Aug 25 : Babies born in summer are at a higher risk of developing severe myopia or short-sightedness than those born in winter or fall, who have better long-range eyesight throughout their life, Tel Aviv University researchers have found.

As part of the study, Dr. Yossi Mandel and colleagues examined data of almost 300,000 Israeli youth aged 16-23 and retroactively correlated the incidence of myopia (short-sightedness) with their month of birth.

The study found that babies born in June or July were 24 percent at a higher risk of being myopic than those born in December and January.

“It is probably a long-term effect of early-life exposure to natural light that increases the chances of a child becoming short-sighted. I am speaking about those people who would have to wear very thick glasses, if they did not use contact lenses or laser surgery for the removal of spectacles,” Mandel said.

The researchers conducted more thorough laboratory analysis of myopia in young chickens and suggested that the body has a mechanism that causes the eyeball to lengthen (short-sighted eyes are longer than normal) when it is exposed to prolonged illumination. This mechanism is associated with melatonin, a pigment secreted by the pineal gland, the same gland that sets our body’s internal clock or permits it to participate in ‘Circadian rhythms’.

“We know that sunlight affects the pineal gland and we have indications that melatonin, through other compounds, is involved in regulating eye length. More sun equals less melatonin, equals a longer eye which is short sighted,” Belkin said.

Shortsightedness however has its advantages, as there is a strong correlation between myopia and intelligence.

“It is not a myth at all that people who wear pop-bottle glasses are smarter. They tend to be,” he said.

The findings of the study were published in clinical eye journal Ophthalmology. (ANI)