Middle aged more likely to need glasses than old

FoR many of us, starting to need glasses is a classic sign of getting older.

But the middle-aged are now more likely to be short-sighted than older generations, as more of us spend more hours indoors.

of the wartime generation, born between 1939 and 1944, one in five – 20 per cent – need glasses to see distant objects clearly.

But that rises to 29 per cent – nearly one in three – for those born between 1965 and 1970, a study of 107,000 Britons found.

there has also been a particularly sharp rise in the number of people born from 1960 to 1964 who become short-sighted as adults.

scientists say the risk in later life could be higher for this age group – now in their early 60s – because their lifetime has coincided with a rise in time spent indoors.

they spent more years in education, poring over books, and doing jobs that involve reading rather than outdoor manual work. the researchers looked at people born up to 1970 but also raised concerns about younger generations.

Professor Jugnoo Rahi, senior author of the study from University college London, said: ‘the rise of visually demanding tasks, like reading indoors or, for modern children, using screens, may well be risking higher rates of short-sightedness.

‘Parents can counteract this risk for future generations, by making sure children take regular breaks, preferably on activities outdoors.’

the study, published in journal PLos one, analysed 107,442 people aged 40 to 69. Just over 45 per cent had normal eyesight, while 28 per cent were long-sighted and 27 per cent were short-sighted.

Researchers pinpoint a rise in short-sightedness first diagnosed in adulthood, which was seen in 15 per cent of adults born between 1960 and 1964.

it is unclear exactly why shortsightedness is on the rise but too much time spent on ‘near-vision’ activities is thought to damage the retina of the eye due to the intense focus required.

Regular breaks to look at far-off objects and natural light can help, but recent decades have seen an ‘epidemic’ of short-sightedness, which is forecast to affect half the world’s population by 2050.

the findings show a greater increase in the short-sightedness that develops in adulthood than that seen in children, which is more often genetic.

However, while the rise is mainly in fairly minor vision problems, the study shows those born in the 1960s also became more severely short-sighted as children than previous generations.

People who spent more years in education, studying for A-levels or going to university, rather than leaving school at 16, were more likely to have been diagnosed as short-sighted as children.

As these high-achieving children were more likely to have spent more time poring over their books, risking their sight, the authors suggest it is important that youngsters’ studying is broken up with time outside.

‘Screen risk for future generations’