What Children Can Teach Writers About Eye Care

How do we take care of ourselves when we are sitting for hours in front of a computer? The conscious and diligent go to the gym or take up hiking. Some of us hate exercise and never developed that habit. We need to create a habit of self-care. There are tiny actions we can take. But what if the problem is with our eyes? We can’t give our eyes exercise. It sounds absurd. Is it, really? Although there are dozens of eye conditions to consider, I want to focus on nearsightedness or myopia and how it affects us.

Research shows a correlation between screen time and increasing myopia or nearsightedness in children. A percentage of those children don’t have a history of myopia in their families. Myopia should not be left untreated. Carla Lanca, in a Portuguese literature study, reported that researchers agreed untreated myopia can one day lead to blindness.

Nowadays, treating myopia progression is of paramount importance. Children that progress about half a dioptre per year until their teenage years are at great risk of developing high myopia and potential blinding conditions, such as macular myopic maculopathy.  (Lanca)

If children are getting myopia from possibly looking at a screen for too long, isn’t it possible adults, those who do close or near work, can also be affected by the same condition?

I Used To Boast About My 20/20 Vision

Back in the day, my friends and I used to drive from DC to Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Bronx for parties. The GPS wasn’t around then. We studied the maps we bought at the gas station and off we went. The very fatigued driver needed a spotter in congested New York City streets and I played that role. I could see the road names before anyone else. I would shout the road name to the driver, giving that person time to prepare for the turn whether it was on the same side or the opposite side of the street. My eyes were healthy then. Gradually, I lost that 20/20 vision. While I can’t blame screen time for my early loss of acuity, I can still blame close work.

Researchers are saying the youth, especially those living in urban centers around the world, do a lot of close work. Young students are frequently staring at the page or a screen, or playing video games. I am doing the same. My eyes are even more overworked because I sit in front of the computer for long hours. Honestly, I’ve been sitting at my computer for the last five hours with no breaks. I want to know if I can slow down or halt this degeneration. I am always on the lookout for ways to take better care of my eyes.

Our Eyes Contain Short Muscles. Who Knew!

I heard a fascinating interview with eye health advocate Meir Schneider on WPFW Pacifica Radio. Schneider, who is legally blind, discussed eye strain and the ciliary muscle—short muscles controlling the lens of our eyes. According to him, looking at something on the computer screen for more than 20 minutes without a break is taxing on the eyes. Data had been collected from members of the prison population, Schneider suggested. Prisoners are prone to myopia because they live in tiny cells and hardly ever practice long distance vision. I have searched a very long time for this study but haven't found it. A stunningly low number of research projects focus on eye health in prisons. Almost all the literature seem to mention two African studies which don't mention the cause of myopia in the prison population. Still, his anecdote has piqued my interest.

Young Children Are Developing Nearsightedness

As I researched the subject, I came across an extraordinary number of articles and studies of myopia or near-sightedness in children. Quite a few of these studies were naming screen time as a culprit in increasing in myopia in school-aged children. Christina Alvarez and others of the European University of Madrid studied children from four to six years old and found a correlation between devices and age of the children.

The time spent in near vision and the use of devices increased with age (p ≤ 0.001). Therefore, … there was an association between the time spent in near vision and the use of digital devices with the increase in children with myopia (OR: 0.87; CI: 0.85–0.90; p ≤ 0.001). (Alvarez)

Carla Lanca’s study, referenced earlier, also reported a link between vision problems and emotional wellbeing: “children with myopia revealed higher scores of depression compared with children having normal vision.” (Lanca)

Outdoor Exercise Entices Children Away From Their Devices

The researchers in this study are cautious about saying too much screen time is a direct cause of myopia. However, they recommend outdoor exercise be mandated for this young population.

There is still not enough scientific evidence to determine the cause, namely, the time spent in near vision or working distance. In addition, this study found that, since 2017, the number of hours spent using digital devices has decreased. This may be due to a better awareness of the risk on the part of the parents. In turn, this leads us to think that in the coming years the prevalence of myopia may be reduced by better exposure to the open air and a shorter time in near vision. (ibid)

It’s encouraging that the children in the study slowed down the progression of myopia just by decreasing screen time. Right now in our history, most writers will not decrease their screen time unless they are doing dictation. This writing workaround doesn’t guarantee less time on screen. Dictation software is not accurate. Writers still find themselves editing after using dictation software. We don’t need more evidence to make a change. We spend an inordinate amount of time in front of our screens. Like the children who are improving, we should mandate outdoor time. Let’s use the Pomodoro technique which is a scientific method for time management. Let’s set our timers and take a break every 20 minutes from the device.

There Is Hope! Bright Light Helps Our Eyes

We already know tension builds up behind the eyes when we do close work for too long. We don’t know exactly where in the eye this buildup happens, but we can feel the results all over our body. Knowing why that happens would help, but I don’t want to wait for more proof. New research news throws a seasonal element in the mix. Gareth Lingam and others, in the British Journal of Opthalmology, looked at 8 ways why “spending time outdoor protects against myopia.” These are the surprising results:

We reviewed the evidence for and against eight facets of spending time outdoors that may protect against myopia: brighter light, reduced peripheral defocus, higher vitamin D levels, differing chromatic spectrum of light, higher physical activity, entrained circadian rhythms, less near work and greater high spatial frequency (SF) energies. There is solid evidence that exposure to brighter light can reduce the risk of myopia. (Lingam)

People in tropical climates will rejoice at this news. They experience so much light. All they have to do is limit covering their eyes with dark glasses. But I can’t imagine the implications for those of us living above the Tropic of Cancer and below the Tropic of Capricorn. These regions don’t have bright sunlight all year round.

How I Am Helping My Eyes One Gaze At A Time

What’s left if we don’t live in a sunny climate? I am lucky. Big windows in my apartment give me access to seasonal bright light, more importantly, access to the outdoors. I have set up my workspace next to my window and I keep my curtains open. When I look to my right to think, I look out over tree tops to a cell phone tower one mile away. I also look at what I imagine to be NASA Goddard at least five miles away. This is the lazy approach. It would even be better to get up from that table and walk away from the screen or close work. When I set my timer for 20 or 30 minute intervals and I get up and stare into the distance, oh, the relief I feel! It’s palpable. I feel like a tight rubber band has been removed from somewhere on my body. Not only that. I take a deep, cleansing breath. The monumental release just comes. I don’t force it. Clearly, there is no scientific support to explain this cleansing breath, but I am going to take it as evidence I am doing something right. Try it and tell me what you think. My eyes are in love with this exercise. Have you been trying eye exercises? Please comment below.

Sources

Lanca C., Pang CP., Grzybowski A. (2023).Editorial: Refractive Errors: Public Health Challenges and Interventions. Frontiers in Public Health. 2023 Oct 2:11:1289173. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10577413

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Alvarez-Peregrina, C., et al. (2021). On Behalf Of Grupo de Investigación Alain Afflelou. The Prevalence of Myopia in Children in Spain: An Updated Study in 2020. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021 Nov 25;18(23):12375. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8656604/

Lingam G., et al (2020). How Spending Time Outdoors Protect Against Myopia? A Review. British Journal of Ophthalmology. 2020 May; 104 (5):593-599. Retrieved from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31722876/