Myopia Prevention and Control
Treatments: Outdoor Time
How is the idea of "outdoor time" used for myopia control?
One of the big surprises of recent research is the importance of how increased time spent outdoors helps in preventing myopia. At the present time it appears that 14 hours a week or more outdoors are significantly effective in reducing myopia progression.How does increased outdoor time work for myopia control?
We don't know. There are many possibilities and studies are under way to help determine what is happening.- What might be gained by outdoor activity?:
- Sun exposure with Vitamin D production (Vitamin D is produced by the skin with the aid of sunlight.)
- Exposure to bright light releases chemicals in the retina such as dopamine that can control growth
- Exposure to visual opportunities for far distance vision
- Exposure to beneficial microorganisms
- Unknown events that may be caused by being outdoors or that often happen to people who spend time outdoors.
"Outdoor activity" presents a complicated, broad area of research. An example of unexpected findings about outdoor activity is that exposure to the common soil bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae is believed to have anti-depressant qualities and has been shown to increase learning behavior. (news report link of American Society for Microbiology) It increased serotonin levels in the brain. Serotonin is part of the signaling system within the retina controlling eye growth. While no one has studied the possible connections to myopia control, the results indicate the complexity of trying to find exactly what outdoor time does to control myopia.
The outdoor benefit is not due to children outdoors reading less. Outdoor children do better regardless of their indoor reading activity. This means that it is not the "bookworm", the child who reads a lot, who is more likely to become nearsighted. It is the child who doesn't go outside, whether they are a reader or not.
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