[LINK] Generation specs: Stopping the short-sight epidemic

[Kim Holburn]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427331.100-generation-specs-stopping-the-shortsight-epidemic.html
> rates of short-sightedness, or myopia, were rising to epidemic  
> proportions around the world. Today, in some of the worst-affected  
> countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, around 80 per  
> cent of young adults are myopic, compared to only 25 per cent a few  
> decades back.


...

> Clearly, some important factor was missing from the equation. Lisa  
> Jones-Jordan at Ohio State University in Columbus stumbled upon the  
> next lead in a study published two years ago (Investigative  
> Ophthalmology and Visual Science, vol 48, p 3524). Analysing the  
> lifestyle of 514 children aged 8, her team found that within four  
> years 111 had become short-sighted. Crucially, those children spent  
> less time engaging in outdoor and sporting activities than those who  
> did not become myopic - 8 hours compared to 12 hours per week.

...

> "Our findings suggest that being outdoors, rather than sport per se,  
> may be the crucial factor," says Rose. The theory has since been  
> backed up by a study of 1249 teenagers in Singapore, led by Seang- 
> Mei Saw at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University  
> of Singapore (British Journal of Ophthalmology, vol 93, p 997).


-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request