The root of children's myopia is not mobile phones, computers and televisions. Don't let go of the real "culprit". what do you think?

Myopia has almost become an unavoidable topic in the growth of teenagers all over the country, and it is also one of the concerns of parents.

As early as 20 18, the Health and Health Commission released data: the overall myopia rate of children and adolescents in China is 53.6%!

Among them, the myopia rate of 6-year-old children is 14.5%, that of primary school students is 36%, that of junior high school students is 7 1.6%, and that of senior high school students is as high as 8 1%.

Look at another set of data:

In 20 19, the World Vision Report released by the World Health Organization pointed out that there are about1400 million myopia patients in the world, including 600 million myopia patients in China, and the myopia rate of teenagers ranks first in the world.

Because of the epidemic, from kindergarten to high school students and even college students, they have to attend classes online at home. Faced with mobile phones and computer screens for a long time, children's myopia has once again become the focus of parents' attention and anxiety.

Then the question comes, why myopia?

What are the causes of children's myopia?

First, excessive use of eyes.

Speaking of the causes of myopia, I believe that most parents think of playing mobile phones, playing computers and watching TV at the first time. After all, the electronic screen is so bright, how exciting it is for children's eyes. As a result, parents strictly prohibit children from playing mobile phones, using computers and watching TV.

But in the end, I found that the child is still becoming nearsighted, and the degree is still increasing. Are the above measures against watching electronic screens just psychological comfort?

Xin Wei, a colleague of Douma, told Douma about similar distress.

Xin Wei has always attached great importance to children's vision health. After her son was born, she has been taking preventive measures to prevent children from touching electronic equipment. Even in order to get my son into the habit of not relying on electronic products, I try my best not to play mobile phones in front of my children.

Therefore, after Xin Wei's son went to school, compared with his peers, he was less interested in and dependent on electronic products, more patient, and spent more time focusing on learning, reading and doing homework.

Xin Wei feels that her education and guidance are very successful and her sense of accomplishment is bursting. He will share his educational ideas with his son's parents from time to time, and will also support his son's investment in study and personal interests.

My son is very interested in painting and mathematics, so Xin Wei enrolled him in painting and mathematics training classes. On Saturday and Sunday, he goes to painting class one day and math class the other.

Later, something unexpected happened to Xin Wei: his son was nearsighted in the third grade of primary school.

Xin Wei can't figure it out He has successfully guided children to play less mobile phones, use less computers and watch less TV. How can he be nearsighted?

So she took her son to the hospital. Doctors say that the main cause of myopia is excessive use of eyes, not only looking at electronic screens, but also reading books or other things.

In other words, looking at the electronic screen itself will not lead to myopia, and long-term and incorrect use of the eyes will lead to myopia no matter what you look at.

So in this case, we can find:

Television, computers, mobile phones and other electronic devices are not the culprit that directly leads to children's myopia, but one of the culprits is that the eyes are not fully rested and not used in time.

Can children's eyes get a full and timely rest without looking at the electronic screen?

Obviously not necessarily. Reading, doing homework, tutoring after class, attending training classes … When doing these things that are beneficial to children, children's eyes are also working! If you don't use your eyes correctly for a long time while doing these activities, it will also lead to myopia.

Do not believe you continue to watch:

Wang Ningli, the leader of the National Technical Guidance Group for Preventing Blindness, once conducted an experiment to determine who is more harmful to the eyes, paper reading or electronic reading.

The results of this experiment prove that the degree of eye accommodation spasm caused by reading the paper version and the electronic version of the same article is almost the same.

So, don't mistake electronic products again. We should be alert to it. In fact, we use our eyes too much.

Second, there is a lack of time for outdoor activities.

Dr. Xu Xun, director of the Ophthalmology Center of Shanghai First People's Hospital and director of the National Ophthalmology Clinical Medical Center, once led a special research project on myopia prevention and treatment.

This project lasted for three years. About 7000 children in 24 primary schools in Shanghai put on smart watches. These watches are equipped with sensors, which can sense whether children are indoors or outdoors, and the specific exercise situation.

At the same time, the project team asked these pupils to go outdoors every day and divided them into different groups. For different student groups, the time of outdoor activities and sunshine exposure is different every day.

Three years later, the research project ended, and the experts of the project team also concluded that students who spend two hours outdoors every day have better eyesight than those who spend 80 minutes outdoors every day.

In addition to this experiment, there are a lot of data showing that the rate of children suffering from myopia is not only related to whether they use their eyes too much (using their eyes at close range for a long time, staring at electronic screens for a long time, etc.). ), but also related to the time of outdoor activities.

This can also be seen from the comparison between the myopia rate of children in Europe and America and the myopia rate of children in East Asia in the World Vision Report of WHO.

The prevalence of myopia in Asia-Pacific high-income countries is the highest (53.4%), followed by East Asian countries (5 1.6%), and the incidence of myopia among adolescents in China is as high as 67%.

European and American countries advocate liberal education and encourage students to go outdoors to bask in the sun. The myopia rate is relatively low. However, the educational atmosphere in East Asian countries is generally tense. In the traditional concept, good students are mostly those who stay in the classroom and bury themselves in their studies. Many families disapprove of letting children go out to play more. Correspondingly, the myopia rate of children in East Asian countries is relatively high.

