What is Myopia?
Myopia is the most common vision disorder among children from the age of six up to adolescence.
More commonly known as shortsightedness, myopia is a common refractive error in the eye. It can be treated by wearing glasses and/or contact lenses as recommended by your professional eye doctor.
In fact, there are developments being made into new lens designs that can control myopia and/or slow the progression of nearsightedness in children.
Get Outta Here
While the exact reason as to why some children are near-sighted is not completely understood, the most popular theory is that the disorder may be hereditary.
There are many other factors that have been taken into consideration when looking into the cause and progression of myopia, including a relatively new study suggesting that children who spend more time outdoors have less of a risk of becoming near-sighted.
You heard right; if you want to reduce your child’s risk of myopia, it could be as simple as more time to play outdoors in the sunshine!
There is a misconception that the eyes of children would be damaged over time by through the use of computers, video games, television, tablets and any other digital devices. Apparently, it has been found that it’s not necessarily the screen time causing nearsightedness, but rather a lack of adequate outdoor light.
While screen time does contribute to youth spending more time indoors, it is not the direct cause of increased myopia.
Light Bright
It is suggested that increasing time outside to at least 60 minutes or more a day may help decrease the risk of your children becoming near-sighted.
And remember that when it comes to the outdoors and vision that it’s important to protect your eyes from harmful UVB and UVA rays by making sure that everyone is wearing their sunglasses.
Kids need to be kids, and based on the information given, you have an even better reason for encouraging your children to spend more time outdoors to play. Ditching the electronic devices for a while and enjoying some quality time outdoors together is a win-win situation for everyone!