It’s only natural for parents to strive to give the best for their children. As such, we at Nanyang Optical believe it is our duty as eye specialists to help both parents achieve that goal, as well as kids who suffer from poor eyesight.

Here are some techniques we believe will help children boost and maintain good eyesight naturally!

Diet

Acknowledging which foods are good for vision health is one thing, but making your child eat them is another. We’ve always been told to eat our veggies since we were kids. Although it may not appeal to most of us, green veggies are widely known to reduce loss of vision, as they are full of Vitamins A, B12, C and calcium. However, try mixing your child’s vegetable intake up, by slowly adding more broccoli, spinach or kale to their regular meals. If your child gets bored of vegetables, eggs are a good alternative too! The protein found in egg whites protect the lens of their eyes while the yolk counters developmental eye diseases. We suggest starting your child’s day with an egg-based meal. Just remember to add a little variety – sunny side up, scrambled or even poached! Fish too, has been proven to be excellent in child development. Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish such as salmon, cod and tuna are known to enhance brain-power and vision. We recommend soup-based fish meals as that way, you can be certain you’re not wasting any nutritious value. However, if your child shows discontent towards fish-based meals, try fish oil capsules for similar results!

Going outside

Static lifestyles are becoming alarmingly commonplace in children nowadays, especially in Singapore, where most children spend their time indoors – be it at school studying or at home playing digital games. Believe it or not, while it may difficult to get them to let go of their gadgets, studies have shown that even if kids were to play with their devices outdoors, they would still be improving their eyesight, due to natural lighting – which aids in preventing nearsightedness. Once outside, slowly make it a habit for your child to get physical , as it keeps them away from the increasing ranks of obese children. An hour or two of outdoor playtime has shown dramatic results, as physical activities prevent obesity, which further prevents poor vision!

Eye Exercises

Safe, easy and swift. Eye exercises are good habits to cultivate early as consistent exercising of our children’s eyes would benefit them in the long term. ‘Palming’ involves rubbing our palms together till warm, then covering our closed eyelids with them. It soothes the eyeballs and release tensions around the eye, which works well after your child has finished a run of cartoon series. ‘Figure 8’ is another exercise which allows eye muscles to be more flexible. This helps stimulate eye movements which may help with vision focus. Lastly, ‘Tracking’ entails using a swaying object and getting your child to follow it with his/her eyes. Although it sounds simple, tracking reduces the rate of vision fatigue, which may lead to poor eye processing skills.  

Although these methods may help children develop healthy eye habits and in turn improve their eyesight, we believe that they should not replace regular eye screening tests, as optometrists would be able to recommend appropriate eye treatment. Early detection of eye health issues translates to prevention of developmental vision impairment, ultimately leading to a happier child. If you are interested, book an appointment with our eye care specialists here!