Even aside from the data, when it comes to the influence of outdoor activities on myopia, I believe that most dads have similar intuitive experiences:

When I was at school, I was naughty and couldn't leave home every day. Few friends who played basketball and football wore glasses. On the other hand, those who do not move every day and only study at home or in the classroom have a high proportion of myopia.

So, why is this? Let's look at another set of comparisons:

In Europe and the United States, which also advocate outdoor sports, the myopia rate in Britain is much higher than that in sunny Australia.

The myopia rate in Washington State, which always rains in the north of the United States, is higher than that in sunny Texas in the south (does this name feel familiar? A well-known potato chip has the taste of "Texas barbecue" and the myopia rate is much higher.

You may have found that sunlight is a key factor!

In fact, the correlation between sunlight exposure and myopia is still controversial in academic circles. However, what is currently accepted by most people is the "dopamine principle".

That is to say, according to experts, outdoor sunlight can stimulate the retina to secrete dopamine, which is a good thing. As we all know, exercise can stimulate the body to secrete dopamine, so after exercise, people will feel happy, which is dopamine at work.

Dopamine can not only make people feel better, but also prevent people's eyeballs from getting longer, while maintaining the elasticity of the eyeballs, thus greatly reducing the possibility of children suffering from myopia.

Then according to this principle, as long as children have enough outdoor activities, they can prevent and control myopia and use their eyes healthily.

Having said that, smart parents may think: Can indoor sunshine or even lights replace outdoor sunshine? It's all light. The effect should be not much different, right? Can I prevent myopia after I let my child stay in a well-lit room?

Mother bean wants to say: the idea is beautiful, but it is impossible.

Let's take the comparison between indoor lighting and outdoor sunshine as an example. Research shows that the brightness of outdoor sunlight is much higher than that of indoor lighting, and the two cannot be compared at all.

We may not feel this under normal circumstances, because the human eye has evolved the adaptive ability to automatically adjust the brightness, so sometimes, especially on cloudy days, we may not feel the brightness difference between indoor light and outdoor light.

But photographers may be more sensitive to this because they often use SLR cameras. When using a SLR camera and manually adjusting the aperture, it is easy to find the gap between indoor light and outdoor sunlight: even if it is cloudy outside, its brightness can still crush the brightness of many indoor lights.

Don't believe it? Let's look at the data:

Even if it is cloudy or cloudy outside, the brightness of sunlight can reach 10000 lumens, while the brightness of general indoor lighting is only 500 lumens.

Let me briefly explain the concept of "lumen", which is the physical unit to describe luminous flux. 1 lumen is equivalent to the total luminous flux generated by 1 ordinary candle at the solid angle.

So as far as the products on the market are concerned, no matter how powerful the function and power are, they can't compare with the brightness brought by solar energy.

From the anthropological point of view, our ancestors first lived outdoors. They collect and hunt outdoors to maintain their daily lives. After the evolution to civilization, that is, after entering slave society and feudal society, most people have to work in the fields, and at this time they mainly engage in outdoor activities.

Even today, our human body has been in a reinforced concrete city for only a few years, and it is far from evolving to the point where it can be separated from the outdoors. In fact, it can't adapt to the mode of staying indoors most of the time.

We are still more adapted to the sunny outdoor environment, which is why doctors always advise everyone to get more sunshine under the premise of sun protection.

So, do you understand? The second biggest culprit leading to myopia is lack of outdoor activities or insufficient time for outdoor activities.

If children just stay indoors for a long time and their eyes lack the stimulation of sunlight, there is a risk of myopia even if they don't look at the electronic screen or use their eyes too much.

Third, other factors affecting myopia.

In addition to excessive use of eyes and insufficient outdoor activities, the following factors will also affect children's vision health, and parents should also pay attention.

First, using eyeliner is not correct.

If children read and study in too dim or too bright and dazzling light, it is very easy to cause fatigue and injury to their eyes, which may easily lead to myopia.

Second, the wrong pen holding and sitting posture.

Holding a pen and sitting posture actually affect children's eyesight by affecting the distance between their eyes, books and screens. If you get too close, your eyes will get tired easily, and the chances of myopia will increase greatly.

Third, physical nutrition can't keep up.

If the nutrition in the child can't keep up for a long time, then the liver may be damaged. After the liver is damaged, its metabolic capacity will also be weakened.

As we know, the process of seeing things is a process of cyclic transformation among photosensitive pigment, retin and retinol. Retinal is a kind of protein. Retinal is converted from vitamin A, and the combination of them produces photosensitive pigment. The process of seeing things is the process of decomposing photosensitive pigment into retinol and retinol.

However, the decomposed retinaldehyde can not be directly recombined with retinol to form photosensitive pigment, and it needs to be transformed into reusable retinaldehyde through the liver.

If the liver function is damaged, the conversion ability of retinol will be reduced, resulting in a decrease in photosensitive pigment. The specific symptom is that the eyes cannot see clearly. Therefore, the lack of nutrients can also cause myopia.

