The Nearsightedness Epidemic

Nah. My parents and older brother have glasses and so do I. My brother hardly studied and was a C+ student. I studied an average amount and got A+. Their theory doesn't fit my family. I also spent a lot of time outdoors as a kid--sports and play.

I'm nearsighted, I wear glasses and I'm as dumb as a bucket of rocks. Not all nearsighted glasses wearers are smart. 😥

I was born with several eye problems for my whole life. it not education i'll tel you that much

gonna call BS on this, my family grew up on a farm way out in the middle of nowhere, spent multiple hours of time outside nearly everyday growing up & yet every person in my family is nearsighted & were wearing glasses by high school age, a couple of us with really bad eyesight, like > -8.5 in each eye.

ok this makes me wonder about how they're saying that the light given off by tv, computers, our phones is in the same spectrum as natural sunlight so not to look at screens or watch tv before bed especially in bed or it disrupts our sleep wake cycles and they've even made programs to change the screens so they're more like sunset colored. So if it is true that the screens are mimicking natural sunlight and even tricking our brains, maybe we're getting too much sunlight? or maybe since it's from an artificial source it's not helping but hurting our eyes(if true outside sunlight is what helps them) so maybe screens are not just messing up our sleep cycles but also possibly causing nearsightedness too(I wonder if the study that looked at the poor kids comparing them to more educated kids could account for the more well off kids having more access to tv or computers? Maybe it's kinda like looking directly at the sun isn't' good for your eyes (so maybe at a certain developmental age) if you're looking at a screen/artificial sunlight more than a human should be at that time it would be like staring directly at the sun for too long and even at the wrong time of day like if kids are allowed to watch tv before bed or even IN bed at night when there's no sunlight so humans during history wouldn't even have had access to that kind of light?

maybe it has to do with the timing of when you're exposed to sunlight while developing, kinda like the allergies to "peanuts"(or possibly a type of mold on most peanuts instead of the peanut itself), they're now saying that if a baby is given peanuts in small amounts at a certain age then they're probably not going to get a peanut allergy but since people have been advised to avoid feeding peanuts to babies the prevalence of peanut allergy has risen recently. So I guess this whole making sure you get sunlight at the correct time of day at a certain developmental age in order for your genes to turn on correctly to help your eyes grow best would make sense. I heard that if you were to leave an infant in a dark room for the first few years of life it would be forever blind because it wouldn't' be able to develop those connections in it's brain. Maybe when kids start to be able to read is about the same time as when the eyes need to be outside/exposed to the correct amount of sunlight( and not at night from screens) in order to develop correctly, I wonder if reading outside would be beneficial or if kids would need to do other things, look at things far away? (I know some commenters are saying it's not looking at things far away that helps and that the video talked about that, which i'll have to watch it again because i must've missed that part?) There's no way that you can look at things that are miles away if you're indoors like you can outside. If you think about hunter gatherers it would make sense they HAD to look far away distances in order to survive so one would think that maybe at a certain developmental age that practice or just even having the chance to look at things so far away would help your eyes develop correctly....hmmm

Go blind... Or venture out into the sun? Welp... better get my dog a guide harness...

what about farsightedness

So... going outside with dark sunglasses on?

This makes a lot of sense, it's almost self-explanatory. Amazing.

Both of my parents are farsighted but I'm nearsighted so this video helped my confusion

I think what's going on, is that when you are outside your eyes have a much more complex environment with much better lighting. Not only are you surrounded by more visual complexity, you actually have enough ambient light to see it all. As a result, when you are outside your eyes get more exercise.

I remember when I was young I used to intentionally exercise my eyes by focusing on close and far objects. When I later joined the Army the doctor said I had a 20/13 vision (better than 20/20), I also aced all of the visual parts of the ASVAB

You know what else releases dopamine in the brain? Heroin and sex. I've never had either.

I can't that do I England live in.

My parents both have myopia, and so do me and my three sisters. I'm a homebody and stay indoors, so that contributes, BUT my friend, who behaves the same way as me (who doesn't even open her curtains during the day) has perfect eyesight, same as her parents. Genetics must be a deciding factor in some way...

I'm nearsighted -6.03

It's those small Asian eyes.

If I squeeze my eyeball will it fix my myopia?

I wonder if this could correlate to the rates at which gingers or other fair skinned people might end up requiring glasses. When I take a moment to consider the possibility, I'm shocked to find that all the gingers I know myself included, avoid the sun like the plague and subsequently have some manner of correctional lenses.

I loved this video (: thanks

Two things. 1.that guy has some DAMN good looks if I must say so myself. 2. But could also sunlight help CURE Myopia?

