Children urged to play outdoors to cut risk of shortsightedness

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  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    I was busy when I posted this, and didn't have time to summarize it for people who won't click the link, and to explain its relevance here.

    Near sightedness is on the rise. There are several factors you have no control over which continue to your risk of this condition, but being outdoors is something that measurably reduces risk. The article doesn't say whether this is limited to children or also pertains to adults. The two mechanisms that may be responsible are focusing your vision on far away things, and natural light. It's not so much the playing as it is the being outdoors.

    Outdoor exercise like cycling, running, and skiing are pretty natural fits, especially the bike option because cyclists only ride when the sun is out. That may or may not preserve your vision, my personal take is it's worth the risk of exercising outdoors and only getting all the other health benefits if this is limited to children. Obviously, if you have kids, set a good example for them.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,301 Member
    Thank you for the link. It is all to easy for children to spend too much time inside these days, many playing on computers. There will be some who become short sighted for reasons other than not developing the muscles of the eye, we owe it to our children to do the best we can to give them the best starts in life we can. I consider the phrase "if you don't use it you loose it" applies here too.

    Thank you again, another good reason to get the kids outside.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    I'm guessing the eye is like most bodyparts, if you don't use the abilities it has those abilities atrophy. Staring at a screen in arms distance of your eyes for hours a day isn't going to enhance ability to see distances.
  • vanmep
    vanmep Posts: 410 Member
    Well I would argue the point the cyclists are only out when the Sun is out 😆. But good points.!
  • dhiammarath
    dhiammarath Posts: 834 Member
    At 8, I had to wear glasses because I was far-sighted. By HS, my vision had changed to nearsighted. Now, I have one extremely myopic eye and one eye that's nearly perfect with an astigmatism.

    I wish all the time I spent outdoors had helped my vision! Alas, my eyes seem to have drawn the genetic short straw. But I can (with my glasses off) shut one eye and see far away and near, and then shut that one, and open the other eye and see very close up. No need for a magnifying glass!

    So I'll just claim bionic eyes!! XD (shhh, it's totally a mental super power)
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    edited November 2018
    I was outside all the time as a kid. I needed glasses when I was 8 years old. I wear progressives now. Bad eyes just run in the family. My father had terrible vision too.

    Oddly enough, my kids eyes are pretty okay. Daughter's vision is just fine, and son needs only minor correction, not high index stuff like I did at his age. I was wearing coke bottle lenses when I was 16. They didn't have the special thinner lenses back then.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,301 Member
    The study was on UK children, our sunlight levels are, with the exception of this last summer lower than in many countries. The advice for parents here has been to put even babies into sun glasses to reduce the uv light, I think it was, because it can cause damage. (You need to have the little one in the know because in our experience they take them off, even the ones which are supposed to do the most good.)

    It is common for youngsters to require glasses when they enter their teens even disregarding family history. The adolescent body goes through so much in the way of changes and sometime the eyes loose out in the battle. Then as we age we loose the elasticity in our eye muscles we once had.
  • FL_Hiker
    FL_Hiker Posts: 919 Member
    Seems a bit like click bait, everything I’ve ever learned about eye sight is genetic. Plenty of people played outside as kids and had to wear glasses 🙄.
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
    shadow2soul wrote: »
    I spent most of my time doing stuff outdoors as a kid and into my teens. Still needed glasses by the time I was in high school. :neutral:

    I lived outside as a kid ( from the era of getting kicked out in the morning and "don't come home until the street lights come on") and I was nearsighted and in glasses by 5th grade. I agree with FL hiker; most of eyesight is genetic.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    I was outside a lot as a kid and started wearing glasses when I was about 8 years old. Everyone in my immediate family wore glasses. My parents certainly spent a lot of time outdoors as children and were still nearsighted by their teenage years.
    I think my dh started wearing glasses in his early teens. Our 18 year old child has not required glasses yet and spends much less time outside after the age of 7. She was homeschooled though and was more free to change her activity or position and be under different lighting conditions throughout the day as a child.
    So maybe it is not being outside so much but changing your child's eye focus more often so they strain their eyes less?
  • eminater
    eminater Posts: 2,477 Member
    Is it just me? I am near-sighted and spent A LOT of time outdoors as a kid. But then again, I also loved reading and sometimes would read well into dusk. My mam always said "Turn on the lights or you'll go blind".
  • Mouse_Potato
    Mouse_Potato Posts: 1,510 Member
    One more "lived outside and still needed glasses" kid here. Also, my prescription has not changed despite 20+ years of IT work. I stare at computer screens a LOT!
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    FL_Hiker wrote: »
    Seems a bit like click bait, everything I’ve ever learned about eye sight is genetic. Plenty of people played outside as kids and had to wear glasses 🙄.

    It's mostly genetic.
  • maryeis
    maryeis Posts: 6 Member
    I work in ophthalmology. Near-sightedness is caused by the shape of the cornea.
  • maryeis
    maryeis Posts: 6 Member
    Correction: shape of the eyeball.
  • FL_Hiker
    FL_Hiker Posts: 919 Member
    edited November 2018
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    FL_Hiker wrote: »
    Seems a bit like click bait, everything I’ve ever learned about eye sight is genetic. Plenty of people played outside as kids and had to wear glasses 🙄.

    It's mostly genetic.

    Forget it
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
    What bothers me about the study is the article's attempt at proving a causation where none can be proven.

    But from what I see it's a cohort study. Meaning a purely observational study. You can't prove causation based on that. It's great for creating hypotheses. But that's what it remains.
  • RunsWithBees
    RunsWithBees Posts: 1,508 Member
    “Experts say they have found new factors, and confirmed others, which could affect a child’s risk of becoming shortsighted. These include playing computer games, being born in the summer and having a more highly educated mother”

    “In addition, for every higher level of education the mother had, the odds of the teenager having myopia rose by 33%”

    What’s up with this?! A 33% higher risk is huge, just because your mother is more educated?! How does that work?
  • maureenkhilde
    maureenkhilde Posts: 849 Member
    Well my parents had perfect eyesight. Neither got glasses until in their late 50's. All four brothers perfect eyesight. Me got glasses in 4th grade really needed in 3rd grade. But there was a reason, I was still in a generation that there was not a vaccination for the dreaded German Measles as in the long ugly measles that lasted for weeks. And the lights hurt my eyes for about 2 weeks blankets over the windows. That was in 3rd grade. Always was outside playing. Nearsighted kept changing for years, then the astigamatism came in later years with all the PC work. Funny thing in last 10 years, they actually have been improving.

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