The vision of French people does not seem to be improving year after year. Indeed, according to various studies, visual impairments among French people are constantly increasing. Among the most common is myopia (an optical defect of the eye: it is longer than average), a disorder that affects more and more people and at an increasingly younger age: 25% to 30% of 18-24 year olds. This phenomenon can be explained by young people's new lifestyles: long studies, connected screens, video games, and/or a poor lifestyle.
6 screens on average per household
Six is a key number because it represents the average number of screens per household in France, but also the average (in hours) of time spent per day in front of screens. An alarming figure that has significant short-term consequences for the body:
- Muscle fatigue
- Eye irritation and redness
- Dry eyes
- Sleep disturbance
- Headaches and backaches
But also in the long term:
- Risk of depression, obesity, and certain types of cancer;
- Risk of AMD, age-related macular degeneration, which leads to the loss of central vision, an irreversible phenomenon.
Good habits to combat vision problems
It is necessary to have a good lifestyle to protect your eye health. Similarly, it is important to wear your optical equipment. There are also "good daily habits" that are easy to adopt when working long hours in front of a screen:
- Take a break (5 minutes every 30 minutes);
- Wear your optical equipment with an anti-reflective coating or, if you have no vision problems, get a pair of Cool Blue glasses, which block harmful artificial blue light;
- Alternate between screen time and outdoor time;
- Turn off your screen(s) one hour before sleep.
