The ayes have it, tech it easy!

Online classes have triggered a range of eye-related problems for students. Dr Ganesh R of Rainbow Children’s Hospital shares tips for optimal optical health

EXPRESS ILLUSTRATION 

CHENNAI: Three months ago, when Sanjeev Shanmugam’s school decided to shift their physical classroom to a cloud-based one, the 10-year-old couldn’t contain his excitement. It meant access to his father’s laptop and mother’s iPad — both of which had been off-limits for the adolescent until then. From having restricted screen-time of 15 minutes on average, online classes exposed him to around four hours of an unpleasant bright screen every day.

This eventually was followed by complaints of blurry vision, recurrent headaches, and shooting pain in the eyes. “He wakes up, has breakfast, gets ready and sits in front of the laptop to attend his classes. It goes on for anything between three to four hours with inadequate breaks. The extra screentime is straining his eyes; he keeps rubbing and massaging it to soothe the pain. He has also become more irritable, and is struggling to sleep at night. This again leads to eye fatigue and it’s been a vicious cycle,” rues entrepreneur Jayanthi Shanmugam, Sanjeev’s mother. Shravantheeka, a class 4 student, has also been experiencing eye fatigue and her mother tells us she is worried.

Despite moving the screen and chair to a more optimum position to make the virtual-learning experience convenient for her eightyear- old daughter, her perpetually tired eyes are a cause for concern. “On average, she is exposed to a screen for about three hours per day. Before the lockdown, she hardly used to watch TV or use any gadget. Even if she did, it was restricted to a maximum of 10 minutes. So the sudden switch has been a challenge, and it’s extremely worrying. Though the teachers do ask the children to look away from the screen for a few minutes and help them practise a few eye exercises, the impact it could have on children is worrisome,” says Srinithya.

Taking notice of this problem, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has recommended a limit to daily online classes—no more than two sessions per day for students in classes 1 to 8, and no more than four for students in classes 9 to 12, with each session lasting a maximum of 45 minutes. “Looking at the screen for an extended time can strain the eyes causing different issues — varying from headache, spasm and refractive error (nearsightedness or myopia). Increased screen-time can also affect the eyes’ tear film layers, speeding up its evaporation. Due to this, the eye dries up and causes an itchy sensation. This can also lead to infections like pink eye and so on,” explains Dr Ganesh R, senior consultant — general pediatrics and pediatric metabolic disorders, Rainbow Children’s Hospital, Chennai. He shares tips to keep the child’s eye health in check.

Take breaks
Parents have to ensure that the child gets frequent breaks between classes.  It is mandatory to look away from the screen, or at a farther object for at least 10-15 minutes to readjust the field of vision. During such breaks, encourage the child to blink, wash the face and use moisturising eye drops to avoid eye dryness.

Screen positioning
The child’s laptop/computer screen/phone should be placed at their eye level and not above or below it. Looking up at a screen opens the eyes wider and can dry them rapidly. Gadgets should be placed one to 10 feet away from the child, depending on the size of the screen. A comfortable chair should also be provided. The child should be made mindful to sit up straight while looking at the screen.

Reduce glare
Room lighting has to be adjusted to half of what it would be for other activities while using a computer
screen. The brightness of the screen should also be reduced to a more comfortable level for viewing.

A good night’s sleep
Children require anything from 8-10  hours of restful sleep. Not getting enough sleep leads to tired and fatigued eyes. Devices and gadgets should be kept away from the room and exposure to screen should be avoided for at least an hour prior to going to bed. The room should be made conducive (turn of the lights to enable secretion of melatonin) for the child to fall asleep immediately.

Healthy diet
Consuming green leafy vegetables, a diet rich in vitamin A is good for optical health. Fruits and vegetables including carrot, papaya, spinach, eggs, and milk should be included in the diet.

THE 20-20-20 RULE
For every 20 minutes of screen-time, the child should take a break of 20 seconds, and should view any object 20 feet away and should blink 20 times.

GUIDELINES

Earlier last week, the HRD Ministry issued guidelines for online classes and recommended a cap on screen-time for students. Schools were instructed to impart live online learning for a maximum of 1.5 hours per day for classes 1-8 and three hours per day for classes 9-12. For kindergarten, nursery and pre-school, only 30 minutes of screen time per day was recommended. However, these guidelines by the National Council of Educational Research and Training, are only advisory in nature, and state governments have been asked to build on them and formulate their own rules.

