Children approximately halve their risk of becoming short-sighted by spending at least two hours outdoors daily, eye doctors say.
Staring at objects less than 30 centimetres away, such as computer screens, is “near work” and tends to induce short-sightedness, warns the Professional Association of German Ophthalmologists.
So parents should prevent excessive screen time for small children in particular, it says. While there’s no scientifically proven “safe” limit for near work, as a rule of thumb, the younger the child, the less screen time he or she should have.
About 15 per cent of the children in Germany are short-sighted by the time they leave primary school, according to the BVA. About 25 per cent of 25-year-olds are. The numbers haven’t changed for the last 15 years. – dpa
