Parents now have a good reason to have their children play outside – to keep their eyes from going.

According to an analysis done by Dr. Justin Sherwin of the University of Cambridge, more time spent outdoors reduces the risk of nearsightedness, or myopia, in children and adolescents. To save the children’s eyes would entail them getting more exposure to natural light or more time spent looking at distant objects.

“Increasing children’s outdoor time could be a simple and cost-effective measure with important benefits for their vision and general health,” said Dr. Anthony Khawaja of the University of Cambridge.

However, the reasons are not yet clear, reducing the risk appears to result from simply being outdoors rather than doing a specific activity.
The data they gathered came from eight carefully selected studies on outdoor time and myopia in children and adolescents, which has a total of 10,400 participants.

Sherwin’s findings found that nearsighted children spent 3.7 less hours on average per week outdoors than those who either had normal vision or were farsighted. This led him to conclude that for each additional hour spend outdoors weekly, the risk of myopia dropped by approximately two percent.

Research also suggests that that children who spent more time outdoors were also those who spent less time performing near work, such as playing video games or studying. The time spent on near work is another area of interest that researchers are linking to the recent increase in nearsightedness.

But in order for researchers to make a clear recommendation, Khawaja stressed the need for more precise data. He added that prospective studies regarding different factors such as increased use of distance vision, reduced use of near vision, natural ultra violet light exposure, or physical activity could help them understand which factors affect the eyes.

Another question Khawaja is considering is whether increasing outdoor time might stop nearsightedness from getting worse.

Khawaja cited a recent Chinese study outside that of Sherwin’s analysis which examined 80 nearsighted children between the ages of 7 and 11. Forty children were asked to spend less than 30 hours on near work and to spend more than 14 hours outdoors weekly.

At the end of the two-year study, the forty children were less nearsighted on average compared to those who were not following a schedule.