Eye these exercises

Yoga is an essential form of exercise that must be practised on a regular basis. In these times, when students are glued to their gadgets to attend school, performing eye yoga frequently can be greatly beneficial to their eyes, helping them improve their eyesight. There are several exercises which can help overcome eye-related problems such as short-sightedness (myopia) and long-sightedness (hypermetropia). Many eye disorders such as myopia and hypermetropia are related to the malfunctioning of the ocular muscles that may be caused by chronic mental and emotional tension. Here are a few exercises formulated by Thathuvagnani Vethathiri Maharishi.

POSTURE 1: HORIZONTAL

STEPS

1. Sit comfortably on the mat in Vajrasana.
2. Keep your spine erect and head straight.
3. Now clasp your hands keeping your thumbs up.
4. In this position, raise your clasped hands and keep them at a level slightly lower than your eyes. Slightly bend the elbows.
5. Now try to focus on your thumb nails.
6. Maintain this posture for all eye exercises.
7. Breathe normally. Ensure your eyes move along with the thumbs from your left to extreme right and from there back to extreme left of your sight.
8. Slightly turn your head to follow your hands but don’t turn fully.
9. Your hand should move in a semi-circular pattern.
10. Practise this exercise five times.

POSTURE 2: VERTICAL

STEPS

1. Sit in the same posture.
2. Clasp your hands on your lap near the knees with the thumbs pointing upwards.
3. Breathing normally, lift your clasped hands upwards as far as possible and bring them down to the lap. Move your eyes up and down along with the thumbs.
4. Your sight should move along with your hands.
5. You may move your head slightly but not turn up or down fully.
6. Do this exercise five times.

Note: To remember the above two exercises, keep in mind the plus (+) symbol — horizontal line and vertical line.

POSTURE 3: DIAGONAL-I

STEPS

1. Sit in the same posture.
2. Clasp your hands with the thumbs facing up. Move your hands outside of your left thigh.
3. Breathing normally, move the hands up and down diagonally starting from left lower corner (thigh) to right upper corner (shoulder).
4. Bring your hands back to the starting point outside the left thigh with eyes fixed on your thumb nails. You can turn your neck slightly.
5. Do this exercise five times.
6. All the movements should be done in a semi-circular pattern.

POSTURE 4: DIAGONAL-II

STEPS

1. Sitting in the same posture, keep your hands near your right thigh. The eyes should remain focused on the nails of your thumbs.
2. Breathing normally, move the hands up and down diagonally starting from the right lower corner (thigh) to the left upper corner (shoulder).
3. Bring your hands back to the outside of the right thigh with the eyes fixed on the nails of the thumbs.
4. Do this exercise five times.
5. All the movements should be done in a semi-circular pattern.

POSTURE 5: CLOCKWISE ROTATION

STEPS

1. In the same posture with the eyes fixed on the nails of your thumbs, keep your hands on your lap.
2. Breathing normally, slowly move the arms in a big circle in clockwise direction.
3. Stretch your arms as much as possible to form a circle.
4. The eyes should move freely, following the direction of the thumb.
5. Move your head slightly with the rotation.
6. Do this exercise five times.

POSTURE 6 : ANTI-CLOCKWISE ROTATION

STEPS

1. Repeat posture 5 in anti-clockwise direction.
2. Do this exercise five times.

POSTURE 7: TO AND FRO

STEPS

1. In the same posture, draw hands close to the eyes at a distance of three inches from the tip of the nose by bending the elbows.
2. Breathing normally, extend the hands away from the eyes, and keep your arms straight.
3. Bring your hands back close to the tip of your nose by bending the elbows.
4. Repeat this to and fro movement five times, all the while keeping the eyes on the nails of the thumbs.

RELAX YOUR EYES FOR AT LEAST ONE MINUTE

BENEFITS

1. These exercises help correct defects in eyesight by toning up the muscles around the eyes.
2. It also prevents eye-strain, itching and other eye disorders.
3. By practising these exercises continuously, one can reduce the risk of being dependent on spectacles.

PALMING (EYE RELAXATION)
After completing the eye exercises, practise ‘palming’ your eyes. Close your eyes and cover them with
respective palms — left palm on your left eye and right palm on your right eye. Fingers of the left hand should touch the centre of your forehead and fingers of the right hand should be placed over let fingers.

— by N Elumalai, PhD scholar (Yoga Science) at Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education & Research, Chennai