The Number of "Little Glasses" in China Exceeds 100 Million Experts: Overload of Eye Load is the Inducement

Every time the new school term begins, "myopia" is always an unavoidable topic. Children will find that some of their classmates around have newly put on "little glasses", and some others have had their "little glasses" lenses thickened. In the back-to-school season of March 2019, a boom of "loving and protecting eyes" was launched in more than 1,000 primary and secondary schools across 29 provinces in China. People have deeply realized that how to protect the "light of the future" is a lesson that the whole society needs to learn well.

High incidence and younger onset of myopia: The number of "little glasses" in China is staggering

In July 2018, the Ministry of Education released China's first China Compulsory Education Quality Monitoring Report, in which the problem of poor vision among students is prominent.

The report shows that the detection rates of poor vision among fourth-grade and eighth-grade students in China are 36.5% and 65.3% respectively, among which the proportion of eighth-grade students with severe poor vision exceeds 30%.

Previously, the results of national student physical fitness survey and monitoring also showed that the rates of poor vision among primary school students, junior high school students, high school students and college students in China are as high as 45.71%, 74.36%, 83.28% and 86.36% respectively. Among all the myopia patients nationwide, the estimated number of primary and secondary school students exceeds 100 million.

The National Visual Health Report white paper estimates that in 2012, the socio-economic cost caused by various visual impairments was about 680 billion yuan. If the myopia population continues to grow, in fields such as aerospace, precision manufacturing and military, there will be a huge gap in the labor force that meets the vision requirements, which will directly threaten the sustainable economic and social development and national security.

At Beijing No. 2 Experimental Primary School, the one-hour morning outdoor exercise has been adhered to for more than two years. In the back-to-school season of March 2019, many schools across the country chose the theme of vision protection for their "first class of the new term". Such expectation of giving children a pair of bright eyes is now getting a response——

At the end of August 2018, eight departments including the Ministry of Education jointly issued the Implementation Plan for Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Myopia in Children and Adolescents, making the prevention and control of myopia in children and adolescents a national action. A scientific prevention and control system featuring government leadership, departmental collaboration, expert guidance, school education and family attention is being constructed.

In the back-to-school season of March 2019, a boom of "loving and protecting eyes" was launched in more than 1,000 primary and secondary school campuses across 29 provinces in China. Multiple local departments including health, education, disease control, women's federations, customs and work committees and charity federations, together with specialized ophthalmic hospitals, have held more than 500 popular science lectures on eye health for students, teachers and parents.

To help children get rid of "little glasses", the whole society has already taken action.

Blame schoolwork or electronic products? Excessive eye load is the inducement

Experts point out that the main factor causing myopia is close-range eye load. All close-range eye loads such as studying, reading and playing with electronic devices are inducements.

"In recent years, school education has more or less had the phenomenon of valuing intellectual education more than physical education. Children spend too much time on close-range learning, with excessive learning intensity and frequency. In addition, they have bad daily eye use habits, which lead to the early onset and high incidence of myopia," said Li Jiawei, deputy director of Guiyang Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The reporter learned from interviews in Beijing that although some primary schools dismiss at 3:30 p.m., after-school homework and interest classes still take up most of children's time. Having no time for exercise and no place for exercise seems to have become a common phenomenon.

However, physical activity, as the main means of vision intervention, has still been insufficient in some places for many years. Apart from small venues and high teaching pressure, the worry about students' safety seems to be an inescapable "tight curse" for schools.

In addition, the popularization of electronic products in recent years has become an "accomplice" of myopia. But some cases also show that when using electronic products similarly, the myopia rate in some countries is not that high compared with that in China.

The reporter's investigation found that foreign schools attach more importance to students' outdoor activities. Besides organizing sports activities, they also "force" children to stay away from computers and books. For example: Children in Australia spend 3 to 4 hours outdoors every day; The United Kingdom has a regular vision examination mechanism, and vision examination and optometry services are provided free of charge in hospitals, clinics and pharmacies; Germany attaches importance to children's natural vision management and myopia prevention. In addition to regularly organizing students to go to high places to look into the distance, schools also let children wear "witch" glasses to let them experience the inconvenience of blurred vision and understand the causes of myopia.

"Physical exercise is currently a cost-effective way to prevent and control myopia," said Li Li, director of the ophthalmology department of Beijing Children's Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University. Outdoor activities in daytime allow ultraviolet radiation to promote the secretion of dopamine, and dopamine can inhibit the growth of eye axis and effectively control the development of myopia.

Clinical studies have also confirmed that two hours of outdoor activities every day or 10 hours of outdoor activities every week can effectively reduce the probability of the occurrence and development of myopia.

Three-dimensional protection and high-tech services: Both are indispensable

The causes of myopia in children and adolescents are complex, which means that the prevention and control of myopia requires joint efforts from education authorities, schools, parents, children and medical institutions to create a healthy eye environment.

"Schools should start by ensuring at least one hour of outdoor activities for students every day, arranging two eye exercises every day, supervising students' eye use behaviors and providing reasonable diets," said Wang Yifang, director of the student affairs office of the First Affiliated High School of Central China Normal University.

"Adolescents should also conduct self-management from five dimensions: eye use distance, eye use duration, ambient light intensity during eye use, outdoor activity duration and eye use angle," reminded Yang Zhikuan, a professor at Aier School of Ophthalmology, Central South University. If a child has phenomena such as "tilting the head and squinting" and "blurred vision", parents should not take it lightly. They should take the child to a professional ophthalmic hospital for examination, and let doctors formulate a myopia prevention and control plan for the child.

To protect children's bright eyes, Chinese scientific researchers have also joined the ranks of polishing this "window of the soul". For example, at the recently held "China International Forum on Translation and Innovation of Ophthalmology and Visual Science", an incubator for visual science was established. It encourages industry insiders to bring out their "wild ideas" for "protecting eyes" for "incubation", so as to promote the clinical translation of ophthalmology research results and ultimately benefit the "little glasses" group.

"Only when multiple parties work together to ensure that children have sufficient daytime outdoor activity time, maintain correct reading and writing posture, control the time spent using electronic products, get enough sleep and have reasonable nutrition, can we jointly protect the bright future of children."