Keeping Your Kids Safe from Rising Myopia Rates

Keeping Your Kids Safe from Rising Myopia Rates

In today’s digital age, keeping your kids happy and healthy involves more than just helping them stay fit and feeding them nutritious meals.

Changing lifestyles—including an increasing reliance on digital device use means we’ve seen rates of myopia rising worldwide for the past two years.

Kids are particularly vulnerable as their eyes are still developing so looking at screens up close for prolonged periods can elongate their eyes, causing myopia.

As a result, the Global Myopia Awareness Coalition reports that one in six children in the UK now have the condition.

If left untreated, severe myopia can increase their risk of developing blindness-causing conditions like myopia.

That means you may want to place myopia prevention high on the list of things to prioritise when it comes to maintaining your kids’ health as they grow. I’ve been embarking on some research with preventative tips below. I hope you find them useful.

 

Book regular eye exams
Frequent visits to your optometrist will be vital for tracking your kids’ eye health and preventing myopia. That’s especially true since eye exams do more than just check if your kids already have the condition.

Conversations with an eye care professional can cover your kids’ lifestyle habits, whether they put your kids at risk of myopia, and tailored tips you can try to prevent the condition.

The best part is that these assessments are easily accessible. Your kids can get free eye tests courtesy of the NHS, which you can book for them online or by simply heading to an opticians branch near you. Older kids can benefit from this too.

The NHS also covers eye exams for anyone aged 16 to 18 years old studying full-time, meaning you can easily monitor your kids’ eye health and shield them from myopia well into adulthood.

 

Encourage outdoor time
Given the significant role, excess device use plays in myopia progression, limiting your kids’ screen time with digital detoxes can be handy for regulating tech use and minimising the risk of myopia.

Restricting non-homework device use on weekdays and promoting activities like reading and playing with toys are great ways to start as is prioritising outdoor play.

Research shows that kids who spend just 76 minutes outdoors each day can cut their risk of developing short-sightedness by over 50% so get them outside. It will do you good too!

Play ball, go on treasure hunts, garden together, head out on bike rides together—whatever motivates them to head outdoors will boost your myopia-prevention efforts and will provide you with the benefit of fresh air and exercise too of course.

Moderate tech use
Of course, moderation is key so allowing your kids to use their tech for homework and fun of course, is important for education and socialisation and entertainment purposes.

In these cases, you can curb myopia progression by optimising their work environments to discourage eye strain and prevent eyeball elongation. Use laptop stands or monitor arms to ensure screens are an arm’s length away from their eyes and try to pace desks near windows or add light with a lamp to ensure the brightness in the room they work in, matches that of their screens.

More importantly, have them try the 20-20-20 rule. It involves looking at something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes, helping them take a break from their screens. More importantly, it allows children’s eyes to maintain the ability to switch between near and far vision, which can aid in slowing myopia development.

 

Of course, there may come a time when your optometrist diagnoses your kid with myopia despite your best efforts. If that happens, don’t be too hard on yourself.

Short-sightedness is also dictated by factors out of your control like genetics. So instead of wondering what you did wrong, focus all of your energies on myopia management.

The above tips are similarly handy for preventing the condition from worsening and you’ll also want to purchae corrective glasses or contact lenses your kid can wear.

If you need further guidance, you can get that too. Just talk to your optometrist. They can direct you to Myopia Profile’s free myopia resources for parents which cover everything you need to know about the age-specific treatment options you can consider for your child.