Trouble in learning?
Poor vision can lead to this problem.

1 in 4 children have undetected vision problems

According to the American Optometric Association, 1 in 4 school children have undetected vision problems. This could lead to impair learning as up to 80% of a child’s learning in school is through vision.

Refractive errors such as myopia (short-sightedness), astigmatism (a form of blurry vision) and amblyopia (lazy eye) are the common eye problems among Malaysian children. The Segamat Paediatric Eye Disease Study found that 1 in 10 Malaysian children (aged 4 to 6 years) had an undiagnosed vision problem. This problem could lead to chronic headaches and learning difficulties¹.

Check Your Children’s Screen Time

Controlling a child’s screen time can be challenging. To complicate matters, some parents use screen time as a reward or revoke it as punishment to control children’s behaviour, especially during weekends. It can lead to additional 20 minutes spent in a day on sedentary screen time, be it on a smartphone, tablet, computer or in front of the television.

These are the recommended screen time for children:

1. Infants less than one year old should have ZERO screen time.
2. Toddlers 2-4 years olds – not more than 1 hour per day
3. Children more than 5 years old – not more than 2 hours per day

According to the research, Malaysian children obviously spending more time on screens. And you can imagine the hours on screens will be even higher, especially during Covid-19 pandemic. Preschool children are forced to attend online classes.

Malaysian Child spends averagely SIX (6) hours on screens E.V.E.R.Y.D.A.Y!

Visual system of young children is not fully developed

One’s normal visual development is rapid during the first six months of life, then continued through the first decade. As the visual system of young children is not fully developed yet, sitting for hours in front of a computer screen put on more stresses and can strain their eyes a lot more than reading a book. This is because the computer forces the child’s vision system to maintain focus on computer-generated images than on printed images. The blue light emitted from the screens will stimulate the production of free radicals, which further induce macular degeneration.

Eye Protection Required

• Long hours (>2 hours) screen time
• Frequent eye rubbing
• Sensitive and watery eyes
• Complaining about blurred vision
• Eyes redness and tiredness
• Easily lose focus while reading

Children are not aware of what is normal and abnormal. Any abnormality will be treated as normal as they assume everybody “sees” the same thing. Thus, parents play an important role to detect a vision problem and provide nutrients needed for a good vision.

Astaxanthin & Anthocyanins – Powerful Antioxidant for Eye Healthy

As children’s vision development is continued for the first decade, providing strong antioxidants and essential nutrients needed can sharpen their vision. Generally, orange and yellow coloured food such as carrot, pumpkin and papaya are rich in vitamin A and beta carotene, which prevents night blindness and other eye problems. When it comes to antioxidant for eye protection, astaxanthin being the most clinical studied powerful antioxidant should be included for eye health.

Furthermore, anthocyanins are natural pigments responsible for red, purple and blue colours in fruits and vegetables. Berries, blackcurrants and black prunes are some examples of foods high in anthocyanins content. With strong antioxidant properties, they protect against free radicals (ROS) in the body, included those ROS induced by blue light from the screens of 3C products. These are the essential nutrients needed for a good vision!

References: (1) Chew, F. et al. 2018.     (2) Lee, S.T. et al. 2015.     (3) Azaliah Ibrahim et al. 2016.