If you’re reading this on your phone right now, how many centimeters are your eyes away from the phone? Is it 20 centimeters? Or 30 centimeters?

How long have you been staring at the screen today? If you’re close to the average, it’s probably more than nine hours, and if you find that your child has the same habits as you, be careful.

Spending too much time staring at a mobile phone or computer screen could increase a child’s risk of myopia by 80 per cent, a new study warns.

Experts at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK, studied screen exposure and myopia in more than 3,000 people aged between three months and 33 years. They found a clear link between screen time and the development of myopia.

Smartphones alone increased the risk of myopia by 30 percent compared to screen users, and heavy computer use increased the risk to 80 percent, the study said.

In 2019, the World Health Organization recommended that children under the age of two should not be exposed to screens, and that children between the ages of two and five should spend no more than one hour a day sitting on screens.

Screen damage: pressure on the eyes, increasing the risk of myopia.

Eye doctors believe that the problem with staring at a screen in close proximity for long periods of time is not the direct light but the strain it puts on the eyes, resulting in eye strain.

Like phones, tablets, laptops, desktops… When our eyes are focused closely on them, we blink less and the muscles in our pupils are forced to stretch in order to adapt to continuous close viewing. This can easily cause the lens to shift.

Staring at screens for long periods of time can cause eye strain and accelerate vision problems in adults. For children whose eyes are still developing, the situation is even more serious.

Screen damage 2: Blue light damage, resulting in impaired vision

Smartphones, tablets, laptops… There are artificial blue light sources, and long-term exposure to blue light can aggravate vision fatigue, premature aging of the eye, and over time, continuous exposure to blue light can even lead to retinal cell damage and vision problems.

Blue light in nature comes mainly from the sun, and while screens have a much lower exposure, the exposure is higher because the eyes are closer to the screen and spend more time staring at the screen.

Screen damage three: it makes it harder to fall asleep and affects vision development

The blue light emitted by many digital devices suppresses the production of melatonin and disrupts circadian rhythms, leading to delayed sleep and even inability to fall asleep. At the same time, playing mobile phones and tablet computers before going to bed is easy to cause sleep excitement, sleep deprivation, difficulty falling asleep and other phenomena.

Sleep quality is poor, not only can cause low immunity, spirit, be agitated, memory decline, at the same time also will affect the occurrence and development of myopia, especially in children and adolescents in the growth development period, lack of sleep can lead to insufficient growth hormone secretion, affect the growth of the eye, and prone to eye fatigue, adjustment disorder, cause eye myopia and myopic degree increase.

Today, “screen” has entered all aspects of our life, large and small electronic screen, occupy our daily life, so that we can not leave it, also can not leave it.

To this kind of we already cannot escape “harm”, what method can we protect the child’s eye, reduce the occurrence of myopia?

“Screen injury” mainly comes from three aspects: eye pressure, blue light damage, impact on sleep, we can start from these three aspects, through “create, change, supplement” three dimensions, myopia prevention of children’s vision.

Create: create a healthy lighting learning environment

For a healthy and adequate indoor lighting, it is necessary to ensure the use of two kinds of light sources at the same time, room lamp and eye-protection lamp. Considering that children of different ages have different perception of light, it is crucial to choose professional anti-blue light eye-protection lamp designed for different ages.

Change: Change your child’s bad behavior

1, do not stay indoors for a long time, more outdoor activities

Outdoor sunlight can promote the human body to secrete more dopamine and vitamin D, which has a good preventive effect on inhibiting the growth of the eyeball, elongating the eye axis and controlling the occurrence and development of myopia.

At the same time, sunlight contains a lot of beneficial near-infrared light (NIR red light), which has a very good improvement and nursing effect on vision.

2. Avoid prolonged screen time and use the “20-20-20” rule

After 20 minutes of looking at a digital screen, look up at a distance of 20 feet (6 meters) for more than 20 seconds, while avoiding children reading small text on smartphones.

3. Don’t get too close to the screen. Keep your distance

The smaller the screen, the closer it is, the greater the blue light damage and the strain on the eyes. To encourage children to learn on larger screens, prioritize ultra-short focus laser TVS, projectors, TVS, desktops, laptops, tablets, phones.

4. Turn off digital devices at least one hour before bed to reduce blue light exposure and help kids fall asleep earlier.

Added: Added low power NIR red light

Studies have found that [1], under the harm of blue light, the concentration of cytochrome C oxidase in mitochondria of cells will gradually decrease over time, thus reducing the metabolic capacity of visual cells, leading to vision deterioration and myopia, which is the main reason for the damage of blue light to vision.

According to the research of institute of Ophthalmology of University college of London in The UK: 3 minutes a day to accept the specific NIR light wave irradiation in infrared wave, can effectively inhibit and repair the damage and aging of retinal mitochondria, for myopia occurrence and progress have good block effect, especially the damage caused by blue light! The test showed a 20 percent improvement in vision! [2]

Simply speaking, the decline of eyesight and eye cell natural metabolism ability have direct relation, the cell wants to undertake high metabolism, need to have sufficient energy. Near infrared light can promote the mitochondria in cells to produce a large amount of ATP, just like charging the cells of the retina, replenish energy, promote the metabolism and regeneration of cells, and have a good blocking effect on the occurrence of myopia.

Added for low power NIR red, children with time, can be more outdoor exposure to sunlight, and for children to stay indoors for a long time to learn, you can choose to have near-infrared light lighting equipment, such as professional brand of the lamp that shield an eye doctor Edward balder light, will be beneficial NIR “nearly flat red” red light and learning to work with embellish of eyes, Through the action of near-infrared light of specific wavelength on the retina, so that the mitochondria of retinal cells replenish energy, full of activity, so as to play a nursing effect of retinal and eye cells, especially the damage caused by blue light.

In addition, the mix is also very important, this lamp configuration “light tomato model”, every 4JUdGzvrMFDWrUUwY3toJATSeNwjn54LkCnKBPRzDuhzi5vSepHfUckJNxRL2gjkNrSqtCoRUrEDAgRwsQvVCjZbRyFTLRNyDmT1a1boZVuseful energy recovery during the period of light waves, help children enter a state of rest, let your eyes rest at the same time, through meditation and practice methods such as energy recovery, Get ready for another 45 minutes of productive learning.

The lamp uses a safe, low-energy LED light developed by NASA. It is highly safe and does not cause damage even in close contact with the skin or for long periods of time. Meanwhile, the permeability of NIR red light is so good that the energy can be absorbed by the mitochondria of cells even when the eyes are closed.

For children nowadays, it is definitely impossible to stay away from the screen, whether it is online learning, entertainment, making friends… The screen has become an important window for them to understand the world, get information and build relationships. But for “screen injury”, we can reduce the risk of myopia through some effective prevention measures, but also expect society, schools, families to participate in efforts, as well as the use of more new technology, so that children can understand the world through “screen” at the same time, have a pair of healthy and bright eyes.