Sometimes we cling to old wives’ tales or myths about health issues, neglecting to change our thinking or habits when scientists reveal updated information. Several myths surrounding children’s eye health have been circulating for decades, and it is time for parents to review what is true versus what has been held as truth when it comes to their children’s vision.
Myth: Children who sit too close to the television or computer screen will ruin their eyes. Fact: Children who have this habit likely need glasses. Although looking at television and computer screens for long periods of time can cause eye strain and fatigue, accompanied by headache, blurry vision, and red eyes, it does not cause permanent damage to children’s eyes. To reduce the risk of these symptoms, children should take a brief break from looking at the screen every 20 minutes or so. Proper lighting that minimizes screen glare is also essential.
Myth: Contact lenses are for adults only. Fact: Even infants can wear contact lenses without safety issues if parents follow the physician’s instructions. For children younger than age 10, adults need to insert, remove, and clean the lenses. Depending on the maturity of the child, those older than 10 can usually take responsibility for their own contact lenses. Children and their parents can get instructions from their ophthalmologist or optometrist.
Myth: Children should eat lots of carrots to improve their eye health. Fact: Although carrots contain vitamin A, which is an important nutrient and one that can help treat night blindness, eating lots of carrots will not improve children’s vision. A number of nutrients have been found to benefit eye health, including vitamins C and E, zinc, copper, omega-3 fatty acids, and lutein. Foods and supplements that contain these nutrients are recommended.
Myth: Young children don’t like to wear sunglasses. Fact: Young children need to wear sunglasses because their lenses have not matured enough to adequately protect the retina from ultraviolet rays. Young children love to mimic their parents and older siblings, so make sure everyone in the family wears sunglasses. Some newer styles have strap-on frames that are easy for young children, and they come in fun colors.
Myth: Running with scissors is the main cause of eye injury in children. Fact: Most eye injuries in children are related to sports or leisure activities. Among children 14 years and younger, baseball is the sport that causes the most eye injuries in children, according to the National Eye Institute. Children ages 15 to 24 suffer eye injuries primarily related to basketball. To protect eye health in children, those who play contact sport such as baseball, basketball, and racquet sports need to wear eye protection. According to Prevent Blindness America, regular eyeglasses do not provide enough protection. Children should wear lensed polycarbonate protectors when playing contact sports.
Taking care of your children’s eye health today will help ensure they have a bright future. It is also important that they learn good eye health care at an early age so they carry the habits with them throughout their lives.
Sources: Prevent Blindness America Vision Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Lens coatings can enhance the performance and appearance of your eyeglass lenses. If you are thinking about purchasing new eyeglasses, here are lens coatings and treatments you should consider… Read more…
Chinese Militia… In Red Minis and White Go-Go Boots!
With impeccable make-up and eye-catching miniskirts, the phalanxes of female soldiers are the talk of the town after the massive military parade strode through Tiananmen Square on Thursday, impressing the world. Forget the intercontinental missiles and state-of-the-art tanks. The troupe and their miniskirts aroused heated discussion on the internet, as their pictures flooded forums…
Special thanks to my HS buddy, Enrique Alvarez, for the link. I can’t say I blame President Hu for smiling! (~_^) —DC
Supplemental vitamin D, provided the dose is high enough, can help prevent falls among the elderly, according to a meta-analysis published in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal.
According to the World Health Organization, recommended nutrient intakes for vitamin D are:
• Infants, children, adolescents, pregnant and lactating women, and adults under age 51: 200 IU/day
• Adults aged 51 to 65: 400 IU/day
• Adults aged 65+: 600 IU/day
Researchers out of University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland conducted a meta-analysis of eight randomized, double-blind trials in which the use of vitamin D for the prevention of falls among those aged 65 or older was assessed. Together, the studies comprised 2,426 individuals taking defined oral doses of supplemental vitamin D2 or D3 or an active form of vitamin D3.
Supplementation with at least 700 to 1,000 IU of vitamin D per day reduced the risk of falling by 19%. Achieving a serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 25 (OH)D concentration of at least 60 nmol/L reduced the risk of falling by 23%. Lower doses and concentrations of supplemental vitamin D had no effect on fall risk. Taking active forms of vitamin D reduced the risk of falling by 22%.
