Live data from Hacker News

The myopia boom (2015)

nature.com

41–50 of 73 posts

Re: The myopia boom (2015)

#41
light intensity does that

try this: take a picture, same object, no flash, ... one under normal bright sun and another in a room under normal bright lighting. which one is sharper?

set phone brightness to lowest, another on highest. try to read something and measure your arm's length. adjust brightness so you can still focus at farthest arm's length as comfort dictates. don't save on power juice. your eyes are more important.

drive outside and then go to underground parking lot. you'll notice it's harder to look.

use your normal glasses in a normal lighting room. go outside and swith to lower power (say your previous glasses). notice the difference.

the problem was i used the same power glasses all the time, out of habit. the very same glasses for reading far (chalkboards) and for reading books. it's somewhat not practical to switch glasses every time you copy something from board and write to your notes. using lower powered glasses and move my seat to the front mitigate this problem.

tldr; try to get maximum amount of light to your eyes as comfort dictates. if you really have to use glasses, choose the one with lower power that's sufficient for your need. practice to never use glasses for most tasks (adjust brightness on smartphone). you'll be surprised on what ur eyes can do without glasses.

Re: The myopia boom (2015)

#42

light intensity does that try this: take a picture, same object, no flash, ... one under normal bright sun and another in a room under normal bright lighting. which one is sharper? set phone brightness to lowest, another on highest. try to read something and measure your arm's length. adjust brightness so you can still focus at farthest arm's length as comfort dictates. don't save on power juice. your eyes are more i…

If glasses are an exoskeleton, use the minimum strength for:

  - phone (30 cm)
  - computer (60 cm)
  - board/driving (600+ cm)
Now that you can buy good quality glasses online for less than $50 from the same Essilor labs that supply local stores, it is practical to wear situation-specific pairs, especially for computer work.

More info: https://gettingstronger.org/2016/03/faq-for-vision-improveme...

Re: The myopia boom (2015)

#43
post #4

What if we make cellphone screens which emit 10,000 lux? Boom. Problem solved.

I know you are being facetious but it's probably important to note that the LED and oLED light used in phones is not wide spectrum.

I think attempting to generate the equivalent intensity of natural light means unnaturally high intensity three component narrow band frequency exposure?... I can imagine that might pose a non obvious risk to eyes because it _looks_ visibly equivalent.

(sorry I am unable to reference it but there was some research into the negative effects of this recently given the advent of LED lights replacing incandescents)

Re: The myopia boom (2015)

#44

I always thought it was because all of the "far away" stuff is outside and a person who spends 90% of their time indoors never has to look at anything far away. What are the rates of shortsightedness among people living in dense forests (or some other cramped outdoor environment)?

Facing a window with natural light can help, if you take regular breaks from close-up focusing.

Re: The myopia boom (2015)

#45

Sunglasses are something else to consider. There is zero scientific evidence sunglasses protect your vision in any way. (There is suspicion UV exposure can lead to some eye diseases, but it's not a proven link, nor are the mechanisms understood). If increased exposure to sunlight is correlated with better vision, we better revisit our completely non-scientific sunglasses dogma.

The evidence is firming up that UV (esp UV-B) exposure is linked to cataracts and macular degeneration. https://nei.nih.gov/news/briefs/uv_cataract https://www.macular.org/ultra-violet-and-blue-light Blue light from LEDs that are out of spec can also be a problem. The EU already has standards for this. http://www.cree.com/led-components/media/documents/XLamp_Eye...

Are those "blue light wakeup devices" a risk for this?

Re: The myopia boom (2015)

#46

I always thought it was because all of the "far away" stuff is outside and a person who spends 90% of their time indoors never has to look at anything far away. What are the rates of shortsightedness among people living in dense forests (or some other cramped outdoor environment)?

How would you study those two potential variables seperately to find the true cause?

It would be difficult to have such a large indoor area that people regularly focus far away. But maybe you could keep UV lights on indoors in an animal study to see if the UV light reduces myopia.

Re: The myopia boom (2015)

#47

light intensity does that try this: take a picture, same object, no flash, ... one under normal bright sun and another in a room under normal bright lighting. which one is sharper? set phone brightness to lowest, another on highest. try to read something and measure your arm's length. adjust brightness so you can still focus at farthest arm's length as comfort dictates. don't save on power juice. your eyes are more i…

More specifically it's the bright light triggering the iris to close that improves the focus. As the aperture narrows (iris closes) the incoming rays become more collimated (less scattered) and so the image falling on your cornea appears sharper even if your eye's lens is not able to focus it correctly. At it's extreme this effect allows the pinhole camera to work without using any lenses at all to focus the image.

The thing is though, while using lower powered glasses might help you train the muscles around your eyes' lenses to be stronger, mitigating the myopia slightly, the root problem still remains: your eyeball is the wrong shape and there's only so much your eyes' lenses can do to make up for that.

Re: The myopia boom (2015)

#48
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because what you eat has nothing to do with the shape of your eyeball, and there's no scientific basis for bringing this up in the context of myopia

It has. Drinking milk for instance is directly correlated to your growth

Filtered cows blood causes growth?

Re: The myopia boom (2015)

#49
TL;DR "After studying more than 4,000 children at Sydney primary and secondary schools for three years, they found that children who spent less time outside were at greater risk of developing myopia."

Re: The myopia boom (2015)

#50
post #14
post #9

There was a thread on here recently about the Trades Industry, and many people warned that even though you are up and using your body, not looking at a screen 8hours a day, there are still back injuries etc related to that mobile profession. I suppose though on average non-sedentary jobs with minimal indoor computer screen jobs have a lower rate of myopia increase.. Is it worth the pay raise to work in tech if our ey…

I guess living kills you. We should all try to be more like Jeanne Calment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment She was well educated in France with a liberal arts degree, married well and never had to work, went mountaineering with her husband on holidays, hosted German soliders during the second world war but didn't mind it very much, spent her mornings in prayer, had an elaborate skincare routine, smoked,…

Or Frida Kahlo. It’s pretty easy to become an idol of art or health when you’re born into money.

All those traditional mid-century Marxist “class is the only thing that matters” people don’t sound so bad now, huh.

Post reply on HN