How to improve students' eyesight in the summer: 7 expert tips

While on vacation, children need to have a good rest, recover, and at the same time take care of their health. Natalia Svishchova, a member of the Association of Pediatric Ophthalmologists of Ukraine, a specialist in orthokeratology treatment, and a doctor at the pediatric ophthalmology department of the Excimer center, gives 7 simple but effective recommendations.

Summer is a favorite time for students, they finally have free time for themselves and entertainment. However, this is also the best period for restoring and maintaining good eyesight. To know whether any medical intervention and treatment is needed, absolutely all children need to have their eyesight checked at the end of the school year. After all, modern life with gadgets, the need to study online and use mainly electronic textbooks puts a lot of strain on students' eyes. 

Natalia Svishchova

Pediatric ophthalmologist Excimer Center

A thorough examination by an ophthalmologist

So, the first and main recommendation is to take your child to an ophthalmologist at the beginning of the summer, preferably to a specialized clinic, so as not to miss any threshold violations. Unfortunately, general checks at a family doctor simply based on the table do not give a complete picture of the state of the visual system. A schoolchild, especially a first-grader, may get confused and not notice the letter on the table, or peek, guess, or look with both eyes, and not with each one separately.

Therefore, the minimum examination should cover:

• the actual visual acuity test, but always with each eye separately with correction if necessary - with glasses that are needed for maximum visual acuity;
• wide pupil examination;
• preventive examination of the fundus;
• checking refraction in cycloplegia to find out if there are any abnormalities: farsightedness, nearsightedness, astigmatism. 

Most often, after the school year, students are diagnosed with myopia or accommodation strain caused by excessive visual strain at close range. 

Slightly less often, students are diagnosed with latent farsightedness and, against its background, asthenopia, that is, pain and redness of the eyes.

The third most common disease is astigmatism, which children compensate by straining their eyes. As a result, they develop eye fatigue, pseudomyopia, or accommodation strain.

It is by the dilated pupil that the ophthalmologist can clearly see whether it is just a slight astigmatism or compensated hidden farsightedness. Of course, if such conditions are detected, the doctor already decides: the child needs correction with glasses or lenses or whether procedures will be enough, in particular, hardware treatment to relieve accommodation tension or drops - everything is prescribed individually after the examination. 

Good time for vision correction

For those who, unfortunately, have been diagnosed with myopia, summer is the best time to comfortably choose the appropriate correction. The doctor, together with parents and children, chooses a convenient method: glasses, soft day lenses or hard night lenses. By the beginning of the next school year, in 3 months, the child will have time to get used to how to put them on and take them off correctly or will get used to glasses. 

If necessary, if the ophthalmologist sees progression of myopia, that is, an increase in the minus compared to the previous examination, night lenses are prescribed. Again, the holidays are the most comfortable period for this: parents do not need to worry that their student will be late for school, and children will have a full sleep. After all, it is important to wear night lenses for at least 7-8 hours. Over the summer, there will be enough time to choose lenses, wait for them to be made, learn how to use them and adapt to the new type of correction before school starts.

Possibility of hardware treatment

Throughout the summer, parents and children will easily allocate a decade in a month to go to the clinic for restorative procedures. In general, 10 days is the minimum, sometimes 15 sessions are needed to train accommodation and preserve vision. But in order to choose a complex of hardware treatment, the child must undergo a full examination of the organs of vision. Usually, several procedures are prescribed for one day, so the schoolchild has time to go through everything calmly.

Walking as a prevention of myopia

In the summer, daylight hours are long, so you can walk outside every day. And according to research, spending at least 2 hours outdoors prevents the development of myopia. 

However, do not choose lunchtime for a walk, when the ultraviolet spectrum is most aggressive. Although, on the other hand, from 11 to 15 you can stay in the shade - indirect sunlight is enough for the body. Any other time - from the very morning to 11 and after 15 until the evening, until the sun sets, is a great time to be outdoors.

It is important to walk where there is more vegetation, because the color green has a calming effect on the body, which will help relieve tension after stressful situations at school. In addition, in open spaces you can watch into the distance, without the tension of accommodation, which also relieves from overexertion. 

Limit visual activity with gadgets or books

Schoolchildren who are assigned to read a lot over the summer should adjust the time they spend reading or using the computer. Parents should remind them of the mandatory breaks and eye rest, and monitor lighting conditions - during the day they should read by the window, and in the evening with a lamp.

Physical activity

Playing outside with a ball is very good for eyesight, because children focus their gaze on it. into the distance, then up close. This helps train the eye muscles, strengthen the accommodative reserve, so that you can better tolerate visual stress at the beginning of the school year. Badminton or table tennis are great for this.

Fortified food

In the summer, you can get natural antioxidants, carotenoids from fruits, vegetables and berries. It is very useful to eat bright orange products - carrots, pumpkin, peaches, apricots, because they are rich in carotenoids (pigments). And lutein, which is necessary for the eyes, is found in fruits and berries of a rich purple color - in blackberries, blueberries, currants, mulberries, bilberries.

So, let your children walk more in the fresh air, play, get enough rest and sleep, eat a balanced diet, and most importantly, be sure to undergo a complete vision diagnosis in order to receive timely and effective treatment or choose comfortable correction devices.