10 tips for healthy eye care to help you reduce the harm of myopia!

According to CCTV News, the results of the 18th National Reading Survey found that the average time spent on mobile phones in 2020 was 100.75 minutes. Except for the elderly who do not use mobile phones frequently, infants in swaddling clothes, and students who are prohibited from using mobile phones by school, most people use their mobile phones for much longer than this time. The emergence of mobile phones and other electronic products has brought great convenience to our lives, but also caused great harm to our eyes, an important organ of our body. According to the survey, the myopia rate of young people in my country reached 52.7% in 2020. The harm caused by mobile phones to us is far more serious than we imagined.

Firstly, playing with mobile phones can cause or aggravate myopia. Mobile phones are designed to be small and exquisite for the convenience of people to carry. In order to see the content on the mobile phone clearly, we often put the screen very close to our eyes. Because the eyes are close to the electronic screen and stay on the screen for a long time, the ciliary muscle is in a state of contraction for a long time, which not only easily causes visual fatigue and increases intraocular pressure, but also causes the sclera wall to gradually become thinner, leading to eye expansion and eventually forming myopia[1]. Another situation is that we already have myopia. Playing with mobile phones for a long time makes our eyes tense and unable to relax, which aggravates the degree of myopia.

Secondly, most people like to go home, turn off the lights and lie on the bed to play with their mobile phones. Their eyes are poorly adapted to dark light. The dark surrounding environment and the bright light of the mobile phone screen form a sharp contrast between light and dark, which strengthens the eyes' ability to adjust light and dark, aggravates eye fatigue and reduces vision.

In addition, as an electronic product, mobile phones also emit blue light that can cause radiation to our eyes, which can have certain adverse effects on our eyes. [2]

Now that we have a preliminary understanding of the impact of mobile phones on myopia, how can we reduce the adverse effects of mobile phone use on the eyes? 10 tips for healthy eye use can help you reduce the harm caused by myopia:

(1) Pay attention to the popularization of myopia education. Currently, most people do not understand the current myopia situation and the extent of the adverse effects of mobile phones on myopia. Relevant departments can strengthen myopia health education and increase people's attention to their eyes.

(2) Reduce the time and frequency of playing with mobile phones, avoid being addicted to mobile phone content, and increase the burden on the eyes. The National Health Commission issued the "Core Information and Interpretation of China's Youth Health Education (2018 Edition)", which clearly stipulates the use of electronic products by young people. The cumulative use for non-learning purposes should not exceed 1 hour per day.

(3) Choose the correct posture when using your phone. Do not lie down or lie prone to use your phone. The best posture is to keep your chest and abdomen straight, with the center of the phone screen at the same height as your eyes, parallel to your line of sight. You can look down about 15° to 20°, that is, the phone is slightly below the horizontal line. When playing with your phone, pay attention to moving your wrists and fingers to avoid stiffening your wrists and fingers.

(4) Try to use a mobile phone with a larger screen to reduce eye pressure.

(5) You can wear anti-blue light glasses to reduce the radiation from mobile phones to your eyes.

(6) Try not to bring your mobile phone to bed, and reduce the time and frequency of playing with your mobile phone in bed.

(7) If your eyes show symptoms such as photophobia, dryness, or itching, go to the hospital promptly for relevant eye examinations.

(8) Actively participate in outdoor sports, especially badminton, tennis, table tennis and other sports that can exercise the eye muscles.

(9) Do eye exercises regularly, ensure adequate sleep, relax your eyes, and give them a full rest. Look into the distance after using your eyes, and look at more green plants.

(10) Eat a balanced diet and do not be picky about food. You can eat vegetables and fruits such as carrots, blueberries, and kiwis that are good for the eyes.

Protecting eyes is not just talk, it requires each of us to implement it in action. Eyes are the only organ that can sense light, and it is our responsibility to protect them. The World Health Organization has listed myopia as one of the five key eye diseases to be prevented and treated in the "2020, Enjoy the Right to See" campaign, which shows that myopia prevention has received worldwide attention. So please start from now on, turn off your mobile phone screen, strengthen eye hygiene, and prevent the formation of myopia!

References:

[1] Wang Limeng, He Xiangui, Xie Hui, Xu Wenyan, Pan Chenwei, Wang Xiangdong. Correlation between myopia-related health beliefs and screen time among primary and secondary school students[J]. Chinese Journal of School Health, 2021, 42(02)
:181-184.DOI:10.16835/j.cnki.1000-9817.2021.02.006.

[2] Cui Xingyi, Peng Li. “Mobile Phone Disease”, which of these symptoms do you have?[N]. Guangming Daily, 2021-08-22(006)
.DOI:10.28273/n.cnki.ngmrb.2021.004303.