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The Puzzling Rise in Nearsighted Children

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21–30 of 45 posts

Re: The Puzzling Rise in Nearsighted Children

#21
post #17
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Trying to fix myopia by getting children exposed to more sunlight is a bit of a "let them eat single-source organic asparagus" response: it makes would-be social reformers feel good, but it's not a realistic way to reliably give all children the (apparently) minimum three daily hours of 10,000 lux. Getting all children outside for three hours every day is not realistically possible, and wouldn't be pleasant or e…

>Getting all children outside for three hours every day is not realistically possible, and wouldn't be pleasant or even desirable for all of them: bad weather, unsafe neighbourhoods, air pollution. i don't understand that. Where do children are supposed to get daily multi-hour physical activity? On the treadmill in the basement? And if children aren't getting such amount of physical activity - that would border on ne…

It's not a matter of whether it's generally desirable for all children to spend three hours outside every day. One problem is whether admonishing parents about it is actually going to make it so for all children. Another problem is whether it's actually possible and safe for all children no matter how desirable it might be in general. A third problem is how the strong the sun actually is while they are outside playing. For five days out of seven in the winter millions of children in northern Europe travel to school around sunrise, get maybe an hour outside during the day, then come home and play football under grey evening skies and sodium lights.

Re: The Puzzling Rise in Nearsighted Children

#22
post #17
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Trying to fix myopia by getting children exposed to more sunlight is a bit of a "let them eat single-source organic asparagus" response: it makes would-be social reformers feel good, but it's not a realistic way to reliably give all children the (apparently) minimum three daily hours of 10,000 lux. Getting all children outside for three hours every day is not realistically possible, and wouldn't be pleasant or e…

>Getting all children outside for three hours every day is not realistically possible, and wouldn't be pleasant or even desirable for all of them: bad weather, unsafe neighbourhoods, air pollution. i don't understand that. Where do children are supposed to get daily multi-hour physical activity? On the treadmill in the basement? And if children aren't getting such amount of physical activity - that would border on ne…

Most Russian children probably don't get 'daily multi-hour physical activity' - here is a study showing self-reported hours of activity: http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/eurpub/9/3/166.full...

I don't know of any developed country where kids are all getting that much activity, to be honest.

Re: The Puzzling Rise in Nearsighted Children

#23
post #20
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Trying to fix myopia by getting children exposed to more sunlight is a bit of a "let them eat single-source organic asparagus" response: it makes would-be social reformers feel good, but it's not a realistic way to reliably give all children the (apparently) minimum three daily hours of 10,000 lux. Getting all children outside for three hours every day is not realistically possible, and wouldn't be pleasant or e…

Natural sunlight is the most abundant resource humanity has. If we can't get our kids three hours of it per day, there's something that needs to be fixed with how we treat them.

We can't get it for them, and we can't get it for ourselves. Your average 9-5 worker doesn't get much sunlight either.

Re: The Puzzling Rise in Nearsighted Children

#24
post #7
post #5

Kids should be outside playing, not coding. Adults, too.

Coding is playing. Just kidding, of course. One thing I've noticed is that my kids have vastly more homework than I ever had, and homework now starts in kindergarten. There are only so many waking hours in the day.

I had a lot of homework as well but at some point I pretty much decided "fuck that, I have better things to do" and learned programming instead. My math grades went down a bit but I actually learned something.

Re: The Puzzling Rise in Nearsighted Children

#25
post #16
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are multiple startup ideas in that article.

Yes. Trying to fix myopia by getting children exposed to more sunlight is a bit of a "let them eat single-source organic asparagus" response: it makes would-be social reformers feel good, but it's not a realistic way to reliably give all children the (apparently) minimum three daily hours of 10,000 lux. Getting all children outside for three hours every day is not realistically possible, and wouldn't be pleasant or e…

I'm actually looking to get one of these 10000 lux lamps and use it for myself when working at night.

Anyone know of any research on possible side effects of getting too much sustained light? I plan on having one on pretty much all the time when working with computers.

Re: The Puzzling Rise in Nearsighted Children

#26

After years of staring at screens at work, an optometrist told me I was shortsighted for life and insisted I buy prescription glasses. I then became a landscape gardener for four years. Guess what? My shortsightedness disappeared, as did my hayfever and weak knees. Now I am back in an office (much much better wages) and my shortsightedness is starting to return. So a combination of aggressive diagnosis and lack of ey…

It's true. The human eye simply wasn't meant to stare at and interpret millions of tiny pixels. It causes strain over time, which leads to nearsightedness. Luckily it's (at least) partially reversable, as you experienced.

Re: The Puzzling Rise in Nearsighted Children

#27
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coding is playing. Just kidding, of course. One thing I've noticed is that my kids have vastly more homework than I ever had, and homework now starts in kindergarten. There are only so many waking hours in the day.

I had a lot of homework as well but at some point I pretty much decided "fuck that, I have better things to do" and learned programming instead. My math grades went down a bit but I actually learned something .

I wish I'd learnt the same prior to university.

Re: The Puzzling Rise in Nearsighted Children

#28
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Trying to fix myopia by getting children exposed to more sunlight is a bit of a "let them eat single-source organic asparagus" response: it makes would-be social reformers feel good, but it's not a realistic way to reliably give all children the (apparently) minimum three daily hours of 10,000 lux. Getting all children outside for three hours every day is not realistically possible, and wouldn't be pleasant or e…

I'm actually looking to get one of these 10000 lux lamps and use it for myself when working at night. Anyone know of any research on possible side effects of getting too much sustained light? I plan on having one on pretty much all the time when working with computers.

Don't know of any research about those lamps specifically, but based on research from blue light devices use and what I know about our circadian rhythms, you will probably end up with sleep issues (difficulty falling asleep as well as low quality of sleep)

Re: The Puzzling Rise in Nearsighted Children

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article claims it's the lack of sunlight, not the lack of eye exercise.

Lack of sunlight can mean eyestrain, but it also means lack of Vitamin D. Anyone out there giving their kids supplements?

The article's theory is that the mechanism is dopamine.

Re: The Puzzling Rise in Nearsighted Children

#30

After years of staring at screens at work, an optometrist told me I was shortsighted for life and insisted I buy prescription glasses. I then became a landscape gardener for four years. Guess what? My shortsightedness disappeared, as did my hayfever and weak knees. Now I am back in an office (much much better wages) and my shortsightedness is starting to return. So a combination of aggressive diagnosis and lack of ey…

It's true. The human eye simply wasn't meant to stare at and interpret millions of tiny pixels. It causes strain over time, which leads to nearsightedness. Luckily it's (at least) partially reversable, as you experienced.

The article presents evidence contradicting the strain hypothesis, and presents the sunlight hypothesis instead.
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