Giving children the best education possible is the prerogative of many parents, especially since it can give them a leg up later on in life. To this end, you’re likely already doing all you can to ensure they study at their best, including choosing the right school and helping them with their homework—but did you know that simply caring for their eyesight is another effective way to improve their academic performance?
Think about it: even mild cases of refractive errors (like myopia, or short-sightedness) can make it harder to read, write, and even follow what’s being written on a classroom board. That means maintaining good eyesight can help children better keep up with and understand lessons. Unfortunately, doing so today can be easier said than done. Due to our increasingly digital lifestyles, kids are spending less time outdoors and more time indoors looking at screens, and that makes them more likely to develop myopia. In fact, the WHO estimates that the number of young people with short-sightedness alone will rise to more than three billion by as early as 2030.
That said, how exactly can parents protect their children’s eyes during the academic year? Try these tips:
Encourage safe sports participation
Since myopia is primarily attributed to children spending more time indoors, make sure yours do the opposite and head outdoors. Why not encourage them to join a sport of their choice? Aside from lowering their likelihood of becoming short-sighted, athletic (or, at the very least, active) kids can also benefit from improved physical health, more opportunities for social interaction, better self-esteem, and even a stronger work ethic that can easily translate to their studies. However, it’s important to remember to protect their eyes outdoors, as well. We get most of our exposure to the sun’s UV rays before we turn 18—and though sunlight aids myopia prevention, excess amounts can also heighten their risk of developing conditions like cataracts earlier than normal. That’s not to mention that some sports, like football, are associated with infections and injuries if balls or debris hit or enter the eyes. You’ll thus want to ensure you procure children’s sunglasses for safe sports participation. These will provide 100% UV protection, shield the eyes from physical harm, and won’t break easily thanks to their use of durable frame materials like polycarbonate. Try getting them in fun designs to encourage your children to wear them as often as possible—Coral Eyewear, for example, recently came out with a fun collection inspired by everyone’s favourite bear, Paddington!
Optimise screen time
Today, digital devices are often necessary for studying—so though you can minimise how much your kids look at screens for leisure, you can’t do the same when it’s time to do their homework. In these cases, try to optimise how they use their gadgets for academic purposes. One of the best things you can do is get them a pair of blue light glasses. These use specialised lenses to filter out blue light—which, in excess, can expose the eyes to glare and cause a visual discomfort that leads to eye strain. In the long run, blue light overexposure can also permanently damage the retina at the back of the eye. By only letting a small amount of blue light through, these glasses can prevent these negative effects while helping your children reap benefits perfect for studying—such as increased alertness, better memory, and a boosted mood. Glasses Direct’s frames use KODAK UVBlue lenses that you may want to consider buying, as they come with additional scratch-resistant coatings that ensure they’ll last for longer despite being dropped often. Outside of using these glasses, it’s also important to take more breaks. Teach your kids the 20-20-20 rule so they can rest their eyes every 20 minutes by looking at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Doing so will help keep their eye muscles strong and lower their risk of developing myopia.
Observe your kids
There’s also the possibility that your children already experience poor eyesight. Since flagging academic performance can signal a number of things, including a simple difficulty with grasping certain lessons, it shouldn’t be the only signpost you use to determine if they’re experiencing vision issues. That’s especially true with Specsavers reporting that kids are very adept at masking signs of poor eyesight. If they’re younger, they may not also know how to communicate eye problems with you. It’s thus more important to look out for a few behavioural signs they may exhibit due to eyesight trouble. That includes excessive eye rubbing, head-tilting, and squinting. Maybe they position themselves too close or far from objects like books or TVs to see them clearly—or, if they’re reading, you might notice that they go over the same line twice, follow words with their fingers, or lose their place altogether. You can also talk with their teachers to see if they have trouble looking at blackboards or textbooks.
Once you feel that they may be suffering from poor eyesight, don’t hesitate to consult an optometrist. An eye exam will help you definitively determine whether they have eye conditions like myopia. More importantly, optometrists will give you the advice you need to correct these conditions as soon as possible—such as by recommending prescription glasses—and treat them over time so they don’t worsen. That way, you can more efficiently help your children overcome the hurdle of poor eyesight and put them in a better position to excel in class.
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