Home schooling linked to headaches and tired eyes

Over half of Britain’s schoolchildren suffered from tired eyes or headaches as they were being home-schooled during the Covid-19 lockdown, according to an online YouGov survey commissioned by the vision charity Clearly.
 
The YouGov survey of 506 children aged between 8 and 15 was taken in August and September, five months after most children had left their schools because of the pandemic.
 
Asked how their eyes felt at the end of a typical day’s home-schooling some 40 per cent reported tired eyes (17%) or headaches (23%), and a further 13 per cent reported both. Only 5 per cent of those consulted said they had not received schooling at home.
 
One in 10 children reported that their sight was worse now than before the lockdown, although that was balanced by 10 per cent who felt their vision had improved.
 
The survey, coinciding with World Sight Day and commissioned by the vision charity Clearly, will be welcomed by the vision sector as it shows that traditional taboos about the wearing of glasses among young children continue to be broken down.
 
The respondents were given words or phrases that they might associate with glasses. Predictably wearing glasses is heavily associated with children being clever (39 per cent) but one in five associated the word ‘trendy’ with glasses, suggesting that the boost for spectacles given by J K Rowling’s hero Harry Potter has been maintained.
 
Traditional stereotypes about children with glasses being shy or not good at sports were only held by 11 per cent and 10 per cent of those questioned respectively.
 
Almost a quarter (23%) of the children in the age group survey wear glasses and/or contact lenses every day with a further 9 per cent wearing them just once a week.

James Chen, Founder of the vision charity Clearly, said: “Nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our children. We must protect their eyes and everything to do with their physical and mental health. This survey shows us that whatever happens in the coming months we must do our utmost to keep our children in their schools.”
 
World Sight Day is marked by the publication of a digital book Through the Looking Glass: Stories About Seeing Clearly to which an array of authors and illustrators have contributed. The new collection hails the joys of clear vision and the need for sight tests and affordable glasses to achieve it. Five children’s laureates Quentin Blake, Lauren Child, Chris Riddell, Michael Morpurgo and Cressida Cowell, the current laureate, have been involved in the project.
 
Throughout today (Thursday 8 October), 15 personalities, authors and sports people from around the world will read a series of bedtime stories from the book as the sun goes down in their time-zone. All will be broadcast on social media.
The readers include Billie Jean King, the tennis legend, film star Michelle Yeoh, comedian Adam Hills, and Princess Alia of Jordan.