Today’s research highlights the effectiveness of high doses of supplemental vitamin D for helping to prevent falls among older individuals. There appears to be no additional benefit of active vitamin D for this indication.
The Guard and Drill team from my mom’s alma mater, The Taipei First Girls’ High School (北一女). The all-girls school is the most prestigious institution in Taipei, where only the best and smartest girls are admitted. —DC
Taiwan Celebrates Double Tenth Day as a National Holiday.
The Double Tenth National Day is considered as the Birthday of the Republic of China. Every year on October 10th Taiwan celebrates this holiday in commemoration of the 1911 Wuch’ang Uprising. The people of Taiwan all gather to congratulate the nation on its birthday celebration.
Taiwan Double Tenth Day History
Double Tenth Day is the national day of the Republic of China more commonly known as Taiwan, this day commemorates the start of the Wuchang Uprising of October 10, 1911. On January 1, 1912, the Qing Dynasty in China collapsed and the Republic of China was established, all thanks to the Wuchang Uprising. After the end of World War II and end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Republic of China government gained control of Taiwan but ultimately lost control of mainland China. The seat of the Republic of China government relocated to Taipei, Taiwan, while the Chinese Communist Party founded the People’s Republic of China in mainland China.
Taiwan Double Tenth Day Traditions, Customs and Activities
Ministers, overseas Chinese returning to Taiwan, foreign diplomats, and hundreds of thousands of people from around the country attend the Celebration Ceremony held in front of the Presidential Office Building. The armed forces displays its military might to the nation in full glory during the ceremony military review. The climax of the day is the Presidential Address to the nation. The main event of the activities on Double Tenth is the parade. This parade includes representatives of different professions. There are performances from the local entertainment industry as well. The National Day Fireworks Display takes place in the evening, this is the most anticipated event by people. For several hours the fireworks display turns the night sky into a dazzling kaleidoscope of vibrant colors.
As a former junior high Spelling Bee champ, I’m often fascinated by words and the sheer beauty of certain literary devices. Here are some neat figures of speech that writers and speakers often employ as rhetorical flourishes.
For some reason, perhaps because of their classical roots, many begin with the letter A.
anacoluthon (an-uh-kuh-LOO-thon) — A departure from normal grammatical structure or sequence. Example: “Either you go … but we’ll see.”
antiphrasis (an-TIF-ruh-sis) — The use of a word to mean its opposite. Example: referring to an enemy as “my friend.” This is more commonly called irony or sarcasm.
apophasis (uh-POF-uh-sis) — Claiming not to know what to say. Example: when someone receiving an award protests, “I’m at a loss for words.” Or slyly announcing that one will not address a subject. Example: “I won’t even mention my opponent’s prison record.” The former is also called aporia and the latter paralipsis.
aposiopesis (ap-uh-sy-uh-PEE-sis) — An abrupt break in mid-sentence, where the speaker leads up to a word or phrase and then doesn’t utter it. Example: “Stop right now or I’ll ….”
asyndeton (uh-SIN-dih-ton) — Omitting the conjunctions that would normally be required. A famous example: Julius Caesar’s “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
The New York Daily News (10/7, Charles) reported that uveitis, “an inflammatory process that affects the interior of the eye,” is “still among the leading causes of blindness in” the US. The majority of uveitis “cases are due to autoimmune or autoinflammatory responses.” In some cases, uveitis may be “caused by an infection of the eye, or by systemic infections like Lyme disease.” While the condition “is most common in patients ranging in age from 20 to 50,” uveitis “can affect any age group,” and particularly people with rheumatoid arthritis. Treatment “depends on the diagnosis.” While “anterior uveitis can often be treated with eye drops — necessary only during the attacks, which tend to last four to six weeks,” chronic uveitis “requires chronic treatment,” including “immunosuppressant drugs.”
The American Academy of Uveitis runs a great Web site (uveitis.org) that has a big section tagged “Patient Information.”
Jeff Atwood over at CodingHorror recently posted a very interesting scientific basis for what we’ve all probably long suspected: email is addictive.
In the original article, there is a study on two lab rats. The first rat receives food after a fixed number of lever presses. The second rat receives food after a random number of presses. Fixed delivery vs variable delivery.
