by Sandra Aamodt

Why is nearsightedness[近視] so common in the modern world? In the early 1970s, 25% of Americans were nearsighted; three decades later, the rate had risen to 42%, and similar increases have occurred around the world. There is significant evidence that the trait is inherited[遺傳的], so you might wonder why our myopic[近視的] ancestors werent just removed from the gene pool long ago, when they blundered into[無意中遇到] a hungry lion. Well, although genes do influence our fates, they are not the only factors.

The rapid increase in nearsightedness appears to be due to a characteristic of modern life: more and more time spent indoors under artificial[人造的] lights. Humans brains and eyes originated long ago, when we spent most of our waking hours in the sun. The process of development takes advantage of such reliable[可靠的] features of the environment, which then may become necessary for normal growth.

Researchers suspect that bright outdoor light helps childrens developing eyes maintain the correct distance between the lens[晶狀體] and the retina[視網(wǎng)膜]. Dim indoor lighting doesnt seem to provide the same kind of feedback. As a result, when children spend too many hours inside, their eyes fail to grow correctly.

One study compared six and seven-year-old children of Chinese ethnicity[種族] living in Sydney with those living in Singapore. The rate of nearsightedness in Singapore (29%) was nearly nine times higher than in Sydney. The children in Sydney spent on average nearly 14 hours per week outside, compared with just three hours per week in Singapore.

Similarly, another study by scholars at Ohio State University found that, among American children with two myopic parents, those who spent at least two hours per day outdoors were four times less likely to be nearsighted than those who spent less than one hour per day outside.

I n s h o r t , t h e b i o l o g i c a l mechanism[機(jī)制] that kept our vision sharp for thousands of sunny years has, under new environmental conditions, driven visual development off course. This capacity for previously well-adapted genes can account for many imperfections[缺陷]. Brain wiring that effortlessly recognizes faces and animals can be thrown off by letters and numbers, leading to reading difficulties. A restless[好動(dòng)的] nature was once helpful to people who needed to find food sources in the wild, but in todays classrooms, its often classified as ADHD(attention deficit hyperactivity disorder[注意缺陷多動(dòng)障礙]).

Luckily, there is a simple way to lower the risk of nearsightedness: Spend more time outside! If you are going to read a book, do it outdoors!

為什么近視在現(xiàn)代社會(huì)中如此常見？在二十世紀(jì)七十年代初，25%的美國人患有近視；三十年之后，這個(gè)比例上升到42%，在全球范圍內(nèi)也有同樣的上升趨勢。有明顯證據(jù)表明近視會(huì)遺傳，于是你也許會(huì)想，當(dāng)我們的近視祖先撞上一只饑餓的獅子時(shí)，為什么這樣還不足以將這種基因從基因庫中淘汰？盡管基因確實(shí)會(huì)影響我們的命運(yùn)，但它并不是唯一因素。

近視的飆升似乎是由現(xiàn)代生活的特性引起的：我們在室內(nèi)人造光源下呆的時(shí)間越來越長了。人類的大腦和眼睛很早以前就形成了，當(dāng)時(shí)我們清醒的時(shí)間大多在太陽底下度過。這種進(jìn)化過程利用了環(huán)境中這些可靠的因素——在當(dāng)時(shí)，這可能是正常發(fā)展的必要條件。

研究人員認(rèn)為，室外的明亮光線能幫助孩子們正在發(fā)育的眼睛保持晶狀體和視網(wǎng)膜之間的正確距離?；璋档氖覂?nèi)光線似乎不能帶來同樣的效果。因此，當(dāng)孩子們在室內(nèi)呆得太久，他們的眼睛就不能長好。

一份研究報(bào)告對生活在悉尼和新加坡的6-7歲華裔兒童進(jìn)行了比較。新加坡的近視率（29%）比悉尼高出近九倍。悉尼兒童平均每周在戶外呆14小時(shí)左右，新加坡兒童只有3小時(shí)。

另一項(xiàng)由（美國）俄亥俄州立大學(xué)的學(xué)者展開的研究同樣發(fā)現(xiàn)，在父母都患有近視的美國兒童中，每天呆在戶外不少于兩小時(shí)的兒童的近視可能性要比每天戶外活動(dòng)不足一小時(shí)的兒童低四倍多。

簡而言之，在新的環(huán)境因素下，數(shù)千年來讓我們在陽光下保持好視力的生物機(jī)制，如今令視覺發(fā)展偏離了正軌。之前能較好地適應(yīng)環(huán)境的基因正是許多缺陷的成因。能輕松識別人臉和動(dòng)物的大腦回路在面對字母和數(shù)字時(shí)找不著北，從而導(dǎo)致閱讀困難。好動(dòng)的天性曾經(jīng)為需要在野外覓食的人們帶來裨益，但在今天的課堂上，它通常會(huì)被歸結(jié)為小兒多動(dòng)癥（ADHD）。

幸運(yùn)的是，還有一個(gè)簡單的方法能夠降低近視風(fēng)險(xiǎn)：多花點(diǎn)時(shí)間呆在戶外吧！如果你打算看書，那就去室外看吧！