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Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Technology, indoor lifestyles destroying humanity's eyesight

Technology, indoor lifestyles destroying humanity's eyesight

By Amy Goodrich

For a long time, we believed that short-sightedness, or myopia, was largely down to our genes. However, over the past 50 years, myopia has doubled among young people. This raised the question of whether something other than our heritage could be causing such a rapid change in eye health.

According to new studies, years of indoor teaching and heavy use of our ever-present technologies such as computer screens, televisions, tablets and smartphones are to blame.

Today in the UK, 23 percent of 12- and 13-year-olds suffer from short-sightedness, compared to just 10 percent in the 1960s. Experts say that this dramatic increase is due to the fact that modern children play outdoors far less often than they did in past generations.

This is also why Australians are faring much better than the rest of the developed world. Australian kids spend more time playing outside and less time glued to a TV screen or playing computer games.

Researchers believe that the particularly intensive blue light of LED screens could irreversibly damage the retina of the eye, as outlined in a previous report. Read more

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