Kids' Eyesight & Getting Outside

There might be a new way to help keep your children's eyesight sharp. And it means getting them outside.

For a variety of reasons it looks like being outdoors more can mean better eyesight for your kids.

Children and the outdoors tend to go hand in hand. But they don't seem to spend as much time outside playing around as we did when we were growing up. With video games, TV shows and computers it's sometimes tough to get them to play with low tech devices like jumping ropes, bicycles and swing sets.

But getting them outdoors can mean more than just getting them out of your hair for a minute or two. It can also mean them having better eyesight.

Researchers out of England have found that outdoor play could prevent nearsightedness in children. In their study they found out that children with myopia, the medical term for nearsightedness, also spent nearly 4 hours less per week outside than those kids with better eyesight. It didn't seem to matter what they were doing when they were out there, just being out in the sun helped them. And for each additional hour they spent outside, they dropped their chances of having vision problems by another 2 percent.

Scientists think this outdoors eyesight connection could have to do with how UV light interacts with the eye or even the fact that when outside children tend to look more into the distance then up close. Regardless of the reason, this simple step can not only get kids off the computer or video game for a while and improve their eyesight at the same time.