Blue light glasses for children

Digital devices are playing a bigger role in children’s education, whether for homework or home schooling. This is why it’s important you look after your children's eyes, especially once they go back to school. Looking at the screens of digital devices isn’t too harmful in moderation to your children’s eyes, however, overuse may be harmful and cause some digital eye strain. One way to minimise this is for your children to wear blue light glasses, which may reduce blue light rays. Children won’t understand the dangers of overuse and staring at digital devices, so it’s important you take some simple measures of prevention to protect their eyes.

Digital eye strain

Digital eye strain, also known as computer vision syndrome, is a common eye condition which can affect both adults and children. It is caused by overuse of digital devices, such as computer screens, tablets and television screens.

Although it causes some discomfort, it isn’t a serious condition. If your children suffer from digital eye strain, the symptoms often go away when once they rest their eyes and take a break from staring at screens.

Symptoms

Digital eye strain may cause short- and long-term damage to your children’s eyes, such as premature aging of the retina. Younger children’s eyes are more delicate and permeable than adults, so they are more vulnerable to damage from blue light rays.

If you think your children may be suffering from digital eye strain, there are a few symptoms you can look out for.

Some of these include:

• Discomfort
• Headaches
• Watery eyes
• Dry eyes
• Blurred or double vision
• Difficulty focussing the eyes
• Sensitivity to light

If your children are experiencing these symptoms and you think it is due to overuse of digital screens, there are a few ways you can relive and prevent these.

Blue light glasses

One way to minimise digital eye strain in children is having them wearing blue light glasses. These glasses usually have blue tint to the lenses, which are designed to absorb harmful blue light rays to prevent them from reaching your children’s eyes.

As well as blue light glasses, there are other ways you can prevent digital eye strain from affecting your children.

Preventing digital eye strain

Blue light exposure in moderation isn’t harmful to your children’s eyes, however overexposure is. An effective way to prevent digital eye strain is to limit their activity on digital devices.

When children stare at screens, it isn’t just blue light which can harm their eyes. When we stare at anything for too long, whether it’s a screen, a book or the road when driving, we tend to blink less frequently than we need to. Blinking lubricates our eyes, so naturally when we don’t blink our eyes become dry. This can cause irritation and discomfort. Making sure your children are blinking enough can help to prevent dry eyes and digital eye strain. You can do this by ensuring they take regular breaks from staring at screens.

The 20-20-20 rule is an effective way to ensure your children take a break from staring at digital devices and preventing digital eye strain. Every 20 minutes, your children should take 20 seconds to look at something which is 20 feet away. This helps your children's eyes and mind to relax. It also gives them a chance to blink and nourish their eyes.

If your children are using digital devices at home for homework or home learning, it is important to make sure there is adequate lighting in the room to help their eyes. If your children are staring at a bright screen in a dark room, their eyes can work too hard when adjusting from a dark background to a bright screen. Proper lighting can reduce the stress on their eyes, helping to prevent digital eye strain. You should also make sure your children aren’t sitting too close to the computer screen. The bigger the screen, the further away they should be sitting.

If your children do suffer from digital eye strain or dry eyes, you can use lubricating eye drops to soothe these symptoms. Whether the strain is due to blue light rays or not blinking enough, eye drops can moisten your children's eyes, reducing irritation.