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- Does education make you short-sighted?
- Genes are not everything
- Risk to bookworms
- Off to the outdoors!
- Land children in the advantage
Does education make you short-sighted?
The number of short-sighted has been increasing for years around the world. Why is that?
Genes are not everything
In the Scandinavian countries, about 35 percent of all students now need glasses, compared to more than 50 percent in the United Kingdom. However, the highest rate can be found in Asia: in Hong Kong, 80 percent of school leavers already suffer from myopia, and in Singapore even 90 percent. Researchers agree: This can only be explained by the living conditions, genes can not change so fast.
Risk to bookworms
Myopia is rarely congenital, it usually arises only over the years. One reason for this is frequent reading or working on the computer. Because if we look at a book or screen from a small distance (under 30 cm) for a long time, the eye has to adjust itself so that the focus lies just behind the retina instead of on it. The eye tries to compensate for this shift by growing in length - myopia arises.
Off to the outdoors!
But daylight also seems to play a role, studies suggest. For example, researchers sent schoolchildren out for one hour during their lunch break each day, leaving another group inside.
The result after just one year: The children who spent more time outdoors had become much less short-sighted than the students who had to stay in the classroom during this time. Reason: Bright light boosts the production of the messenger substance dopamine in the retina, which inhibits the growth of the eyeball and thus reduces the risk of myopia.
Land children in the advantage
No wonder, then, that the number of shortsighted people in rural areas is lower than in the city. According to a Chinese study, rural children spend more than two hours outside, while city children spend less than an hour.
In addition, the latter read 30 minutes more. By the way: Among primitive peoples such as the Amazon Indians or the Nepalese Sherpas, there are virtually no shortsighted. However, as soon as these people move into the city, for instance to start an apprenticeship, their eyes also get worse.
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