Summer-born Children Prone to Near-Sightedness
As we all know, September-born children are the best anyway (well, at least I did).
Sadly, they also seem to be among the most badly sighted ones:
Israeli researchers now found out that being born during the summer increases the risk of becoming near-sighted significantly:
Children born in June and July – the months with the most sunshine – are 25 percent more likely to become nearsighted (myopic) than those born in December or January, according to Israeli research just published in the on-line edition of the most prestigious eye medicine journal, Ophthalmology. (…)
The more light a newborn is exposed to after birth, the more the eyeball lengthens, according to the study, causing images to be focused in the vitreous part inside the eye rather than on the retina at the back of the eye.
Well, at least now I have a clue where my glasses come from — and I guess I am lucky not to be born during the really bright months, or I’d be a total mole.
(Link to the article, requires subscription)
Update: This got boingboinged. Thanks, Xeni!
I’m a September baby, and boy am I glad I wasn’t born a few months earlier too! My vision is horrible!
See.. that’s why I went ahead and decided to be born in October. If September babies are the best, consider October to be like September++. One step better. I must admit, though I am becoming blind in my old age (almost 24) as well.
I hope they only tested people born and raised in the northern hemisphere…
Shortsighted isn’t the same as nearsighted.
Haha, that’s funny. Thanks L.T., I fixed that.
And actually, yes shortsighted can be a synonym of “myopic” (see this for example) but it’s ambiguous of course.