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(Orlando, Fla.) -- Children who spend more time outdoors may be less likely to suffer from nearsightedness, a study shows.
In nearsightedness, objects in the distance appear blurry and out of focus.
Researchers who pooled the results of eight previously published studies involving more than 10,000 youngsters found that each additional hour spent outdoors during the week decreased the risk of developing nearsightedness (myopia) by 2%.
"This translates to about a 13% reduced chance of developing nearsightedness per extra hour per day of physical activity outdoors," says researcher Anthony Khawaja, MBBS, an ophthalmologist at the University of Cambridge, U.K.
The study also showed that children who were nearsighted stayed indoors about four hours more per week than children who had normal vision or were farsighted, in which nearby objects appear blurry.
"Increasing children's outdoor time could be a simple and cost-effective measure with important benefits for their vision and general health," Khawaja says. "If we want to make clear recommendations, however, we'll need more precise data."
Yes it’s true. I had my daughter go to vision therapy after being diagnosed with nearsightedness. I refused to put minus lenses (as they are called) on her and she now has 20-20 vision. I was overprescribed as a child and I’m sooo nearsighted. I did alot of research and realized that putting minus lenses on a young child pretty much damns them to a life of myopia. Her dr gave her plus lenses instead, did exercises and I took her outside to play everychance I had. It worked.
My eye doctor told me that my nearsightedness didn’t worsen over time because I didn’t use nearsighted glasses to read with. I had read something on the same thing-that children shouldn’t use their nearsighted glasses for near vision because that might worsen their nearsightedness over time. I didn’t wear glasses when I was a child or in my teenage years even though I was nearsighted and only wear them now when I’m driving or watching movies.
I think that the more distance seeing you do the more you force your eyes to adjust to the circumstances. We do way too much computer work and watch TV. Even when we’re out we’re glued to our phones and playing with our gadgets which is near vision.
Children are constantly moving their eyes seeing and learning the world around them. This makes nerve connections in their brains. When we get older we don’t move our eyes as much. I find myself looking at the sidewalk when I walk instead of the scenery, trying to spot creatures, looking at flora, that kind of thing.
He started out with perfect eyesight. Those of us who didn’t don’t learn to compensate for our deficient vision (especially nearsightedness) by forcing our eyes to try and focus on distances when were mostly using near vision. It doesn’t mean he won’t be farsighted when he grows older.
DUH!
Out door exercise, playing, or sitting makes the eyes work to focus on near, middle, and long distance objects.
Sitting in front of the idiot box all day sets the eyes at the distance from the kid to the TV. The eyes don’t have to adjust to any other distance, the muscles get lethargic and shrink, the eyeball it’s self gets stiffer from lack of movement, and the kid ends up wearing glasses.
Not exactly rocket science. Our family acquired its first television when I was five and, by the time I was seven, I was wearing glasses all day every day.
Here’s info about earlier studies linking myopia to less time spent outdoors:
http://lauragraceweldon.com/2010/08/10/epidemic-of-nearsightedness-has-startling-cause/
If this were true, then no children before the advent of the TV and video games, etc…. would ever need glasses.
Myself and my siblings, did not have the luxury of TV every day, nor were computers or video games invented. We played outside every day after school, often until dinner or it started to get dark. On Fridays or Saturdays, we were allowed to watch a movie at night, but that was it. There was no cable or satellite TV. We had bunny ears. In the summer, we were outside all day, and often would miss lunch from playing. Myself and all of my 4 siblings wear glasses. So do my parents.
And on the opposite spectrum, my Son, who is 22, grew up with video games, computers and the advent of easy TV (cable, PPV, Satellite, etc), does NOT wear glasses. He was not an outdoors kid, as much as I tried to force him. He would rather read, and play inside, with legos or other hands on building games, and eventually video games and computers. He is now a computer engineer. Still no glasses. Perfect eyesight.
So, to me this "study," is moot and a stab in the dark…….to one mysterious medical question.