20 Questions and Answers on Myopia Prevention and Control in Multiple Scenarios during the 2025 Winter Vacation

In order to guide children and young people to use their eyes scientifically, maintain a regular schedule, and actively prevent myopia during this winter vacation, the National Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Myopia among Children and Adolescents Propaganda Team has revised and compiled 20 Questions and Answers on Myopia Prevention and Control in Multiple Scenarios during the 2025 Winter Vacation based on previous work, to answer questions and provide scientific guidance for children, young people and their parents.

01 Active prevention: early inspection and early prevention

1. Why is winter vacation a key period for myopia prevention and control?

Answer: The winter vacation coincides with the Spring Festival. Children and adolescents will visit relatives and friends and attend family gatherings with their parents. They are prone to reduce outdoor activities, use their eyes for a long time at close range, and have irregular sleep and diet. From the practice of myopia prevention and control over the years, many children and adolescents have myopia or myopia worsens during the winter vacation. To this end, parents are encouraged to establish scientific parenting concepts, guide children and adolescents to reasonably plan their holiday life, have a regular work and rest schedule, actively participate in outdoor activities, physical exercise, housework, social practice, volunteer service, travel, etc., and consciously and scientifically control the use of electronic products.

2. Do I need to have an eye examination during the winter vacation?

Answer: Primary and secondary school students are in the sensitive period of refractive development. Regular vision and refractive examinations can clearly understand the child's hyperopia reserve or myopia status. Parents should take the initiative to pay attention to their children's eye health. If they find that their children squint, frown, tilt their heads, or have decreased vision, they should take their children to regular medical and health institutions for examination and correction in time, so as to achieve early monitoring, early detection, early warning, early intervention, and early correction to control the occurrence and development of myopia.

3. Why should we pay attention to children’s hyperopia reserve?

Answer: There are thousands of ways to prevent and control myopia, and prevention is the first one. The hyperopia reserve value is an important indicator for monitoring the development of refractive power. Due to excessive and early close-range eye use, some children and adolescents have consumed their hyperopia reserves before the age of 6, and are very likely to develop myopia in elementary school. Under normal circumstances, a 6-year-old child should have a hyperopia reserve of +1.0-+1.5D. Effectively protecting the normal hyperopia reserve and avoiding its premature excessive consumption can effectively prevent the occurrence of myopia. Parents should take their children to outdoor activities more often during the winter vacation to reduce their children's close-range eye use and effectively protect their children's hyperopia reserve.

02 Outdoor Sports: Stay Out of the House, Go Outdoors More Often

4. How long does outdoor activity last to effectively prevent myopia?

A: Outdoor activities are the most effective and economical way to prevent myopia. Outdoor activities can be carried out intermittently, and the frequency of outdoor activities can be increased. It is recommended to spend at least 2 hours outdoors in the sun every day, and at least 14 hours per week in total. The key to outdoor activities is "outdoors", not the content, method and intensity of the activities.

**5. It’s cold during the winter vacation and I don’t want to go out. ** Can indoor activities prevent myopia?

A: The indoor field of vision is not wide, the light intensity is not enough, and the myopia prevention and control effect of indoor activities is not ideal. Sufficient sunlight is the key to preventing myopia during outdoor activities. The outdoor temperature is low during the winter vacation, so you should take good care of yourself to keep warm during outdoor activities. If it is really inconvenient to go outdoors, you can also go to the balcony or window to "bathe your eyes in the sun." Even on cloudy days, the light intensity outdoors is greater than indoors, so outdoor activities on cloudy days are also effective in preventing and controlling myopia.

6.What outdoor sports can you recommend?

A: Various ball sports are good outdoor sports, such as football, badminton, table tennis, etc. When playing, tracking the ball's long and short movements with both eyes can effectively exercise the ciliary muscles and promote blood circulation in the eyes. Running, doing exercises, group play, games, walking, etc. are all good outdoor sports.

