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There’s a strong relationship between education and poor vision
After a recent study suggested intelligence and nearsightedness were correlated, a new research makes another link between education and poor vision. The more years you spend studying, the more likely you are to lose your sight, as every year of education cuts something off your visual capabilities.
Are education and poor vision related?
A team of researchers from the Universities of Cardiff and Bristol were curious if there were more correlations between education and poor vision, so they decided to test that old stereotype of glass-wearing people. The results showed a person who left school at 16 was more likely to have a perfect vision, while a graduate had more chances to need glasses for regular activities.
Myopia is one of the most common visual disorders in the world, and one that comes with the biggest risks. At the moment, about 10 percent of the population experiences vision troubles, but the situation won’t stay like that. Researchers say that, by year 2050, about half of the world population is likely to develop myopia.
Researchers seem to have found a reason for that. Education and poor vision are apparently related, as the number of hours spent studying can really affect your eyes. If you spend more time indoors working on school-related tasks, your vision is more likely to suffer because of it.
More years of education lead to myopia
For this study, researchers looked at 68,000 participants from the Biobank program in the UK. They looked at three individual markers, namely level of education, sight, and genetic characteristics. More precisely, they looked for specific genes associated either with poor sight or with a more advanced education.
After looking at the relationship between all these markers, they reached the following conclusion – education and poor vision are related. Every additional year of education contributes to a reduction in one’s visual capacities. While a genetic predisposition to myopia is still relevant, external factors like education can really be meaningful here.
In this case, there’s one thing left to do. To reduce the chances of our children becoming shortsighted, we should encourage them to spend more time outside. Studying is, of course, important, but too much exposure to poor artificial lights can really be bad for the eyes. The study in question was published in BMJ.
Image source: Max Pixel
