{"id":14083,"date":"2021-06-16T13:48:09","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T13:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/?page_id=14083"},"modified":"2021-07-18T20:37:15","modified_gmt":"2021-07-18T20:37:15","slug":"myopia-management-is-daylight-the-answer","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/general-practice-optometry\/guide-to-myopia-management\/myopia-management\/myopia-management-is-daylight-the-answer\/","title":{"rendered":"Myopia Management: Is Daylight the Answer?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>1.9 billion people, worldwide, have been diagnosed with myopia \u2026 could spending time outdoors be a solution?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>With the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/guide-to-pediatric-eye-conditions\/what-is-myopia\/should-i-be-worried-about-myopia\/\"> prevalence of myopia<\/a>, it&#8217;s critical for parents to understand how this condition can impact their child&#8217;s future and what steps they can take to preserve their child&#8217;s eye health and vision..<\/p>\n<p>Childhood myopia, or nearsightedness, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/guide-to-pediatric-eye-conditions\/what-is-myopia\/should-i-be-worried-about-myopia\/\">increases the risk of eventually developing serious eye diseases<\/a> like cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, pathological myopia and retinal detachment.<\/p>\n<h2><b>Can daylight reduce myopia?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Myopia occurs when the eye shape elongates, causing light rays to focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it. Myopia is caused by a combination of factors, including genetic and environmental.<\/p>\n<p><b>As it turns out, the amount of time children spend outdoors in sunlight has been shown to reduce the progression of myopia.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In 2019, <i>Updates on Myopia<\/i> was published, which stated that it discovered that environmental factors have been the cause of an exponential increase of myopia. Children that have intense schooling and spend limited time outdoors have a higher risk of developing myopia.<\/p>\n<p>Increased light intensity leads to pupil constriction, increased depth of focus and release of dopamine, which inhibits axial elongation which causes myopia.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, more time spent outdoors goes hand in hand with less time spent on near work. Reading and other tasks that require prolonged near vision have long been suggested as an environmental risk factor for myopia in school-aged children.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/\"><b>Contact an eye doctor<\/b> <\/a>near you who can help manage your child\u2019s myopia.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SEE RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/general-practice-optometry\/guide-to-myopia-management\/myopia-management\/myopia-management-children-and-digital-devices\/\">Myopia Management: Children and Digital Devices\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"practice-search-widget\">\n\t\t<h3>Find an eye doctor near you<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t<form class=\"practice-search-form practice-search-form-widget\" action=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/results\/\" method=\"get\">\n\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"distance\" value=\"100\" class=\"practice-search-distance\">\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"page\" class=\"practice-search-page\">\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"address_latitude\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"address_longitude\">\n\n\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"address\" class=\"practice-search-address\" placeholder=\"City, Surburb or Address\" value=\"\">\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"distance\" value=\"100\" class=\"practice-search-distance\">\n\n\t\t\n\n\t\t<button type=\"submit\" class=\"practice-search-button\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M10.6796 0.130005C9.15708 0.130059 7.66615 0.5646 6.38198 1.38258C5.09781 2.20057 4.07373 3.36803 3.43004 4.74783C2.78634 6.12763 2.54976 7.66246 2.74808 9.17205C2.9464 10.6816 3.57139 12.1033 4.54964 13.27L0.729639 17.08C0.6364 17.1732 0.562439 17.2839 0.511979 17.4058C0.461519 17.5276 0.435547 17.6581 0.435547 17.79C0.435547 17.9219 0.461519 18.0524 0.511979 18.1743C0.562439 18.2961 0.6364 18.4068 0.729639 18.5C0.917942 18.6883 1.17334 18.7941 1.43964 18.7941C1.5715 18.7941 1.70207 18.7681 1.82389 18.7177C1.94571 18.6672 2.0564 18.5932 2.14964 18.5L5.99964 14.62C7.35406 15.6038 8.98566 16.1324 10.6596 16.13C12.7814 16.13 14.8162 15.2871 16.3165 13.7869C17.8168 12.2866 18.6596 10.2517 18.6596 8.13C18.6596 