Urbanization clubbed with fierce competition and vast exposure has led the kids of today into a whole new world of opportunities and knowledge. However, this attractive envelope has started opening its vicious contents now.
Children experience immense study pressure and the recreational activities have gotten side-lined. The few activities that children tend to indulge nowadays in are computer and video games along with television viewing.
Prolonged use of computer exposes children to Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). This involves the symptoms like visual discomfort, fatigue, blurred vision, reduced tear flow and headaches. It has been noticed that younger children are more susceptible to these eye problems due to immature eyes and eye muscles. The major problem concerning this is that the onset of symptoms is slow which results in poor and delayed medical care. Computer users are also facing the risk of Glaucoma involving damage to the optic nerve eventually leading to blindness.
Another sport children enjoy is the video games. Continuous gaming can cause the above mentioned symptoms in a far more severe way since it involves immense concentration that strains the eye muscles. Video games share their effects with television as well. The rate of television viewing has risen greatly in the last decade and the production houses offer various programs and videos for very young children resulting in an early exposure of tender eye muscles causing further damage.
The wave of junk food has hit the urban world badly and the effects are showing now in poor nutrition of kids. This puts them in the high risk zone also leading them towards excessive weight gain. Reduced outdoor activities and obesity causes type II diabetes in children, which results in eye problems and vision loss in the long run.
Children are attracted to things that provide them with entertainment and fun so it is unfair to deprive them of these pleasures. However, certain measures could be taken to reduce the aftermaths still keeping the fun alive. These may include the use of anti-glare screens, simple eye exercises, defined distance from the screens and nutritional supplements.
In case of television, the recommended distance is 5 meters and for video games, a safe distance of 6 feet would be helpful. Television is unsafe when being watched in dark so the premises should be well lit. Encouraging short breaks every 20 minutes is advisable too. Simple eye exercises may include eyeball movements in clockwise and anticlockwise direction with frequent blinking. A protein rich diet supplemented with leafy vegetables would take care of the nutrition aspect.
