Lack Of Outdoor Activity Linked To Myopia

A recent study has shown that children who play outside have less instances of myopia than those that spend more time inside. This does make a lot of sense. It could be inferred that the ones spending all that time indoors are most likely huddled over a computer, or playing vido games, or watching TV, or texting, etc. All activities that only use close up vision, and don’t utilize far vision.

The Hindustan Times reports:

You might be scolding your kid for putting studies at stake, courtesy long hours of out-of-doors activities, but as it turns out, outdoor games are good for children, at least as far as their eyesight is concerned, says a new study.

Researchers in Australia have found an association between high levels of outdoor activity and low rates of short-sightedness, or myopia, in children.

The prevalence of childhood myopia has increased dramatically in recent decades. With rates of 80percent in some East Asian populations, the search is on for possible causes.

“We know that there are genetic associations with myopia,” New Scientist quoted Kathryn Rose of the University of Sydney in Australia, as saying.

“But the rapid changes in myopia prevalence are not consistent with a simple genetic determination, since gene pools do not change sufficiently fast,” Rose added.

[Hindustan Times via Treehugger]