But now it seems the sunlight may help kids' eyes. Reuters reports that an Australian study showed that children whop spent the most time outdoors were also the least likely to develop myopia (nearsightedness, for those of you who aren't 4-eyed).
Researchers at the University of Sydney checked in with thousands of kids, ages 6 and 12. The 12-year-olds had a higher myopic rate overall. But 12-year olds who spent more than 2.8 hours outside daily had a much lower rate of myopia than their indoor-loving counterparts.
Why does this happen? Researchers aren't completely sure, but they believe it has to do with dopamine. Retinal dopamine is released with more light, and dopamine can block eye growth. Myopia is caused when the eyeball grows too large.
Researcher Dr. Kathryn A. Rose suggests to parents:
'Try to ensure that your children spend time outside because we have evidence that the more time they spend outdoors, the less likely they are to develop myopia. This is true, even if they are also doing a lot of close work such as reading and studying.' But also, she adds, parents should be sure their kids are wearing hats and sunscreen.
Join your kids outside, or death will ensue!
Okay, that was a bit dramatic, but a comprehensive study has shown a huge problem with Vitamin D deficiency: premature death.
Johns Hopkins researchers released their study in the Archives of Internal Medicine. They showed that regardless of other health factors, those with low Vitamin D levels were 26% more likely to be dead at the end of the study, USA Today reports.
Study author Erin Michos said,
We took into account 30 different variables — including age, weight, diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure, whether they exercise, smoking — and we found that low vitamin D levels, independent of all these other risk factors for heart disease, predicted an increased risk of dying from any other cause. So we found a new risk factor for death.
Level out: The normal amount for both us and our kids is 30 ng/mL or higher. Under 20 ng/mL is deficient. Those in the study who had less than 17 ng/mL were the ones with the elevated risk for death. The study was lacking, however, on the reasons why death was more likely.
It's the sun, silly: Our bodies were designed to gather Vitamin D through exposure to sunshine. Though there are foods that contain Vitamin D, ingesting it is actually a poor way to get your fill. So either you can load up on fish oils and sardines, or you can avoid breath issues and talk a walk instead.
It only takes an average of 17 minutes a day of "average" (face exposed) exposure to get the necessary D. Or, during the summer months, when legs, arms, and face are often showing, it's 30 minutes per week.
So get out there: run your errands, go to the beach, feed your chickens. Do whatever you need to do to get your D.
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