6.00827 17.8168 3.97344 16.3165 2.47315C14.8162 0.97286 12.7814 0.130005 10.6596 0.130005H10.6796ZM10.6796 14.13C9.49295 14.13 8.33291 13.7781 7.34622 13.1188C6.35952 12.4595 5.59049 11.5225 5.13636 10.4261C4.68224 9.32975 4.56342 8.12335 4.79493 6.95946C5.02644 5.79558 5.59788 4.72648 6.437 3.88736C7.27611 3.04825 8.34521 2.4768 9.5091 2.24529C10.673 2.01378 11.8794 2.1326 12.9757 2.58673C14.0721 3.04085 15.0092 3.80989 15.6685 4.79658C16.3277 5.78328 16.6796 6.94332 16.6796 8.13C16.6796 9.7213 16.0475 11.2474 14.9223 12.3726C13.7971 13.4979 12.2709 14.13 10.6796 14.13Z\" fill=\"#fff\"\/><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t<button type=\"button\" class=\"practice-search-use-my-location\">\n\t\t\tSearch near me\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\n\t<\/form>\n\n\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<h2><b>How does daylight exposure impact myopia?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Although researchers have yet to pinpoint exactly why daylight exposure prevents or slows the progression of myopia, almost all agree that it does.<\/p>\n<p>A study published in 2015, called the <i>ROC (Recess Outside Classroom) <\/i>study conducted in East Asia to see if the educational policy could decrease myopia incidence, the results were promising.<\/p>\n<p>At one school they turned off the classroom light and required children to go outside the classroom for outdoor activities during recess time, around 80 minutes per day. The other school did not have any special programs during recess time.<\/p>\n<p>After 1 year, new onset myopia was found in only 8% of children in the ROC school, while the incidence in the control school was 17.5%.<\/p>\n<p><b>Spending time outdoors could decrease the new onset of myopia <\/b><b>by over 50%.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i>Ophthalmology (2013)<\/i> published a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies, that investigated the association between time spent outdoors and myopia in children and adolescents.<\/p>\n<p>This research found a significant protective association between increasing time spent outdoors and prevalent myopia in nearly 10,000 children and adolescents 20 years of age and younger.<\/p>\n<p><b>Each increase in hours per week of time spent outdoors was associated with a 2% reduced odds of myopia.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It is now widely recommended that children spend up to 2 hours outdoors each day to protects against myopia.<\/p>\n<h2><b>What is myopia management?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>In addition to giving your child more time to spend outdoors, a program of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/general-practice-optometry\/guide-to-myopia-management\/\"> Myopia Management<\/a> can improve your child\u2019s performance in school and can help prevent serious sight-robbing eye diseases later in life.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/guide-to-pediatric-eye-conditions\/what-is-myopia\/should-i-be-worried-about-myopia\/\">Myopia is a world-wide medical problem<\/a>, affecting the lives of today\u2019s children, resulting in serious consequences for their eye health.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LEARN MORE:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/general-practice-optometry\/guide-to-myopia-management\/\">Guide to Myopia Management<\/a><\/p>\n<p>If your child shows signs or symptoms of myopia, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/\"><b>schedule an appointment<\/b><\/a> with an eye doctor near you who will advise you on the ways to best <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/general-practice-optometry\/guide-to-myopia-management\/\">manage your child\u2019s myopia<\/a> and ensure they enjoy years of clear vision and optimum eye health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1.9 billion people, worldwide, have been diagnosed with myopia \u2026 could spending time outdoors be a solution? With the prevalence of myopia, it&#8217;s critical for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14084,"parent":5609,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-article.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14083","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Myopia Management: Is Daylight the Answer? - Optometrists.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/general-practice-optometry\/guide-to-myopia-management\/myopia-management\/myopia-management-is-daylight-the-answer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Myopia Management: Is Daylight the Answer? - Optometrists.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"1.9 billion people, worldwide, have been diagnosed with myopia \u2026 could spending time outdoors be a solution? 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