Diane Serex-Dougan, OD, FCOVD | Behavioral Optometry | Optometric Vision Therapy | Maryland - Being outdoors lowers risk of nearsightedness

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Being outdoors lowers risk of nearsightedness

January 12, 2009

Los Angeles Times

Spending two or three hours outdoors each day appears to lower a child's risk of developing nearsightedness, although researchers can't explain why.

A study published in this month's issue of the journal Optometry and Vision Science reviewed several large studies examining nearsightedness, or myopia, in large populations. The studies agreed that the risk of myopia drops in children who spend more time outdoors. A child's chances of becoming myopic if he or she has two myopic biological parents are about 6 in 10 for children who spend zero to five hours a week in outdoor activity. But the risk drops to two in 10 when outdoor activity exceeds 14 hours a week.

The key to 3-D vision

A visual impairment that condemns children to see in only two dimensions can go unrecognized for years and be mistaken for stigmatized disorders.

LA Times
By Susan R. Barry
June 22, 2009

I was 20 years old and a college student before I learned that I did not see the world like everyone else. I had been cross-eyed as a baby, but three childhood surgeries made my eyes look straight. Because my eyes looked normal, I assumed I saw normally too. But, in fact, I was stereoblind -- unable to see in three dimensions.,

That means I could not see the volumes of space between objects. Instead, things in depth appeared piled one on top of another, making me feel nervous and confused in cluttered environments. As a child, I didn't understand why my friends were so entertained when they looked through a View-Master. I didn't see Disney characters or Superman popping out at me. All I saw was a flat image.

When I got older, my gaze -- particularly at a distance -- was jittery, making it difficult to read signs while driving. I was always disoriented and easily lost.

The biggest effect of my vision was on my performance in school. I had trouble learning to read and did poorly on standardized tests. These problems were blamed not on my vision but on a lack of intelligence, and I was put in a class with other problem children.