PORTLAND, Ore. - Mom might have been right when she said you shouldn't sit so close to the television screen because it will damage your eyes.
Half the world's population will be nearsighted by 2050 - up from a quarter of the population in 2000, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
While Jay Neitz, a researcher in the Ophthalmology Department at the University of Washington, says genetics play the biggest part in determining a person's vision that alone doesn't explain such a large shift.
"The amount of televisions, computers, tablets, smartphones, all those kinds of things have increased dramatically," he points out. "And, you know, if you're inside studying all the time and playing computer games, that is the largest correlate."
Researchers aren't sure why screens affect eyesight, Neitz adds. It's only clear that modernized countries have been working closer to screens and, at the same time, nearsightedness has increased.
A National Institutes of Health study found nearsightedness increased in the U.S. by 66 percent between the 1970s and 2000s. A similar trend has been going on in East Asia, where researchers say as many as 90 percent of schoolchildren are nearsighted.
Neitz says that wasn't the case for an indigenous people he visited in Argentina who live outdoors nearly their entire lives.
"I measured the frequency of nearsightedness in those people, and it's virtually zero," he points out.
Researchers suggest children spend more time outside to help prevent developing nearsightedness.
Oregon's plentiful forests could hold the key for some people looking to reverse the nearsightedness trend in their children.
"We certainly encourage people to get out and enjoy Oregon's outdoors, because I think for people who've lived here a long time, it tends to be something you overlook, you know, and Oregon is beautiful," says Rod Nichols, information officer at the Oregon Department of Forestry. "There are so many varieties of landscapes out there."
February 29, 2016
