NSW: Reading can be bad for childrens' eyes - study
By Judy Skatssoon, Health and Medical Writer
SYDNEY, April 22 AAP - Children who read a lot could be damaging their eyesight, accordingto a new study linking eye problems to pressure to achieve academically.
Researchers in Singapore will present the evidence to an international ophthalmologistsconference in Sydney this week.
According to the research, children who read more than two books a week are at greaterrisk of developing short-sightedness, or myopia, than their less bookwormish peers.
The findings come amid what experts are calling a global epidemic of childhood myopia.
They are the result of an ongoing, two-year study of 2,000 children aged between sevenand nine by the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Eye Research Institute.
Assistant Professor Seang Mei Saw, the head of epidemiology at the eye research institute,said myopia was most common in developed countries which placed a high priority on education.
These included Asian countries such as Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as Australia,the UK and the US.
Computer use and poor night lighting also contributed to the problem, Professor Saw said.
Reporting on her study in the Lancet Medical Journal, Dr Saw said the strongest riskfactor for higher myopia was the number of books read each week.
"The number of books read per week ... was associated with higher myopia and earlieronset myopia in young Asian children," she said.
However, she said the findings did not mean parents should limit the amount of timetheir children spent reading but should make sure they were regularly tested, especiallyif there was a family history of myopia.
According to the results of the study so far, children who read more than two booksa week are three times more likely to develop short-sightedness than children who readless.
The likelihood of developing the disorder increases tenfold if both parents had myopia,researchers found.
NSW Parents and Citizens association president Bev Baker said the findings harked backto previous generations when reading was considered bad for children's eyes.
However, she said children should be taught to break up long periods of reading withother activities to give their eyes a rest.
"Parents might come in to a kid reading Harry Potter for six hours in a row and say,'Listen, go and do something different for half an hour'," she said.
Children should also be taught eye exercise to exercise the muscles of their eyes inbetween reading, she said.
The latest findings come after an Australian researcher suggested myopia could be linkedto refined, high-starch diets in childhood.
In an article published in New Scientist magazine earlier this month, Professor JennieBrand Miller of Sydney University said high starched diets stimulated the production ofinsulin, which interfere with the normal growth of the eyes, resulting in short-sightedness.
Myopia usually begins in childhood. People with myopia have problems seeing into thedistance and far away objects appear blurred.
Near vision is not usually affected but this can deteriorate with age.
AAP jjs/cjh/sb
KEYWORD: EYES READING
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