03 Regular work and rest: enough sleep and not picky about food

7. Does adequate sleep help visual development?

A: Sufficient sleep is not only important for the physical growth and development of children and adolescents, but also beneficial for visual development. Parents are advised to set an example and guide their children to have a regular schedule during the winter vacation, go to bed early and get up early, do not stay up late, and get enough sleep. Toddlers and primary school students should sleep no less than 10 hours a day, junior high school students no less than 9 hours, and high school students no less than 8 hours.

8. To prevent myopia during the winter vacation, what dietary attention should be paid?

A: There are many gatherings during the Spring Festival, so we should avoid overeating and ensure balanced nutrition. Parents should guide their children to eat more vegetables and fruits, and take in a moderate amount of high-quality protein such as fish, soy products and eggs, and eat less sweets, sugary drinks and fried foods. They can also eat carrots, blueberries and other foods that are beneficial to visual health.

04 Extracurricular Reading: Correct posture, sufficient brightness

9.Will reading paper books for a long time hurt my eyes?

A: Compared with looking at electronic screens, reading books is less harmful to the eyes. However, if the reading posture is not correct and the eyes are used at close range for too long, it will cause eye fatigue. When reading, you should take a break at the right time, and the longest continuous use of eyes should not exceed 40 minutes. The younger the child, the shorter the continuous use of eyes should be.

10. What is the correct sitting posture when reading at home during the winter vacation?

A: Correct sitting posture can effectively prevent the occurrence and development of myopia. When writing or reading, keep the distance between eyes and head at a reasonable level, and stick to the principle of "one foot, one fist, and one inch", that is, keep eyes one foot (about 33 cm) away from the book, chest one fist (about 10 cm) away from the edge of the table, and fingers holding the pen one inch (about 3 cm) away from the tip of the pen. Do not read while lying on the table, bed, or sofa, and do not read in a moving carriage.

11. What are the requirements for light when learning to read?

A: Children need good lighting when studying. Improper lighting will have adverse effects on children's eyes. Parents should improve the visual environment at home and place their children's desks in a well-lit location indoors. When studying during the day, make full use of natural light for lighting and avoid direct light on the desk. When studying at night, in addition to turning on the desk lamp for lighting, appropriate background auxiliary light sources should be used indoors to reduce the indoor light and dark difference and keep the desk light in harmony with the surrounding environment. The desk lamp should have a lampshade and be placed in front of the opposite side of the writing hand.

05 Electronic products: choose the screen and control the duration

12. How much video time is appropriate during the winter vacation?

A: When watching electronic screens, you should take a break at the right time. It is recommended that after watching the screen for 20 minutes, you should look up and look 20 feet (6 meters) away for at least 20 seconds, which is the "20-20-20" formula. Children under 3 years old should avoid electronic products as much as possible, and preschool children should use electronic products as little as possible. The cumulative screen time of children and adolescents should not exceed 1 hour per day. The younger the age, the shorter the continuous use of electronic products should be.

13.What factors should be considered when choosing electronic products?

A: When using electronic products for video, the recommended order is projector, TV, computer, tablet, and mobile phone is not recommended. The general principle is that the larger the screen and the higher the resolution, the better, and adjust the brightness according to the environment. When the surrounding environment is dark, turn on the room lights and avoid using electronic products in a dark environment.

14.What is the appropriate distance when watching TV or using a computer?

A: When watching TV, the eyes should be at least 3 meters away from the TV screen or 6 times the diagonal length of the TV screen. When using a computer, the distance between the eyes and the computer screen should be greater than 50 cm, with the line of sight slightly downward, and the center of the computer screen should be about 10 cm below the line of sight, which can effectively reduce dry eyes and visual fatigue.