0:20
It doesn't sound strange to millenials because we're so used to hearing about the obesity epidemic

Parent: Go outside
Child: No
Parent: Have fun being near sighted hoe

SUNLIGHT SUNLIGHT SUNLIGHT OUTSIDE OUTSIDE OUTSIDE

your voice is incredible. so manly and clear

i like you

Cool subject! But why does it have to be the sunlight? As the end of sight (horizon) is further away when you are outside, aussie kids practice to look at far distant objects more frequently

if i start going outside more as a 19 year old can i improve my vision?

with all these data and research in groups and geographical and education as well as financial it could be interesting to look at how prominent opticians and sales of glass and contacts are to see it there is a correlation.

makes sense I was and still am a night reader, hardly go out and my eyes are horribly nearsighted. I like the indoors though, so I'm not going to change any time soon.

Absolutely great work

did they even remember that the sun in China is blocked out by polution

When he said that the 1st child is most likely to be nearsighted well it's really true because I'm the oldest child and I'm nearsighted and my younger sister is farsighted.

The beeping in the background was really distracting...

I like bang bang

My Mum is near sighted, and I am too.

I'm really glad for this video. I've never wanted to wear glasses in my life, because my older brother by 2 years has glasses. But when far images started becoming blurry, it seems that I had some slight myopia. I was devastated, and I had to I get glasses. I still don't use the glasses outside of my home, it hasn't become that server yet, but I'm going to start going outside more, not just my usual walk back home from school. THANK YOU SO MUCH

Sunlight is free, yeah. But where there's money to be made, big pharma (and their congressional stooges) will see to it our kids get dopamine injections instead.

God I love good science. I was worried I would have to point out that correlation doesn't prove cause, in regards to the myopia - education correlation. Thank you SciShow for not saying "THIS IS THE PROBLEM" But rather saying "We don't know yet."

Not Study.
Not Sunlight.
EXERCISE OUTSIDE.

its not just light, its also air.... I spent a lot of times in doors and when I go out the air feels cold on my eyes and my eyes start watering because of the air. the air influences your eyes. the air indoors is usually more body temperature, more neutral or warm and lacking of as much moisture. also indoors everything is up close and you don't need to focus far.... outside you have longer scope of vision and theres no wall stopping your range and focus range.

It obviously doesn't work for everyone. I come from a family where everyone has literally perfect eye vision, so it's not genetic, and I assume I was the unlucky black sheep because my eyesight is horrible. I'm 24 now so during my childhood years we didn't really have all of this technology, the internet and computers weren't this popular yet so we played a lot outside, and I mean really A LOT, most of my childhood was spent outside. So no, the sun didn't help me... unfortunately.

Couldn't a cause be the grandparents' were inside more and their children picked up on that habit, and then their children had even more

I believe it's based off of gene expression, which is dependent on factors from being outside like absorbing the sun's rays and having to focus your vision on objects further away. Vitamin D isn't the only beneficial component to sunlight but I'm not 100% sure which other variable is causing it

my mom won't get me glasses but the doctor said i should get some

Does that mean all vampires are actually nearsighted? Or going to develop myopia?

My dad is long sighted
I think
🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓

So if u have a kid u have to let him or her go out ? As much as possible

could bright indoor lighting and bright monitors help then as well?

I am Inuit :D but my family are also nearsighted.

Why didn't you put this video up 2 years ago??? 😢😢😢

GENETICS

or i could use extra bright led bulbs?

I was actually pretty active as a kid, but I still ended up nearsighted. >.< Wish this had worked for me. XD

I read a study that suggested that it wasn't just being outside -- it was the fact that, outside, we are generally changing focal distance regularly. The study was based on the low incidence of nearsightedness among hunter-gatherer groups, because they constantly were looking in different directions and at different distances. So the issue is that, inside, we rarely change the direction or distance on which we are focused. It's why eye exercises sometimes help. Did you run into anything along these lines when preparing this story? Because eyes can get "flabby" just like bodies that don't move, the report proposed, and keeping them moving and refocusing makes a difference. I'd be interested in knowing if that was part of the idea of being outside having value for vision.

I generally spend around 15 minutes outside every week... That's probably not very good eh?

so can you fix far-sightedness by being a shutin?
/music plays

So.... exposure to light affects the development and effectiveness of the organ used to detect... light. Makes sense.

epidemics are located in a single area like the United States, but pandemic is when it is worldwide. I would say this is a pandemic to be technical.

His voice is EXACTLY the same as that lanky other guy. How can they have the SAME voice? What's going on here?

Im far-sighted

I got near eye sightedness due to lot of near work like reading books , watching TV ..Always in home..not much activity outside the house.. i am 100 % sure that it's because of these reasons..

So still no cure for my astigmatism.

Can i watch a wallpaper of sun instead of going out ?

This episode calls for a sequel. Maybe start by interpreting https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23434455 into layman's language, then this one: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1347497 introducing the idea that the neurotransmitter implicated, Dopamine, is also related to mood. Then segue to Seasonal Affective Disorder http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/tc/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad-topic-overview#1 Gives new meaning to looking good, on the sunny side of life.

Interestingly, if you have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Hypermobile Type, a genetic condition that affects collagen and results in unstable joints, you are highly likely to have myopia. I have both.

