Want To Keep Your Kid From Wearing Glasses? Send Him Outside.

[angelatc]

http://www.nature.com/news/the-myop...d=TWT_NatureNews&WT_mc_id=TWT_NatureNews#/eye

Study says: Yes, there is a genetic component to myopia. But it's skyrocketing in Asia - why?

East Asia has been gripped by an unprecedented rise in myopia, also known as short-sightedness. Sixty years ago, 10–20% of the Chinese population was short-sighted. Today, up to 90% of teenagers and young adults are. In Seoul, a whopping 96.5% of 19-year-old men are short-sighted.

Other parts of the world have also seen a dramatic increase in the condition, which now affects around half of young adults in the United States and Europe — double the prevalence of half a century ago. By some estimates, one-third of the world's population — 2.5 billion people — could be affected by short-sightedness by the end of this decade. “We are going down the path of having a myopia epidemic,” says Padmaja Sankaridurg, head of the myopia programme

Here's a thought! Maybe not enough light?

.

After studying more than 4,000 children at Sydney primary and secondary schools for three years, they found that children who spent less time outside were at greater risk of developing myopia.


Rose's team tried to eliminate any other explanations for this link — for example, that children outdoors were engaged in more physical activity and that this was having the beneficial effect. But time engaged in indoor sports had no such protective association; and time outdoors did, whether children had played sports, attended picnics or simply read on the beach. And children who spent more time outside were not necessarily spending less time with books, screens and close work. “We had these children who were doing both activities at very high levels and they didn't become myopic,” says Rose.

Close work might still have some effect, but what seemed to matter most was the eye's exposure to bright light.

More study needed:

Ian Flitcroft, a myopia specialist at Children's University Hospital in Dublin, questions whether light is the key protective factor of being outdoors. He says that the greater viewing distances outside could affect myopia progression, too. “Light is not the only factor, and making it the explanation is a gross over-simplification of a complex process,” he says.

Personally, I hope they find out that those stupid fluorescent lights are a factor. There's a lot more at the link: http://www.nature.com/news/the-myop...d=TWT_NatureNews&WT_mc_id=TWT_NatureNews#/eye

 

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

Those Asian heathens need the light of Jesus.

And more American culture.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

I was going to say this, but it appears that someone already said it in the article:

And Ian Flitcroft, a myopia specialist at Children's University Hospital in Dublin, questions whether light is the key protective factor of being outdoors. He says that the greater viewing distances outside could affect myopia progression, too. “Light is not the only factor, and making it the explanation is a gross over-simplification of a complex process,” he says.

 

[Working Poor]

Interesting Angela thanks for posting this.

 

[Danke]

Ya my eyes were fine before college, and getting worse now with the Internet...

 

[puppetmaster]

Ya my eyes were fine before college, and getting worse now with the Internet...

and strangely, your right arm has grown quite large.

 

[Danke]

and strangely, your right arm has grown quite large.

And the palm quite Harry (Harry Palm), but at least I'm not a switch hitter like you. And don't play "master" to a puppet.

 

[dannno]

Ya the way it works is your eye is a muscle - when you look far away the eye relaxes, and when you look at something close it tenses up. When you are inside all day, your eye muscles get strained.

For optimal eyesight you want to go outside, look at something far away, then look at something close. Repeat. This will work out your eye muscles, make them stronger and increase your ability to focus without straining them.

 

[amy31416]

Thanks--we've had a couple of bad winters here and I've become a bit concerned about my own eyesight, but especially my daughter's b/c she puts her face practically into a book to read the words.

 

[puppetmaster]

And the palm quite harry, but at least I'm not a switch hitter like you. And don't play "master" to a puppet.

Hairy palm...really? lol