06Scientific eye care: focus on health care and prevent fatigue

15. What should I do if my eyes feel dry and tired?

A: Continuously using electronic products for too long can easily cause dry eyes, visual fatigue and other discomforts. You can close your eyes to rest or look into the distance, maintain a suitable indoor temperature and humidity, and blink your eyes more often to allow tears to fully moisten your eyes. Hot compress is one of the effective ways to relieve dry and tired eyes. If some eyes are serious, artificial tears can be used to relieve symptoms. If necessary, you should go to a regular medical and health institution for ocular surface function analysis, identify the cause, and intervene symptomatically. Uncorrected refractive error can easily lead to visual fatigue. You should go to a regular medical and health institution for vision and refractive power testing, and make corresponding refractive error corrections.

16. What role does eye exercises play in controlling myopia?

A: Traditional acupoint eye exercises are a kind of massage therapy based on Chinese medicine massage and acupoint massage combined with sports medicine. By massaging the acupoints and skin muscles around the eyes, the purpose of stimulating nerves, promoting blood circulation in the eyes, relaxing eye muscles, and relieving eye fatigue can be achieved. When doing eye exercises, pay attention to cleaning your hands, finding the acupoints, and applying enough force to feel soreness and swelling. Clinical studies have shown that compared with not doing eye exercises, doing eye exercises can improve subjective symptoms of visual fatigue and help delay the occurrence and development of myopia. We advocate that primary and secondary school students consciously insist on doing eye exercises once in the morning and afternoon every day during the winter vacation.

07 Intervention and correction: Control progress and check frequently

17. If I find that I am nearsighted, do I need to wear glasses?

A: If myopia is found, you should go to a regular ophthalmic medical institution for examination. According to the doctor's advice, you can undergo mydriasis refraction and scientific correction. Wearing glasses to control the progression of myopia mainly includes wearing frame glasses and corneal contact lenses. Frame glasses are the simplest and safest corrective device. In recent years, frame glasses with special optical designs, namely functional glasses, have also become optional myopia correction measures. Corneal contact lenses include soft contact lenses, hard gas permeable contact lenses and orthokeratology lenses (OK lenses). The wearing of contact lenses requires parental supervision and cooperation, regular check-ups, and prevention of infection.

18.Can drugs control the progression of myopia?

A: Currently, low-concentration atropine eye drops are evidence-based medicine that can effectively slow the progression of myopia. They can be used in combination with various specially designed glasses and contact lenses to enhance the effect of myopia control. Low-concentration atropine eye drops need to be used in a standardized manner under the guidance of a professional doctor, and follow up regularly as prescribed by the doctor.

19. Why is it necessary to control the progression of myopia and prevent it from developing into high myopia?

A: High myopia refers to myopia with a degree of 600 or more. High myopia is very harmful. If it is not promptly and scientifically intervened, it will not only cause the eyeball to bulge out and affect the appearance of the eye, but also cause the eyeball wall to thin, leading to pathological changes in the eyeball structure. High myopia is often accompanied by fundus complications, namely pathological myopia, which is one of the main diseases that cause low vision and blindness. People with high myopia should pay attention to avoid violent collisions when exercising, and should not participate in bungee jumping, diving, scuba diving and other sports.

20.Can laser surgery cure myopia?

Answer: Laser surgery refers to a refractive surgery method for myopia. It 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 winter vacation, some students who are 18 years old or older may be able to "take off their glasses" through laser surgery. There are certain surgical indications and contraindications for laser surgery, and it is necessary to go to a regular medical and health institution for scientific evaluation through examination. Although laser surgery solves the vision problems caused by myopia, it cannot change the changes in the structure of the eyeball caused by myopia, especially the changes in the fundus. Laser surgery is not suitable for adolescents whose myopia is still progressing. If you choose laser surgery, you should also pay attention to eye hygiene and habits after the operation, reduce close-range eye use, avoid visual fatigue, pay attention to vision, and have regular follow-up examinations.

National Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Myopia among Children and Adolescents Propaganda Team

January 17, 2025

Content source: China Myopia Prevention and Control