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Given that the Nature research (above) shows that eye exercises don't seem to work, we should focus [1] on what does. Research shows more outdoor time can help
by xpe 2y ago
Given that the Nature research (above) shows that eye exercises don't seem to work, we should focus [1] on what does. Research shows more outdoor time can help with myopia. See https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/aos.13403 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/aos.13403
[1] See [1] what I did there?
- matthewdgreen 2y ago23 of 25 studies were in children, and also it didn’t seem to have any effect in people who already have the problem :(
- amelius 2y agoIf VR goggles have the image focal point at infinity, does that count too? Also, what if you wear glasses that move points close by (e.g. your screen) to infinity?
- jerlam 2y agoRegarding your second question, that's basically what computer glasses (and reading glasses) do. They basically make things that are close, visually farther away. For people who can't focus up close anymore (elderly), they move the book visually farther away where the eye can still focus. When used as computer glasses, you could see the screen without the glasses, but with the glasses they are shifted farther away visually which helps with eye strain.
- amelius 2y agoOk. Can we make glasses that 1. move my screen to virtual infinity, and 2. enlarge the screen in my FOV?
- jeremiahbuckley 2y agoI’ve heard this is important for young kids when eyes are developing. Once the weakness is built in, there’s not much t that can be done. But I definitely recommend this to people I know with new babies. We do a bad job consciously recognizing the difference between indoor and outdoor light, but they’re orders of magnitude different in actual brightness.
- hiAndrewQuinn 2y agoTime to give your kids headphones, boomboxes, and old-school mp3 players, everyone. Get them outside and dancing in a forest!
- Galatians4_16 2y agoI had to equip my reading glasses, then I saw.
- Anotheroneagain 2y agoNo. That hypothesis came from the fact that myopia in Australia was much rarer, but that was because they banned lead later than others.
- tremon 2y agoWhy is spending time outdoors not considered an eye exercise?
- jspash 2y agoIt's probably similar to the difference between doing "proper" squats in a squat rack vs. using a cheater frame. The muscle movement is more varied and not as linear as doing a single left/right up/down exercise. But that's just a guess.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 2y agoIs there any hard data on how much a machine impacts muscle growth/flexibility/whatever vs free weights? I agree that free weights are probably better overall, but would love if that were quantified somehow.
- moneywoes 2y agoisn’t it just about mind to muscle connection
- adrianmonk 2y agoI don't think they know for sure what it is about being outdoors that helps prevent myopia. But it's thought that it might be the bright light. To me, passively taking in bright light wouldn't qualify as an exercise.
- powersnail 2y agoThe study is about a specific type of eye exercise. The translated English title makes it sounds more general than it is.
- calebm 2y agoI recently was required to renew my glasses prescription because the other one was 2 years old (so considered expired). When I got my new prescription, my optometrist said "your vision improved". I have been spending more time outside. I have found that time on the water seems to make my vision improve. I also suspect that walking through forests and experiencing the parallax effect might function as something like a depth perception calibration. It's also worth noting that I do wear glasses, but not all the time - intentionally so I can exercise my eyes.
- LorenPechtel 2y agoWhile I can see this altering your prescription why should it improve your vision?
- Thorrez 2y agoIsn't prescription going down the same thing as vision improving?
- LorenPechtel 2y agoNo, there are two separate things: 1) Your prescription. 2) What your vision is like with the best correction.
- Thorrez 2y agoThen I'm guessing calebm misremembered what the optometrist said. Probably the optometrist said "your prescription improved" or "your prescription decreased".
- LorenPechtel 2y ago"Vision improved" is a possible result of treatment. My wife has had cataract surgery--her vision in that eye certainly improved! It also is possible to have your vision improve without treatment. I have some astigmatism, it's simply impossible to fully correct. My prescription changes a lot, it's possible for the astigmatism to be a bit less of an issue on a particular exam to the point that the best line I can read sometimes changes.
- napoleoncomplex 2y agoHow does wearing sunglasses affect time outside effectiveness? Any research on that? (Just something I've wondered since sunglasses are super prevalent)
- happyopossum 2y agoMy understanding is that the benefit of being outdoors is the ability and opportunity to regularly focus on things at a distance that helps, so sunglasses wouldn't factor in.
- hinkley 2y agoIsn’t that eye exercises?
- JumpCrisscross 2y agoIt’s also exposure to natural light. Myopia jumps when kids are exposed to artificial lighting [1]. It seems some constant is hard coded into our genes to calibrate our eyes to the Sun’s light. (Artificial natural light, despite sounding like an oxymoron, can help.) [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38766340/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38766340/
- robwwilliams 2y agoYes, this is the main factor. Luminance and spectrum however are reasonable secondary factors and highlighted in the reference above.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 2y agoThat was the leading theory for many years that explained why adult humans today have much worse vision that humans of the not-so-distant past, but it was disproven in the last decade. We don't yet understand why, but lack of exposure to sunlight is what causes still-developing eyes to grow incorrectly.
- kyriakos 2y agoSunglasses are not just a fashion item they also protect your eye lens from gradual damage from UV. It may be a good compromise in the end.
- incognito124 2y agoRarely do the jokes on HN get a chuckle out of me, but you did it!
- medstrom 2y agoThis is why we hackers need to install Emacs/Vim on an e-reader and use that as our dev environment... outdoors with Bluetooth keyboard every day.
- sieste 2y agoThis, or you could switch to an outdoors-themed wallpaper.
- xpe 2y agoYou belong in a basement-level late-night comedy club. No sunlight for you.
- steve_adams_86 2y agoThis is why myopia wasn't as much of a problem back in the Windows XP days. https://d7hftxdivxxvm.cloudfront.net/?quality=80&resize_to=width&src=https%3A%2F%2Fartsy-media-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2RNK1P0BYVrSCZEy_Sd1Ew%252F3417757448_4a6bdf36ce_o.jpg&width=1820 https://d7hftxdivxxvm.cloudfront.net/?quality=80&resize_to=w...
- initplus 2y agoI assumed outdoor time helps because your eyes spend time focusing at a greater distance. Going outside, but only to use a phone/ereader/book is likely not effective.
- abeppu 2y agoI think this assumption, though perhaps reasonable, is incorrect, for at least two reasons: - There are animal model studies which vary environment brightness and show a causal relationship between darker environments and myopia. The animals in the darker experimental groups aren't reading etc, and the animals in the brighter experimental groups aren't in larger cages. - There are studies on myopia that varied indoor lighting brightness and showed brighter lighting later/decreased myopia onset. Classroom sizes (or distances from desk to blackboard, etc) did not change. These studies also found a bunch of other variables were important including longer sleep time, and less screen time. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/opo.12207 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/opo.12207