Fourth, eat too much sugar.

If the child takes too much sugar, it will lead to a decrease in blood calcium, further affect the toughness of the eye ball wall, lead to the elongation of the eye axis, and degrade the corneal ciliary muscle, which will reduce the elasticity of the eye ball wall and develop into myopia.

In addition, if you eat too much sugar, your blood sugar will rise, so will the osmotic pressure of plasma, aqueous humor and lens, which will lead to an increase in the convexity and diopter of the eyeball lens and a higher degree of myopia.

How to prevent children from myopia

As mentioned above, there are many factors that affect children's eyesight. If they are not careful, their eyesight may decline.

And with the process of urbanization, more and more people may have vision problems in the future.

According to the estimation of urbanization and human development index, the global myopia population is likely to increase from10 in 20 10 to 3.36 billion in 2030, and the number of high myopia related to serious complications will also double.

So, what phenomena may be signs of myopia? And what should parents do to prevent their children from myopia?

First of all, parents should be vigilant if their children have the following symptoms:

1. Children can't see the words on the blackboard clearly, and always squint at distant things;

2. Children always say that they can't see clearly and complain that the room is dark;

3. Children frequently squint, blink and blink, and the frequency is beyond the normal range;

4. When doing homework, eyes are often close to the desktop and books;

5. Children always tilt their heads to see things, or often squint;

6. Children often frown when they look at things.

If parents observe that their children have a high frequency of the above behaviors, they should immediately take their children to a regular hospital for vision testing.

Because the appearance of suspected symptoms does not necessarily mean myopia, it may also be accommodative myopia, which is what we often call pseudomyopia. And if in the case of unknown so, children wear glasses directly, and glasses are not suitable, over time, it will become true myopia.

So parents should not be afraid of trouble. After going to the hospital for optometry, they can prevent and control myopia more effectively.

Second, develop good living habits

Sleep is very important.

When sleeping, the child's whole body and mind can rest and relax, and eye fatigue caused by eyes can also be alleviated. In addition, we said in the last article that outdoor activities are of great benefit to children's eyesight, and adequate sleep can also help children recover their physical strength and maintain a healthy body, which is also helpful for outdoor activities.

Children of every age have different needs for rest time. The National Sleep Foundation recommends the best sleep time for children of different ages:

2. Develop good eye habits

In daily study and life, parents should guide their children to develop good eye habits.

First, don't rub your eyes with your hands. If you feel tired, you can close your eyes and open them slightly, turn your eyes up and down and left and right to relax your eyes.

Second, when using your eyes, keep your eyes at an appropriate distance from books and screens, and read and write correctly.

During the epidemic period, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the National Health and Family Planning Commission organized the School of Health Management of Anhui Medical University, Beijing CDC, Shanghai Eye Disease Prevention and Control Center, and the Optometry Center of Peking University People's Hospital to formulate and publish the Guide to Preventing Myopia during the COVID-19 Epidemic: When watching TV, the viewing distance should be more than 4 times the diagonal distance of the screen; When using a computer, the viewing distance should be more than 50 cm; When writing homework, the eyes are about 30 cm away from the book, the body is about one punch away from the desk, and the fingers holding the pen are about one inch away from the nib; Don't study in bed or sofa.

Third, pay attention to continuous eye time and rest.

The Guide requires: continuous video learning time exceeds 20-30 minutes, with at least 10 minutes of active rest; After reading and writing for 30-40 minutes, take the initiative to rest 10 minutes and overlook.

3. Strengthen outdoor sports and bask in the sun.

We have repeatedly stressed the importance of outdoor activities for vision protection. Ophthalmologists suggest that children stay at least 3 hours a day under the brightness of 10000 lumens (cloudy or in the shade of trees).

However, remember to protect yourself from the sun.

4. Eat a balanced diet to ensure nutritional intake.

In the usual diet, parents can consciously add ingredients that are helpful to the eyes, such as foods rich in vitamin A, protein and lutein.

As mentioned above, vitamin A and opsin can synthesize photosensitive pigments, while foods with high vitamin A content include liver, milk powder and egg yolk of livestock and poultry. In addition, provitamin A, that is, carotene, can be decomposed into vitamin A in the small intestine, so eating more red, yellow and dark green fruits and vegetables is also good for the eyes.

Please refer to the table below for the vitamin A content of common ingredients:

In addition, lutein is also very important, which can help the retina resist ultraviolet damage. Lutein supplementation is helpful to delay the aggravation of myopia and maintain the persistence of vision.

However, humans and other mammals can't synthesize lutein by themselves, but only through food intake. Among common foods, yolk and corn have the highest lutein content, and kale, spinach and pumpkin also have higher lutein content.

5. Do regular vision screening.

Ophthalmologists suggest that mydriasis optometry should be done every 6- 12 months and kept on file. If children are under great learning pressure and have a long reading time, the optometry interval can be shortened appropriately. In order to prevent myopia, parents should remember to take their children to a regular hospital for optometry!

Ok, that's all for today's topic about myopia. What else do you want to know? Tell mom in the comments!