Intuition would say that the first setup is more addictive, as the rat with fixed delivery can predict and learn that pressing the lever results in food. As he wants more food, he will keep pressing.
But here’s the rub… as soon as the food stopped being dispensed, it was the second rat that kept pressing the lever for a very long time (whereas the first rat quickly gave up). It was addicted by the promise that food could arrive ‘any time now’.
Unfortunately for us, it’s the second rat who has the most email like experience… Replace ‘food’ with ‘new email’, and ‘lever’ with ‘opening/switching-to Gmail’, and you can most probably relate to the study. Conclusion? Email is a Variable Reinforcement Machine.
The heart of the issue is that, despite complaints about email overload, new email is rewarding. It can randomly deliver interesting news and opportunities from beloved contacts. The Variable Reinforcement Machine theory shows why the random nature of email makes checking for that reward so compulsive (even if the reward only rarely arrives).
The second addictive ‘hit’, the one that completes the cycle, is the reward of replying. It’s perhaps harks back to our school days – an opportunity to please teacher – or just the basic human gratification of helping someone else, that means we take pleasure in imaging how much joy our reply will bring the recipient. And so reply we do. And the act of replying brings in more email, and so the cycle repeats.
The real harm to all this checking is the damage to our attention. The inability to easily return our focus back to what we were doing before we checked. (In GTD terms, it’s a “context shift”, and that’s mentally expensive). That’s where the addiction truly hurts us.
How addicted to e-mail are you? E-mail me! ^_^ —DC
Sept. 29, 2009 — Only 14% of U.S. adults and 9.5% of U.S. teens meet the government’s goals for eating enough fruits and vegetables, according to a new CDC report.
The key goals are to eat at least two daily servings of fruit and at least three daily servings of vegetables. The CDC today released its first state-by-state list that shows how widely (or scarcely) those goals are being met.
Here is how the states and Washington, D.C., ranked in terms of the percentage of adults who met the goals for eating fruits and vegetables. The list runs from the lowest to the highest percentage of adults meeting both of those goals. States that tied are listed together.
Click here to see the entire list… Now listen to your mother and go have some fruit and veggies! ^_^ —DC
The 15th of the eighth month according to the Chinese lunar calendar, is the date for the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. The reason for celebrating the festival during that time is that it is the time when the moon is at its fullest and brightest. 2009 Mid-Autumn Festival will be on October 3rd which will also be the holiday of Chinese National Day.
The Mid-autumn festival is one of the two most important occasions in Chinese calendar (the other being the Spring Festival or the Chinese New Year) and it is an official holiday. It is a time for families to be together, so people far from home will gaze longingly at the moon and think about their families.
The traditional food for mid-autumn festival is the moon cake which is round and symbolizes reunion.
Wherever you are tomorrow night, be sure and take a moment with your family to gaze upon the tranquil beauty of the evening sky… There’s nothing quite like the serene splendor of a still nightscape bathed in the soft glow of a full Moon… And know that somewheres under the same Moon, perhaps now not so seemingly far away, I and my family, will likewise be kindred spirits doing the very same! (^_^) —DC
HealthDay (9/30, Preidt) reported that, according to a new survey conducted by the American Optometric Association, “36 percent of Americans have cut back on doctor visits,” due to “recession-related financial problems.” For instance, “63 percent of the 1,000 adult respondents” said they are cutting back on “visits to a dentist, 59 percent said primary-care physician visits, and 52 percent said eye doctor appointments.” In addition, the survey “found that Hispanics were most likely to reduce healthcare visits because of the poor economy.” Notably, “women were a bit more likely than men to reduce eye doctor visits (53 to 51 percent), even though more women (52 percent) wear glasses or contact lenses than men (48 percent).”
DR. DICKSON CHEN, OD, FAAO
2003 California Young Optometrist-of-the-Year
My Practice Website: www.hdvision.health.officelive.com
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dchen2020@gmail.com
Though you'll find I'm just a mild-mannered Pasadena, CA optometrist by day... Not only will I share with you here valuable information concerning your vision and health, I hope you'll also glean from my postings just how varied and eclectic my many interests are. I look forward to your comments but above all... Enjoy!
