"Don't read with the flashlight you'll go blind". I wonder if it's true?
Not true, belM - but also not entirely untrue. Straining tired eyes, especially using inadequate artificial light, is in no way good for them. In some cases it can lead to damage.
At the end of the day the eye is a part of the body and is operated by muscles. As such it can be strained, as a consequence of which it needs resting time. Given that we simply must read every day (and kids at school, we would hope, read plenty), it can be hard for the eye to get adequate recovery time.
In some cases, the eyes' temporary tiredness has (certainly in the past) been taken as a permanent feature, meaning that spectacles get prescribed when they're not strictly necessary. Then the eye accomodates to the specs and they gradually become a permanent feature etc.
Yes, I used to love reading at night - I can vividly remember staying up until the early hours of the morning reading War Of The Worlds at around 10 years old (and eyes going very hazy) - but I wonder sometimes, if I hadn't been such a manic reader, would I still be as short-sighted now?
Fisk