I'm the first born in my Family and I'm Farsighted, but I expect my Sister to be near sighted. Both my parents are Nearsighted.

great video. I've always been a proponent for getting kids outside and letting them have more time outside at school (as a teacher I was extremely frustrated at how little the kids got to be out for "recess"). both of my younger siblings (I'm the first) have glasses, I have 20/20 vision. I'm also more educated than either of them. I've always said looking at games boys and things too close are a problem (I rarely read too close and always look far away when I can) and they still may be, but the light/sunshine goes along with not playing on phones and game boys or whatever right next to your face & being inside so makes sense. the boy next door is rarely outside and he had glasses now, coincidence? maybe... he always plays games on whatever inside too so... :)

well school is how you find out you're nearsighted. my mom and grandma are and at 26 my eyes have finally stopped getting worse but they're pretty bad

Well, time to get outside some more......

fuck me. I go outside all the time and always have but have some of the worst vision ever and need a new prescription every time I go to the eye doctor

Solution do schoolwork outside! I always stuided alot and always went outside. my eyes are fine lol.

Jokes on you. I am farsightedness!


*laughs far away*

They put goggles on chicks? Pics or it didn't happen! ;)

Would like to see how this affects adults. 8 to 15 hours a day has to have a negative affect on ones eyes over time.

well my parents are nearsighted soo.. :/

Sunlight is good for you.....who knew?

me and my twin are firstborns and have the best grades we have perfect eyesight..but everyone else in our family has/needs glasses(3 more siblings,mom and dad)

So how does this interact with sunglasses?

It's gotta be the damn technology. Staring at these screens and the fact that this has caused kids not to go outside anymore and get that sunlight. These two factors are the causes. It's the only thing that has changed that could have possibly caused such a dramatic rise in nearsightedness. Why won't they just come out and say it? And then they try to blame it on education? Wtf? Lmao, gimme a break.

Maybe, and this is just a hypothesis, it has to do with actually USING your distance vision, which happens much more often outside.

Well mine is definitely genetic, I spent hours a day outside as a kid and I can't see a 60 inch tv 8 feet away.

It's not sunlight that's curing myopia. It's seeing things at a distance.

Back in the 18th and 19th centuries, studious types, aka, people who read a lot, would develop myopia. To fix it, they would take the cure. What was that? Going out to sea.

When you're out at sea, you're focusing on things very far away. It is the exercise of your eye muscles that cures the myopia.

You can cure yourself the same way - or more to the point, if you have myopia, you can stop its progress. How? 10 minutes out of every hour, stop close work. Look up, look away, look across the room, look outside. This exercises your eye muscles and stops your myopia from progressing any further.

Time to apply sunblock on my eyes and scare at the sun!

So will putting the brightness up on screens help? I've always put the brightness down when working because I thought it was bad.

So, a new insult for stupid people. "God, (s)he is so long sighted." :)

I don't think sunlight directly impact the children's eye development. however staying outdoor encourage people to see far. you go outside you pretty much see things far all the time like sky, buildings, mountains or ocean, which plays an important role on children's eye development. you don't use it, you lose it just like other part of body like bones, muscles and brain.

So...sunlight. So we can look farther but cook our eyeballs faster. You can't win. *rolls nearsighted eyes*

Now what about astigmatism?

What if it's just that people who go outside learn to look father distances.

I like to go outside, and I was able to see far away when I was younger.

my optometrist said studying a lot can make my myopia worse. kinda sucks. good grades, but at the cost of my vision ;;;;;

less E-vitamin and not shaking your eyeballs to a round shape + doing math makes you nearsighted

I have astigmatism and I lost my glasses at my old school so I'm fucked. My double vision has gotten so bad, bUT I CANT GET NEW GLASSES YET CUZ MY MOoM TOLD ME I HAVE TO FIND MY OLD ONES OR ELSE, SORRY FOR VENTING ITS LIKE 2 amN. I LITERALLY GOT MY GLASSES IN AUGUST OF 2016 AND LOST THEM IN LESS THAB A FUCKING YEARRRDrtr

Theory: I would assume that people who spend more time outdoors spend more time looking at distant objects, which provides "exercise" to the eye to focus on distant objects. The more you do this, the better your eye gets.

I have two glasses. One has a weaker prescription and I wear this most of the time. The other has a stronger prescription, and I use it to look at something from further away. It's annoying to switch back and forth, but at least I am actively doing accommodation by switching glasses.

but can my shit vision be reversed by going outside?

I have an astigmatism. Are there any environmental causes for this or is it just the shape of my eyes?

if the kids who spend more time outside have better long distance vision than their indoor counterparts, could it be practicing long distance looking?

This does make a lot of sense. When I was younger I was outside all the time, but when I started spending more time inside, that's when my vision started getting worse. Along with that, my friend, who is two years older than me can still see fine, but he also works for his grandpa's construction company (so he's outside a lot).

maybe we will get less homework so we can go outside more?

ha nope just brighter lights in schools