New Semester Eye Care Guide: Protect Your Child's "Vision Savings" with These Details

Excessive near work. Besides using electronic devices, prolonged homework, calligraphy, drawing, building blocks, and reading picture books are all high-intensity near-work activities. Many parents strictly limit phone use but allow children to sit at a desk for 3–4 hours straight doing exercises, reading, or building micro blocks. If the ciliary muscle remains contracted and spasmodic for a long time and cannot relax, it may stimulate excessive axial elongation, rapidly deplete the hyperopia reserve, and accelerate myopia progression.

Insufficient daytime outdoor activities. Studies show that increasing daytime outdoor activities can reduce the risk of myopia in children. It is currently a relatively consistent and simple myopia prevention measure. Children and adolescents should spend no less than 2 hours per day outdoors during the day, or accumulate 14 hours per week. Try to schedule outdoor activities during the day, not just evening walks.

Irregular sleep and insufficient sleep. The body secretes melatonin during nighttime sleep, which participates in regulating normal eyeball development. Existing research suggests that insufficient sleep may be associated with increased myopia risk in children. Some primary school students sleep less than 10 hours a day, and middle school students less than 9 hours. The eyes do not get adequate rest, visual fatigue accumulates, and myopia progression accelerates.

Non-standard reading, writing, and lighting environments. For example, in many families, children only turn on a desk lamp without room background light, and the large contrast between light and dark can cause glare. Some children like to lie on the bed or lie on the sofa reading, or use a tablet in the car, with a reading distance of less than 30 cm. Poor indoor and outdoor lighting means children do homework in dim environments for long periods. These continuously increase eye accommodation pressure and accelerate myopia progression.

📖 Strictly Control Near Work

Strictly implement the "20-20-20" eye care rule. Whether reading, doing homework, or using electronic devices, after every 20 minutes of continuous near work, look up at an object 20 feet (about 6 meters) away for at least 20 seconds to fully relax the ciliary muscle. During breaks, walk to the window and look far away. Do not continue playing with puzzles, reading picture books, or reading.

Manage electronic device use by age. Children under 3 years old are not recommended to use mobile phones, tablets, and other screen-based electronic products. Children aged 3–6 should try to avoid screen-based electronic products. For primary and middle school students, non-study use of screen-based electronic products should not exceed 15 minutes per session, and cumulative daily use should not exceed 1 hour. For study purposes, try to choose electronic devices with larger screens and avoid using smaller screens at close distance for long periods. The center of the screen should be about 10 cm below eye level, at a distance of 4–6 times the screen diagonal length. Generally, the distance from eyes to computer screen should not be less than 50 cm, and the distance from eyes to mobile phone screen should not be less than one chi (about 33 cm). After using screen-based electronic products for 30–40 minutes, rest and look far away for 10 minutes. Avoid using electronic products for long periods in a dark environment after turning off the lights.

Standardize reading and writing posture and implement the "one fist, one foot, one inch" principle. The chest should be one fist (6–10 cm) from the desk, the book should be one foot from the eyes, and the fingertips holding the pen should be one inch (about 3.3 cm) from the pen tip. Do not read or look at electronic screens while lying down, lying on the stomach, walking, or riding in a vehicle. When studying at night, turn on both the room main light and the desk eye-care lamp. Avoid direct light into the eyes, and do not read or write with backlight or in dim light. The reading and writing environment should have good daylight and sufficient lighting, with an average desktop illuminance of no less than 300 lux.

🌳 Ensure Daytime Outdoor Activities

There is no need to pursue high-intensity exercise. Walking, cycling, ball games, and others are all fine. Try to let children be outdoors during the day. Schools and families should jointly ensure no less than 2 hours of daytime outdoor activities per day, which can be completed in multiple sessions according to study and life arrangements. On cloudy days, outdoor activities can still be carried out. On weekends and holidays, arrange outdoor outings such as hiking, camping, and ball games. An open field of vision can relax the eyes and delay the consumption of hyperopia reserve.

😴 Regular Sleep and Balanced Diet

Ensure adequate sleep: primary school students should maintain 10 hours of sleep per day, middle school students 9 hours, and high school students 8 hours, going to bed early and waking up early. Turn off bedroom lights when sleeping, and do not keep a night light on for long periods. In terms of diet, reduce the intake of high-sugar foods such as cakes and candy, drink enough water daily, do not be a picky eater, and ensure balanced nutrition in three meals. Appropriately consume fish, eggs, milk, soy products, and fresh vegetables and fruits. Do not rely on so-called "eye-protecting foods" or health supplements to prevent myopia.

📊 Regular Monitoring of Refractive Development

Parents should regularly take their children for examinations to understand changes in vision, refractive error, and axial length. The National Health Commission recommends starting refractive screening at 24 months of age. Continuously monitor during preschool and school age, and establish a children's vision and refractive development record. Check every 3–6 months. Children with high-risk factors such as a family history of high myopia or premature birth should adhere to regular vision monitoring. Hyperopia reserve does not correspond to a fixed "standard value" for all ages. It should be comprehensively judged based on age, refractive status, and other risk factors. Do not rely only on ordinary visual acuity chart screening. Cycloplegic refraction is the gold standard for judging hyperopia reserve.

(Source: Healthy China)

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