IMPROVE YOUR VISION, GET OUTSIDE

Time indoors can weaken your vision. A study found that 42 percent of people in the U.S. between the ages of 12 and 54 have nearsightedness, or myopia, compared with 25 percent 40 years ago. Rates of the condition also seem to be rising only among urban kids, as opposed to rural children who spend more time outdoors. Myopia previously was thought to be largely hereditary, but “the gene pool can’t change that much in a generation,” says Ian Morgan of Australian National University. Researchers believe that too much time looking at books and computer screens, without looking farther away, is damaging vision.