From Sunlight to Sight: The Battle Against Myopia
Half of the world is projected to have difficulty seeing across a room without glasses or surgery by 2050.
This condition is known as Myopia, or commonly referred to as nearsightedness. It occurs when the eyeball becomes excessively long, causing it to deviate from its typical spherical shape to something resembling an American football. As a result, light is focused not on the retina but slightly in front of it, leading to blurry vision of distant objects. The greater the elongation of the eyeball, the more severe the vision impairment.
At present, up to 90 percent of teenagers and young adults in China are myopic, a stark contrast to the 10 percent prevalence in the 1950s . A study conducted in Seoul in 2012 discovered an astonishing 96.5 percent myopia rate among 19-year-old men. Likewise, around 90 percent of high school students in Taiwan are affected. High myopia has emerged as the primary cause of blindness in Japan, China, and Taiwan. However, this issue is not confined to affluent Northeast Asian nations; myopia rates have surged across the US and Europe. Limited data may currently obscure the situation in Africa, but the concerning projection remains: by 2050, half of the global population will require corrective eyewear, contact lenses, or surgery to see clearly at a distance.
Taiwan is taking notice of this problem. As the country transitioned from an agricultural economy in the 1970s to an industrial powerhouse in the 1990s, education became increasingly rigorous and mandatory for children. Many parents pushed their children to excel. An extreme case involved a father who enforced a strict daily regimen on his sole child: rising at 5 am for calligraphy and violin practice, followed by school from 7:30 am to 4 pm. Evenings were dedicated to schoolwork, and weekends were filled with calligraphy competitions. By the age of 9, the child, Wu, was diagnosed with myopia.
Numerous parents adopted variations of this routine, contributing to a myopia rate of 74 percent among 15-year-old Taiwanese adolescents by 1990.
It’s important to note that this trend emerged before the proliferation of smartphones and video games, an aspect to consider.
In 1999, the government formed an expert panel consisting of medical and educational professionals to address the issue. They experimented with various ideas, including adjusting desk heights, enhancing room lighting, and implementing eye relaxation exercises. Unfortunately, these efforts yielded no reduction in nearsightedness rates, which continued to rise.
Ian Morgan, an Australian researcher, was perplexed by this situation. He embarked on a 25-year quest to unravel this mystery. Morgan aimed to determine why the myopia rate among Australian 12-year-olds, at approximately 13 percent, was notably lower than that in Asia. Through surveys on daily routines and hobbies, he and his team discovered a significant correlation: the more time children spent outdoors, the lower their likelihood of developing myopia.
Insufficient exposure to sunlight contributes to elongation of the eye, causing images to focus in front of the retina and leading to blurred vision. Morgan’s research revealed that Australian children spent an average of 13.5 to 14 hours outdoors weekly.
For parents, this underscores the importance of ensuring children receive a minimum of 14 hours of sunlight exposure per week to reduce the risk of myopia.
Building on this research and insights from Taiwanese researcher Pei-Chang Wu, Taiwan launched a national myopia strategy in 2010 known as “Tian-Tian 120,” which translates to “every day 120” minutes spent outdoors for children.
The outcomes of the Tian-Tian 120 initiative were swift and remarkable. After years of escalation, myopia prevalence among Taiwanese primary school children peaked at 50 percent in 2011 before gradually declining. Within a few years, it reached 46.1 percent.
The results of this experiment in Taiwan should offer valuable lessons to adults as well.