Computer games are threatening the eye health of growing adolescents.
According to Korea University's Guro Hospital on the 14th, Song Jong-seok's team compared 15 male high school students with no ophthalmic or systemic diseases to blink their eyes at 5.44 times per minute when playing computer games, which is only one-quarter of when watching Internet lectures (20.63 times per minute).
The number of blinking eyes of normal people is about 15 to 20 times per minute, and the number of blinking eyes when watching Internet lectures is similar to normal, but it tends to decrease much when playing games. This reduction in the number of blinks causes the tear supply to evaporate more easily on the surface of the eyeball, causing dry eyes and dry eyes.
In addition, the eye protection index used to evaluate the stability of the tear film and the risk of dry eyes was also different between the two tasks. When playing computer games, the eye protection index fell below 1 and the risk of dry eye increased to 53%, which was much higher than 13% when watching the lecture.
The eye protection index is a value obtained by dividing the tear film destruction time on the surface of the eye by the time between blinking eyes, and if it does not exceed 1, it means that the tear film disappears before supplying new tears.
Not only the type of computer work but also the working time affected dry eye syndrome. When playing computer games for 40 minutes, the average number of blinks in the first 10 minutes was 59, but the average number of blinks decreased to 33 in the last 10 minutes, showing a tendency to decrease as the time spent playing computer games increased.
Professor Song said, "Recently, not only young people but also middle and high school students complain of dry eye syndrome due to changes in the environment and LASIK surgery," adding, "In particular, computer games that teenagers like can naturally reduce blinks while focusing on programs, resulting in dry eye syndrome."
Professor Song said, "Usually, teenagers should reduce computer game time as much as possible and rest 10 minutes an hour when using it for a long time," adding, "If symptoms of dry eye are mild, artificial leakage may be used, but if symptoms are severe, it is recommended to visit a hospital for an accurate diagnosis." He said, "Recently, drugs that fundamentally treat dry eyes by suppressing inflammation, such as restasis, have also been released, making it possible to treat them."
Writer: Grace Jun
(Picture from Unsplash)
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