A new study shows that children born in June and July are at higher risk of becoming near-sighted than their peers who enter this world during the winter months, in December and January, according to a report by Israel21c.
The findings of the research were reported in the August issue of Opthalmology, a clinical eye journal.
Professor Michael Belkin of the Tel Aviv University Goldschleger Eye Research Institute says early-life exposure to natural light can lead to myopia, or near-sightedness. A number of other factors place some children at higher risk than others, such as genetic background, long and intense periods of reading.
In their research, Professor Belkin and Dr. Yossi Mandel, a senior ophthalmologist in the IDF Medical Corps, showed in their research a 24 percent higher risk that babies born in the summer will develop myopia, in comparison to those born in the winter.
“Slight myopia is not really significant,” the professor stressed, “but severe myopia, where numbers rise above five or six, is already a disease that can lead to visual problems that cannot be solved by glasses alone.” He added that severe myopia, cataracts and retinal degeneration are partly due to UV light from the sun. “It’s cumulative and it adds to the severity,” he said.
Professor Belkin, a foremost expert in the field who spent 30 years researching the subject, explains there is a mechanism which causes an eyeball to lengthen in response to prolonged exposure to light. This creates myopia, which makes it difficult to see distant objects.
The mechanism, he added, is also associated with melatonin, a substance secreted by the body which sets the Circadian rhythm, or “body clock.”
According to the report, 17.3 percent of new IDF recruits are near-sighted. By the time the same group ends its three-year stint, 25 percent of the soldiers have developed the condition.
Professor Belkin’s grandchildren wear sunglasses, even as babies. He recommends that other parents and grandchildren make sure that their children do the same.