Xiamen's schools implement healthy lighting transformation to reduce myopia rate

The problem of myopia in primary and secondary school students has always been concerned by the society. According to statistics, the myopia rate of primary and middle school students in Xiamen is slightly higher than the national average. The primary school students have a myopia rate of about 50%, junior high school students about 70%, and high school students more than 80%. The high incidence of myopia and the trend of a younger age have seriously affected the physical and mental health of children. At the recent seminar of the light environment and eye health of Xiamen schools, experts proposed to further improve the lighting conditions in the classroom to protect the visual health of children and adolescents.

Qiu Aiming, the chief physician of the Xiamen City Primary and Secondary School Health Care Center, said that the health center collects data of more than 300,000 students each year. The data show that the health problems of Xiamen students are mainly myopia, dental caries (fangs) and obesity. Among them, the problem of myopia is the most prominent. There are many factors that cause myopia. From the research results, the transformation of lighting can significantly improve students' vision.

A study conducted by the Peking University Institute of Child and Adolescent Health showed that the classroom lighting renovation significantly improved the lighting environment of the classroom, to a certain extent, it can prevent the decline of vision of primary and secondary school students and reduce the new incidence of poor eyesight. It is understood that the Wuyuan Experimental School in 2014 changed the lighting of the two classrooms, transforming the original fluorescent lamps into LED lights without stroboscopic flash. In the summer of 2015, all the ordinary classrooms, special classrooms, teacher offices, and conference room lighting were replaced with stroboscopic LED lights. After three years of data comparison, the school’s myopia rate has dropped slightly in schools that have completed the classroom lighting renovation. It can be judged that the myopia rate has a lot to do with the lighting environment.

It is understood that more than 50 schools in Xiamen have implemented the healthy lighting environment renovation project.