be at eye level. Frequent breaks and stretching exercises should become part of the routine, to relax stiff muscles and promote blood flow to the eyes.
4. The forgotten habit of blinking: The antidote to staring is blinking. Children should be encouraged to blink more which keeps the eyes lubricated, gives micro rest to the eyes, and breaks the habit of staring.
5. Eye Accommodation – The eyeball and lens change shape to account for near or far distance viewing. Eye adaption can be strengthened by simple exercises like shifting from near to distance viewing. Example – stretch out one arm and view the thumb, then view something far away. Repeat this activity for 10 rounds especially after doing a lot of close-up work.
Watch Simple & effective eye exercises to relieve strain and improve vision.
6. Minimum usage of glasses – Ophthalmologists recommend using glasses all the time. Usage of glasses when not necessary, for example, when doing close up work deadlocks the eye ciliary muscles for close up viewing. When glasses have been prescribed for long-distance viewing (i.e. to correct shortsightedness), it makes little sense to use them for close-up work which actually strains the eye even more.
Get your child to use an old pair of glasses that are weaker than the new ones - a pair of glasses corrected to 20/40 instead of 20/20 from the eye doctor. This is particularly important for close up work.
7. Outdoor play: At least an hour of outdoor play is important for good improvement. Playing ball, observing moving objects like planes, clouds, or birds, observing colors, reading license plates of cars at a distance, boards of shops, weekend hikes in natural surroundings, etc should be encouraged. Do not make it a test that will cause psychological pressure and further decrease eyesight but rather make it a form of fun and play.
8. Vision breaks: Seat your child’s work area near a window. Encourage the 20-20-20 rule - Every 20 minutes, while working on a computer screen, take a break for 20 seconds and focus on something 20 feet away.
9. Early sleeping time: The body rests deeply between 9 p.m to 4 a.m. Encourage early bedtime for your kids and discourage usage of devices at least an hour before bedtime.
10. Nourishing, hydrating foods: Eyes are also part of the body. Holistic mind and body care are needed for good eye health. Natural foods like fruits, vegetables, sprouts, and a few nuts and seeds are hydrating and nourishing foods. Reduce the usage of sugar, processed foods, dairy, non-veg, soft drinks, and the like. These foods draw away the moisture from the eyes and make them inflamed, irritated, and weak.
11. Eye rest with palming: Palming is a wonderful way to relax the eyes and the whole nervous system quickly. You can see for yourself that a short 7 min session of palming makes the visual acuity sharper. You can make it a meditative activity by visualizing total black light or a relaxing scene while palming.
12. Hydrotherapy for eye care: Purchase eyecups and help your child to use them. Alternatively, encourage frequent washing of eyes and face with cold water to cool and relax the eyes.
13. Text to speech: To prevent overuse and straining of eyes, you can install many of the free text to speech apps available nowadays. This makes it easier to shift from online ‘reading’ work to ‘listening’.
Eye checkups
If you are taking children for an eye checkup, encourage them to spend a lot of time outdoors before going for the checkup as this relaxes the eyes and unlocks the strained eye muscles. Do not make them stressed about an upcoming eye appointment. Dr. William Bates (1860-1931) found that visual blur was related to not only physical stress but also mental stress.
Having a relaxed home is a very important factor for good eye health. Anxious parents and a strained home make for an anxious child. This can be misdiagnosed as hereditary.
Keep them relaxed before a checkup and assure them that whatever be the outcome, the eyes are always healing. Help them with any issues of self-esteem or worry and fear.
Conclusion
In summary, switch:
From staring to periodic blinking
From the wrong posture to posture awareness and correction
From overuse of eyes to palming, for relaxation
From indoor activities to more outdoor time
From closeup work to long-distance viewing
From late-night TV/games to early sleep and early rising
From always on glasses to need-based use
From full power prescription to weakened prescription, or no glasses for close up work
From dehydrating to re-hydrating foods
From rigidity and stress to a playful and relaxed lifestyle
The degrees of success in improving your child’s eyesight will depend on your degree of involvement, motivation, and gentle encouragement for your child. Work with your child and with an expert to help shift these habits.
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Disclaimer: The health journeys, blogs, videos and all other content on Wellcure is for educational purposes only and is not to be considered a ‘medical advice’ ‘prescription’ or a ‘cure’ for diseases. Any specific changes by users, in medication, food & lifestyle, must be done under the guidance of licensed health practitioners. The views expressed by the users are their personal views and Wellcure claims no responsibility for them.
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