Comment by SoftTalker
1 year ago
I have been nearsighted nearly my whole life. I started wearing glasses in 2nd grade, probably needed them before then but who knows. I played outside a lot -- we had recess 3x day in school and most days I played outside until dark when I got home. Had very little "screen time" as the only screen in the house was a 12" black and white television.
My suspicion is a lot of it is due to Winter, and shortening recess times, plus increasing reluctance of schools to send kids outside in anything but perfect weather.
Go to school just as the sun’s coming up -> inside recess because it’s too cold or it’s raining a little -> sunset around 5:00PM.
Schools get kids five days a week for most of the winter, so as parents it’s damn hard to get them outside much while the sun’s up on those days if the schools won’t do it consistently. And you need lots of time in very-bright light to cut your odds of myopia to something very low.
Yeah, I think there is a genetic component. I had glasses from the third grade, and I recall spending lots of time outdoors as a youngster. There wasn't much else to do.