The world is going blind...

Myopia has become an epidemic among young people. Severe myopia can lead to functional blindness. It's most dramatic in eastern Asia  (as our new Singaporean friends here would no doubt attest), but it's getting nearly as bad in North America and Europe. Only Australians seem to be immune, but no, it's not because beer is a preventative.
 
For the impatient, here's the bottom line gleaned from the following documentary...short-sightedness is related to lack of exposure to sunlight. In particular, the blue light that's lacking in artificial light. Those dim LEDs in your studio may be relaxing, but they're messing with your eyes.
 
It's too late for most of us, but if you have young children they need to spend at least 2 hours a day outdoors to prevent myopia. 
 

This evidence has been around for some time, and it is rather surprising how little public health attention has been paid to it. If you could link any other serious health issue to a lifestyle change as clearly as this you would think everyone from the TV doctors to the health fad stores would be chattering about it incessantly. Look at the millions of people who have changed their diet based on mostly garbage data and even worse interpretation of the gluten threat. You would think that someone who was feeding his kids celery porridge would kick him out of the house once in a while. On the other hand, the anti skin cancer campaign may have been too effective to overcome. Clearly there is a need to provide more light in the visible spectrum on a regular basis, rather than the UV heavy stuff from the sun. The technology is already out there for treating seasonal affective disorder. Maybe the next big thing will be TV's and cell phones with blue light supplementation, like vitamin D in milk.

Here here!

The world is going blind...

 
 
huh?