Spending too much time inside is damaging our eyesight
A new study suggests that children should spend more time outdoors to prevent them from becoming short-sighted.
Experts at the Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology have been looking into the effects of remaining indoors on school children.
As part of a trial pupils in China were taught in huge translucent boxes to try and halt their vision decline.
The study found that 80 per cent of children were short-sighted.
Researchers say those taught in the glass box school classrooms had a reduced myopia of 23 per cent.
Myopia can be a potentially blinding condition due to its association with retinal detachment.
It is thought around 40 per cent of Britons suffer from the condition, or short-sightedness, with experts warning that the figure is rising.
Symptoms of short-sightedness often start around puberty and gradually get worse until the eye is fully grown.
British laser eye surgeon Dr David Allamby said: “For 100 years we have researched into the effects of reading and prolonged study on making short-sightedness worse.
It has become a common belief that spending too much time inside a book, or today on a screen, will make anyone’s eyesight worse.
Recent research might have turned this on its head. That’s why today some Chinese schoolchildren are going to school inside a big glass box.”
For parents it is important not to neglect your eyes nor the eyes of your children.
Often youngsters do not complain about their eyesight or their eyes hurting.
There are things to look out for such as is your child sitting to close too the TV or blinking a lot?
It is recommended that adults and children have eyesight tests every two years.
For more information visit: www.nhs.uk
