More near-sightedness vs. 4 decades ago

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/T...695/story.html

So overall, there are more near-sighted people than awhile ago.
Not really related to this article but question to you:
Do you watch tv in a darkened /dimly lit rm. often?
Do you work on computer in a darked/dimly lit rm. often?

For me, no. Must be yrs. and yrs. of parents concerned for our eyesight and hence we watched tv with good overhead light, etc. Not sure if they were right.

But I had a friend who worked in digital animation studio. He thinks his good vision became worse because they worked on computers all the time in semi-darkened work areas. After only 2 yrs., he noticed the degradation on his eyesight and for some colleagues. But don't know how much low work light was actually influential.

In a way, I'm glad over the years that I do cycle often, it provides exercise and variety fo my eyes to look further away, not always glued to screen or close-up work/constant reading.

I never needed glasses until I started law school. Maybe it was a coincidence, but that's definitely the first time I was doing so much concentrated reading and so little of other activities. I still rode my bike all through school, including commuting to work, so it's not like I never got outside. In those days I'd ride upwards of 200 miles a week, in season.

I need glasses, ie. readers soon.

So have made this far, up to 50 with good eyesight.

Eyes work via muscles. Just like the rest of the body, eye muscles strengthen the more you use them.

If you use your muscles (eyes) more for close work, they will get very strong at close work. If you use them more for distance work, they will get very strong at distance work.

It doesn't become a disorder until someone complains.

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Originally Posted by shootingstar

I need glasses, ie. readers soon.

So have made this far, up to 50 with good eyesight.

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The readers you need are for presbyopia. Welcome to normal human aging!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KnottedYet

Eyes work via muscles. Just like the rest of the body, eye muscles strengthen the more you use them.

If you use your muscles (eyes) more for close work, they will get very strong at close work. If you use them more for distance work, they will get very strong at distance work.

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Yet another case of muscle imbalance caused/exacerbated by our modern lifestyles...

When I first started needing glasses for distance (I think I was 8), I went to a doctor who didn't believe that you should wear your glasses except for when you "really" needed to see. He also undercorrected my prescription. I think he was ascribing to the philosophy that your eyesight got used to whatever prescription you had, and that made your eyesight get worse. In retrospect, all it did was make me go around in a blur for about 10-12 years. I only wore my glasses to see the board in school and when I was driving. Finally, in my senior year of college, I started wearing them all of the time. I couldn't believe how much I had missed by going around in a blur. My eyesight got progressively worse, anyway. Of course, vanity got to me a year or so after I graduated, and I started wearing contacts.

There's no doubt in my mind that my eyesight has worsened over time due to sitting in front of a computer for the last 32 years. But it was made much worse when I was hit by a bout of iritis when I was 16.

After years of denial about my shocking eyesight, I finally got glasses a couple years ago. I couldn't believe the difference. I could actually read at a distance of more than 20cm! I think that first day I wore a grin from ear to ear! :D

Max

Still think watching tv and working for long time on computer or fine work (ie. sewing, embroidery), in good lighting without light bouncing off screens/shiny surfaces, is useful.

Strangely for the first 2-3 years of returning to cycling, I didn't want to wear sunglasses. Just wore clear protective glasses during daylight.

Now I find my eyes more sensitive to be outdoors with any sunlight. So I wear sunglasses outdoors walking, cycling, etc. It may be what my eyes become accustomed in natural/bright daylight now compared to a long time ago.

I've worn glasses (nearsighted) since I was in 5th grade - diagnosed because I was having constant headaches at school. Mom always made me have plenty of light to read or watch TV, didn't want to "ruin my eyes". Genetic did more of that, as both my parents are/were near sighted. Then the age thing set in - at 41 I needed readers. BUT if I don't have my contacts in, I don't need reading glasses. So there. :p I've always had a problem with light sensitivity. I remember having a heated discussion with my Mom after moving to sunny Arizona, and wanting/needing prescription sunglasses. My eye Doc backed me up. Mom didn't want to spend the money. The solution was contacts (which I wanted even more) and over-the-counter sunglasses.

I asked my optometrist whether reading/watching in low light was really bad for one's eyes, and he said it really doesn't make much difference. he did also say that there's more nearsightedness now than in the days of say, hunters/gatherers because we have corrective lenses, and those with bad eyesights would've walked off a cliff and wouldn't have reproduced to pass on their genes.

Interesting theory, which I'm sure has something to do with more nearsightedness in the modern times.

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Originally Posted by badger

those with bad eyesights would've walked off a cliff and wouldn't have reproduced to pass on their genes.

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that would have been me. Glasses in 2nd grade, could not see a THING at distance without them. Then a miracle occured in 1997. LASIK. :DWOW, I need reading glasses now, but they are nothing compared to 20/200 & astigmatism:eek: