Myopia, myopia, or the need for corrected vision to focus or see distant objects, has become much more common in recent decades. Some people consider myopia, also known as nearsightedness, to be an epidemic.
Optometry researchers estimate that if current rates continue, nearly half of the global population will need corrective lenses to correct myopia by 2050 – up from 23% in 2000 and less than 10% in some countries.
The associated health care costs are huge. In the United States alone, the cost of corrective lenses, eye exams, and related expenses can be as much as US$7.What is the reason for the sharp increase in myopia per year?
I am a vision scientist who has studied visual perception and perceptual deficits. To answer that question, first let's examine what causes myopia—and how to reduce it. How Myopia Develops While having two nearsighted parents means you're more likely to be nearsighted. More likely, there is not a single near vision gene. This means that the causes of myopia are more behavioral than genetic.
Optometrists have learned a lot about the progression of myopia by studying visual development in baby chickens.They do this by making the baby chickens wear little helmets. Lenses on the face of the helmet cover the chicks' eyes and are adjusted to affect how much they can see.
Just like humans, if visual input is distorted, the chick's eyes enlarge, resulting in myopia. And it is progressive. Blurring increases the growth of the eyes, which leads to more blurring, which causes the eyes to become even larger, etc. Two recent studies involving extensive surveys of children and their parents provide strong support for the idea that increases in myopia An important driver of this is that people are spending more time focusing on the objects immediately in front of our eyes, whether it's a screen, a book or a drawing pad. The more time we spend focusing on something within arm's length of our face, called "new work", the more likely we are to develop myopia.So even though people blame new technologies like smartphones and too much “screen time” for harming our eyes, the truth is that even activities as valuable as reading a good book can affect your eyesight.
Outside light keeps myopia at bay Other research has shown that sunlight can disrupt this unnatural eye growth.
For example, a 2022 study found that the rate of myopia was four times higher in children who didn't spend much time outside — say, once or twice a week — compared with those who did not. Who used to be outside every day. Also, children who spend more than three hours a day reading or looking at a screen close-up, outside of school, are four times more likely to have myopia than those who spend less than an hour or so doing so. Spend less time outside than that. In another 2012 paper, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of seven studies that compared time spent outside to the incidence of myopia.They also found that more time spent outdoors was associated with lower incidence and progression of myopia. The chance of developing myopia decreased by 2% for each hour spent outside per week.
Other researchers have reported similar effects and argued for changes in spending more time outdoors and younger schooling to reduce the prevalence of myopia. What is driving the epidemic?
It is still not clear why it is growing so rapidly. Globally, a large part of this is due to the rapid development and industrialization of the countries of East Asia over the past 50 years.Around that time, young people began to spend more time in classrooms reading and focusing on other objects very close to their eyes and less time outside.
Researchers saw the same in the North American Arctic after World War II, when schooling was mandatory for indigenous people. The nearsightedness rate of Inuit increased from single digits before the 1950s to above 70% by the 1970s as all children began attending schools for the first time.
Countries in Western Europe, North America, and Australia have seen myopia rates increase in recent years, but nothing close to the rates seen recently in China, Japan, Singapore, and some other East Asian countries. The two main factors identified for the increase in myopia are increased ability to read and other activities that require focusing on an object close to one's eyes and decreased time spent outdoors.The increase in myopia cases is likely to have its worst effects 40 or 50 years from now because it takes time for young people suffering from nearsightedness to experience the most serious vision problems.
Treating Myopia Fortunately, just a few minutes a day with the right glasses or contact lenses for blurring can stop the progression of myopia, which is why early Visio testing and vision correction are important to limit the development of myopia. In some countries, eye examinations are mandatory for children. Like UK What is now China, as well as most of the U.S. State.
However, people with high myopia have an increased risk of blindness and other serious eye problems, such as retinal detachment, in which the retina falls away from the back of the eye. The likelihood of myopia-related macula degeneration increases by 40% for each diopter of myopia.The diopter is a unit of measurement used in eye prescriptions.
