Nearsightedness (myopia) is one of the most common eyesight disorders inAmerica. It affects adults and children and may be caused by a number of factors, including environmental such as too much close eye work. The good news is that researchers have found a new way to prevent nearsightedness in children.
A novel study found that playing outdoors may reduce the risk of nearsightedness in children. The study was conducted at theUniversityofCambridge. Researchers examined the data from eight smaller studies and evaluated the link between spending time outdoors and nearsightedness in more than 10,000 children.
The results of the study showed that those who spent less than 3, 7 hours outdoors weekly suffered from nearsightedness. It also found that for each extra hour a child spends outdoors, the risk of nearsightedness decreases with approximately 2 percent.
“Increasing children’s outdoor time could be a simple and cost effective measure with important benefits for vision and general health” said Anthony Khawaja, study researcher.
Researchers believe that exposure to natural light as well as time spent looking at distant objects are the reasons why outdoor activities may help reducing the risk of myopia. Moreover, the protective effect seems to result from simply being outdoors rather than performing specific activity.
