A study conducted in Taiwan shows that when children are required to spend their breaks outdoors, their risk of myopia decreases.
Myopia in childhood is correctable, but it is also associated with the development of severe forms of this eye condition in adulthood, which increases the risk of potentially blinding diseases such as glaucoma and retinal detachment. Although myopia is often hereditary, researchers are currently evaluating environmental factors to explain why myopia rates are rising so rapidly in some populations.
Results of the Taiwan Study
A Taiwanese primary school required 333 students to spend one year taking their breaks outdoors, so that researchers could determine whether this reduces myopia. A nearby school of similar type served as a control group and did not require outdoor breaks. Children at the intervention school, many of whom had previously spent their breaks indoors, now spent a total of 80 minutes per day outside.
The results showed that at the school where outdoor breaks were required, significantly fewer children became myopic or shifted toward myopia, compared to the control school.
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