But there seem to be two surefire ways to reduce or delay these effects, spend less time focusing on objects close to your face, like books, smartphones, and spend more time outside in bright, natural light. Given that first advice is hard to take in our modern age, the next best thing is to take frequent breaks – or perhaps spend more time reading and scrolling outside in the sunshine.(talk) NSANSA
Optometry researchers estimate that if current rates continue, nearly half of the global population will need corrective lenses to correct myopia by 2050 – up from 23% in 2000 and less than 10% in some countries.
The associated health care costs are huge. In the United States alone, the cost of corrective lenses, eye exams, and related expenses can be as much as US$7.What is the reason for the sharp increase in myopia per year?
I am a vision scientist who has studied visual perception and perceptual deficits. To answer that question, first let's examine what causes myopia—and how to reduce it. How Myopia Develops While having two nearsighted parents means you're more likely to be nearsighted. More likely, there is not a single near vision gene. This means that the causes of myopia are more behavioral than genetic.
Optometrists have learned a lot about the progression of myopia by studying visual development in baby chickens.They do this by making the baby chickens wear little helmets. Lenses on the face of the helmet cover the chicks' eyes and are adjusted to affect how much they can see.
Just like humans, if visual input is distorted, the chick's eyes enlarge, resulting in myopia. And it is progressive. Blurring increases the growth of the eyes, which leads to more blurring, which causes the eyes to become even larger, etc. Two recent studies involving extensive surveys of children and their parents provide strong support for the idea that increases in myopia An important driver of this is that people are spending more time focusing on the objects immediately in front of our eyes, whether it's a screen, a book or a drawing pad. The more time we spend focusing on something within arm's length of our face, called "new work", the more likely we are to develop myopia.So even though people blame new technologies like smartphones and too much “screen time” for harming our eyes, the truth is that even activities as valuable as reading a good book can affect your eyesight.
Outside light keeps myopia at bay Other research has shown that sunlight can disrupt this unnatural eye growth.
For example, a 2022 study found that the rate of myopia was four times higher in children who didn't spend much time outside — say, once or twice a week — compared with those who did not. Who used to be outside every day. Also, children who spend more than three hours a day reading or looking at a screen close-up, outside of school, are four times more likely to have myopia than those who spend less than an hour or so doing so. Spend less time outside than that. In another 2012 paper, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of seven studies that compared time spent outside to the incidence of myopia.They also found that more time spent outdoors was associated with lower incidence and progression of myopia. The chance of developing myopia decreased by 2% for each hour spent outside per week.
Other researchers have reported similar effects and argued for changes in spending more time outdoors and younger schooling to reduce the prevalence of myopia. What is driving the epidemic?
It is still not clear why it is growing so rapidly. Globally, a large part of this is due to the rapid development and industrialization of the countries of East Asia over the past 50 years.Around that time, young people began to spend more time in classrooms reading and focusing on other objects very close to their eyes and less time outside.
Researchers saw the same in the North American Arctic after World War II, when schooling was mandatory for indigenous people. The nearsightedness rate of Inuit increased from single digits before the 1950s to above 70% by the 1970s as all children began attending schools for the first time.
Countries in Western Europe, North America, and Australia have seen myopia rates increase in recent years, but nothing close to the rates seen recently in China, Japan, Singapore, and some other East Asian countries. The two main factors identified for the increase in myopia are increased ability to read and other activities that require focusing on an object close to one's eyes and decreased time spent outdoors.The increase in myopia cases is likely to have its worst effects 40 or 50 years from now because it takes time for young people suffering from nearsightedness to experience the most serious vision problems.
Treating Myopia Fortunately, just a few minutes a day with the right glasses or contact lenses for blurring can stop the progression of myopia, which is why early Visio testing and vision correction are important to limit the development of myopia. In some countries, eye examinations are mandatory for children. Like UK What is now China, as well as most of the U.S. State.
However, people with high myopia have an increased risk of blindness and other serious eye problems, such as retinal detachment, in which the retina falls away from the back of the eye. The likelihood of myopia-related macula degeneration increases by 40% for each diopter of myopia.The diopter is a unit of measurement used in eye prescriptions.
But there seem to be two surefire ways to reduce or delay these effects, spend less time focusing on objects close to your face, like books, smartphones, and spend more time outside in bright, natural light. Given that first advice is hard to take in our modern age, the next best thing is to take frequent breaks – or perhaps spend more time reading and scrolling outside in the sunshine.(talk) NSANSA
