How much useless work have people done to prevent their myopia from getting worse?

Eyes are the windows to the soul.

Once you are nearsighted, the windows will be covered with frost. You will not recognize your relatives 10 meters away, and you will not be able to tell male from female 20 meters away...

If I had known that I was nearsighted, why would I play with my phone, watch TV, and play games day and night?

That's right! Playing less with your phone, watching less TV, and playing less games can certainly prevent myopia, but the most effective thing is outdoor exercise. When you are outdoors, even if you do nothing, you can prevent myopia!

The 2018 "Preschool Children (3-6 years old) Exercise Guidelines" recommends that preschool children should do at least 120 minutes of outdoor exercise every day. This can not only promote the healthy growth and development of children, but also prevent the early onset of myopia in children.

Myopia is really too common nowadays. According to data from the National Health Commission: In 2020, the overall myopia rate among children and adolescents in my country was 52.7%, including 14.3% for 6-year-olds, 35.6% for primary school students, 71.1% for junior high school students, and 80.5% for high school students.

In order to prevent children from myopia, parents have tried their best to come up with various tricks, such as anti-blue light glasses, watching less electronic products and playing more toys... But are these methods really effective or are they just rumors? Let's analyze them together today~

01

Are blue light blocking glasses useful?

During the epidemic, many children took online classes at home. Parents heard that blue light blocking glasses can prevent myopia, so they prepared a pair for their children. Gradually, blue light blocking glasses became a "magic tool for eye protection."

Does it really have such magical effects?

First, let us understand blue light, which is a visible light with a wavelength of 380nm~500nm. It not only exists in sunlight, but also in computer screens, mobile phones, and LED desk lamps.

Blue light has both advantages and disadvantages. For example, blue light with a wavelength of 440nm to 500nm can help sleep, improve mood, and enhance memory, while blue light with a wavelength of 380nm to 440nm will reduce sleep quality and damage the retina.

The energy and intensity of blue light in regular and qualified electronic product light sources are relatively low and will not damage the retina at all.

We often say that looking at computers, TV, and mobile phones for a long time will lead to decreased vision. This is because staring at close objects for a long time will cause changes in the refractive system or eye axis, thereby affecting vision.

In addition, the quality of lenses of many blue light blocking glasses sold online cannot be guaranteed, and wearing such glasses may actually aggravate myopia.

Therefore, if you hope to prevent myopia or slow down the progression of myopia by wearing blue light blocking glasses, I advise you to give up this idea.

02

Will wearing glasses make you more nearsighted?

Of course not. Scientifically wearing glasses will not aggravate myopia, but can effectively prevent or slow down the development of myopia.

Wearing glasses can eliminate eye fatigue. For example, if you don’t wear glasses, you have to squint if you want to see things in the distance clearly, which causes excessive fatigue of the eye muscles and accelerates the development of myopia.

At the same time, wearing glasses will not cause dependence. Because glasses correct the originally blurred vision, many people cannot do without glasses, but this is not "addiction", but the brain tends to choose a more comfortable visual experience.

03

Can playing with toys instead of watching electronic products help relax your eyes?

Playing with toys also requires using your eyes, and it’s done at close range!

Let's first understand the reason why most people are nearsighted. That is, during the growth and development period, when looking at close objects for a long time, the ciliary muscle must pull the lens for a long time to make it thicker to adjust the focal length. Over time, this will cause the eye axis to become longer, thus leading to myopia.

Therefore, if children watch TV or play with toys for more than 15 to 20 minutes, it is best for them to look at objects 6 meters away to relieve eye fatigue. It is also best for adults to do the same when they work on the computer for a long time.

04

Can myopia be cured?

Some businesses claim that myopia can be cured within a certain period of time as long as the right method is used.

This hits the psychological level of many parents, so they use ciliary muscle exercises, vision training, acupuncture, etc. on their children.

However, this proved to be of little use.

True myopia is caused by deformation of the eyeball, and once deformed, it is impossible to change it back.

But is it true that some children have recovered their vision after correction? That means they may have pseudomyopia, and they can get better by resting more and relaxing their ciliary muscles.

To sum up: True myopia cannot be cured, it can only be corrected. Don't pay the IQ tax in a muddleheaded way!

Although myopia cannot be cured, it can be prevented, controlled and slowed down through some means, such as using the eyes scientifically, increasing the time spent outdoors, and reducing prolonged close-up use of the eyes.

05

Do eye exercises work?

Eye exercises won't improve your vision or reduce the need to wear glasses, but they are not useless. They are most useful for one thing: shutting your eyes.

When doing eye exercises, closing your eyes can give your eyes a temporary rest. At the same time, massaging the acupoints around the eyes can dredge the meridians, improve and promote blood circulation in the eyes, relieve visual fatigue, and thus play a role in protecting eyesight.

06

Will myopia degree stop increasing after adulthood?

There are also some people who hope that their children's degree of menorrhagia will not increase after they grow up.

It is true that myopia generally becomes relatively stable after adulthood. However, if you do not pay attention to the time you use your eyes and continue to use them at a high intensity and at close range, even if it does not cause a sharp increase in myopia, it can easily increase visual fatigue and myopia will still increase.

Finally, I would like to recommend a little trick for eye protection:

20-20-20 rule: For every 20 minutes of screen/near objects, give your eyes a 20-second break by looking at an object 20 feet away to relax your eye muscles. Even a short break can make a huge difference.

Source: Youlai Healthy Life