Nearsightedness is an eye disorder much more common among Western literate peoples. Nearsightedness is also known as myopia, while farsightedness is known as hyperopia. The epidemics of nearsightedness are due mostly to changes in lifestyle. As kids spend more time indoors, on computers or watching TV, there will be more cases of nearsightedness. Nearsightedness is on the increase in most places, but in countries such as Singapore it has reached extraordinary levels. There, 80 per cent of 18-year-old male army recruits have nearsightedness, up from 25 per cent just 30 years ago. There is also an increasing incidence of severe nearsightedness, which can lead to blindness.

Spend time outdoors
It's not clear what it is about being outdoors that might affect vision in children -- exposure to sunlight, forcing the eye to focus on objects a varying distance away, exercise, or a combination of these factors.

Natural Supplements for Nearsightedness - Nutrition for Eye Health
The lens, retina, macula, and other parts of the eye involved in eyesight can be protected with the proper intake of antioxidants. Almost all the antioxidants likely have a positive influence on eye health. Of particular importance are vitamins C, E, selenium, and the carotenoids found in fruits and vegetables. Two particular carotenoids, called lutein and zeaxanthin, play an important role in protecting eye tissue in the macula from damage by free radicals. Corn, eggs, green leafy vegetables, peppers, red grapes and pumpkins are some of the foods rich in lutein and zeazanthin. You can also find carotenoids and flavonoids in many herbs, including milk thistle and bilberry. Bilberry contains compounds known as anthocyanidins which could help with nearsightedness. I have formulated a product called Eyesight Rx that not only provides proper nutrition for eye health, but it also improves vision, often within hours or days. Some people with nearsightedness report improvement in their vision.

Improve Nearsightedness naturally
I am glad to report that the proper use of many nutrients can help restore, at least partially, the magic of seeing that you may have long forgotten existed. After you try this eyesight supplement, take an eyesight test on a Snellen chart to see if your nearsightedness is better.

Eyesight Rx for Nearsightedness help

Unlike some vision products that provide nutrients and herbs for long term healthy eyesight support, and prevention of visual impairment, but don't seem to have much of an immediate effect on visual acuity, Eyesight Rx was formulated to provide a quick and noticeable eyesight improvement within hours or days.

Reports from Eyesight Rx users indicate enhanced clarity of vision, colors being brighter, better focus, and overall improvement in close and distance vision. We've had reports of some people noticing this effect within a few hours, while most people notice improved eyesight within several days.

Vitamin C Ascorbic acid
Carnosine antioxidant
Citrus bioflavonoids
       (eriocitrin, hesperidin, flavonols, flavones, flavonoids, naringenin, and quercetin)
Mixed carotenoids
       (astaxanthin, beta carotene, cryptoxanthin, Lutein, Lycopene,  Zeaxanthin)
Bilberry extract (Vaccinium myrtillus) contains anthocyanins which protect the retina.
Eyebright extract (Euphrasia officianales)
Jujube extract (Zizyphus jujube)
Ginkgo biloba for better circulation in the eye
Suma extract (Pfaffia paniculata)
Mucuna pruriens extract (Cowhage)
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum)
Lycium berry extract (Lycium Barbarum)
Sarsaparila (Sarsaparilla Smilax)
Alpha lipoic acid is a powerful antioxidant that enhances glucose use in brain and eye cells.

Cause of Nearsightedness or Nearsighted Vision
Close reading for prolonged periods, or computer work, increases the risk. Nearsightedness is rare among indigenous illiterate populations who do not spend time reading. Contrary to popular belief, people in east Asia are no more genetically susceptible to eye nearsightedness than any other population group.
   There is little doubt about at least one underlying cause. Children now spend much of their time focusing on close objects, such as books and computers. To compensate the eyeball is thought to grow longer. That way less effort is needed to focus up close, but the elongated eye can no longer focus on distant objects.
   Children who are breastfed are about fifty percent less likely to be nearsighted. Docosahexaenoic acid or DHA, a substance found in breast milk, could be the main element that improves early visual development in babies, resulting in more ordered eyeball growth which then reduces the development or severity of nearsightedness. Nearsightedness is the most common eye problem. It affects as much as 40 percent of the population in the United States and Europe but between 70 and 90 percent of some Asian populations such as Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong. DHA is important for the development of photoreceptor cells in the retina, which play a major role in whether children become develop nearsightedness. Researchers studied 797 children aged between 10 to 12 years in Singapore as part of the survey. They were given medical tests and also had to answer a series of questions including the number of books they read per week. The study, led by the Singapore Eye Research Institute, found that the risk of nearsightedness in a child who was breastfed is 0.6 times that of child that was not, even after taking other factors into account. While genetic variation was seen to be the culprit of nearsightedness among children, soaring rates of the condition have led more researchers to believe it is the rise in watching television, playing computers games and reading that is to blame.
   Children who spend the most time outdoors are the least likely to suffer from nearsightedness or shortsightedness. This eye condition is much more common among children and teenagers today than it was about 40 years ago, but spending more time outside could help reverse this trend.

Higher levels of education are associated with a greater risk for nearsightedness. This is the first population-based study to suggest that environmental factors may be more important than genetics in the development of nearsightedness, formally known as myopia. Ophthalmology, news release, June 26, 2014.

Nearsightedness treatment
Herbs and natural supplements can help for nearsighted vision. See Eyesight Rx. In cases where the nearsightedness is mild, certain natural supplements can offer a nearsightedness cure. A nearsightedness cure is unreasonable to expect if the condition is a moderate or severe case of nearsightedness. Nearsightedness treatment with LASIK surgery, is of course, an excellent option.

Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2013. Inverse relationship between macular pigment optical density and axial length in Chinese subjects with myopia. MPOD correlated inversely with AL in this sample of Chinese subjects with nearsightedness. This would indicate that perhaps more lutein and zeaxanthin could be of benefit.

Spending time outdoors helps with nearsightedness
Children who regularly spend time outside during the day have better distance vision than those who favored indoor activities. The reasons are not yet clear, but children's physical activity levels does not seem to be a factor. Exposure to sunlight may play a role, but more likely may the fact that being outside often makes kids focus on objects at a distance. Animal studies suggest that this affects eye development in a way that helps prevent nearsightedness, or myopia. Optometry and Vision Science, January 2009.

Use of bifocals in children
Researchers recruited 135 Chinese-Canadian children with rapidly progressing nearsightedness. Nearsightedness is particularly common among people of Asian descent, affecting up to 90 percent of some populations.  The children were randomly assigned to either keep wearing single-focus lenses or get a new prescription for bifocals; half of the latter group were given prism bifocals, which help the eyes work together. Over the next two years, children wearing either type of bifocal showed a moderately slower rate of nearsightedness progression. Nearsightedness is described in terms of diopters; at the start of the study, the children's nearsightedness averaged about -3.00 diopters, which is generally considered to be moderate myopia. All had been showing a rate of progression of at least -0.5 diopters in the year before the study. Over the two-year treatment period, children who stayed with single-focus lenses had an average rate of progression of -1.55 diopters. Those wearing bifocals or prism bifocals, meanwhile, fared better, with rates of progression of -0.96 and -0.7, respectively. The benefits of bifocals in slowing myopia progression were "modest" and it remains to be seen whether the treatment effect lasts or tapers off. Archives of Ophthalmology, January 2010.

Epidemiology
More Americans are nearsighted today than in the early 1970s. Dr. Susan Vitale of the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to compare the percentage of black and white Americans aged 12 to 54 with myopia in 1971-1972 and 1999-2004. In 1971 to 1972, 25 percent of Americans aged 12 to 54 had myopia. This figure had jumped to 42 percent in the 1999-2004 period. The prevalence of myopia was roughly 66 percent higher in the 1999-2004 period than in the 1971-1972 period, the investigators note in the 2009 issue of Archives of Ophthalmology. There have been studies linking myopia to "more close-up work" such as reading, sitting at a computer screen, or using small electronic devices. Archives of Ophthalmology, 2009.

Research studies
Refractive status of indigenous people in the northwestern Amazon region of Brazil.
Optom Vis Sci. 2005. New England College of Optometry, Boston, Massachusetts
The purpose of this study was to investigate the refractive status of the illiterate indigenous people of the upper Rio Negro region of the Amazon rain forest in northwestern Brazil. From an overall sample of 486 people, 259 indigenous people and 78 Brazilians between 12 and 59 years of age with no compromising optical opacities were refracted with cycloplegic retinoscopy. Subjects were categorized as indigenous if they had at least three generations of indigenous ancestry with no folklore suggesting other ancestors. RESULTS: Nearsightedness was rare among the indigenous population. Only 2.7% of eyes showed Nearsightedness of -1.00 D or more and 1.6% (four people) had bilateral Nearsightedness of -1.00 D or more. Half of this small group were the only educated indigenous people examined. The prevalence of astigmatism and anisometropia equal to or >1.00 D was 15.5% and 8.2%, respectively. Most of the astigmatism in the indigenous people had an against-the-rule axis. Age was not associated with the refractive errors of the indigenous people. Brazilians from the small city in which the study was performed had higher rates of Nearsightedness (6.4% of eyes and 5.1% of subjects bilaterally). Older preeducation adults also had a very low prevalence of Nearsightedness, whereas the younger, slightly educated Brazilians had a higher prevalence. The low prevalence of nearsightedness in the illiterate indigenous people is consistent with other studies and suggests that Nearsightedness is related to literacy. The generational change among the local mixed race Brazilians further supports this conclusion. The relatively high rates of astigmatism and anisometropia in the indigenous people were unusual for a predominantly emmetropic sample.

Role of astigmatism in the creation of Nearsightedness
Klin Oczna. 20036.
To determine, whether the presence of astigmatism has an influence on the creation of nearsightedness. A total of 167 people with Nearsightedness (117 women and 50 men) of the age between 12 and 51 were examined. The overall average age was 24. Routine ophthalmological examinations, keratometry as well as refractometry were carried out. The data was analysed using the coefficient of rang Spearman's correlation and the coefficient of linear Pearson's correlation. A negative correlation was found between the corneal astigmatism and Nearsightedness progress. A positive correlation was observed between total astigmatism and Nearsightedness. Corneal and total astigmatism predisposes the progress of Nearsightedness.

Emails
Q. Have you heard of any supplements (or Rx meds that improve eyesight, particularly nearsightedness or farsightedness?
    A. We are not aware of any supplements that cure severe nearsightedness but some nutrients such as fish oils, carotenoids, flavonoids, ginkgo, and anthocyanidins, can help improve nearsightedness.

Q. Does Eyesight Rx cure nearsightedness? I am becoming very nearsighted after starting college.
     A. Eyesight Rx helps improve the ability to see as long as the tablets are used, and often for several days after stopping the tablets. However, it is not a cure for nearsightedness or presbyopia as laser surgery LASIK would be.

I'm nearsighted, and have a slight case of strabismus, would Eyesight Rx help?
   Perhaps. Many people who can't see distance well find it helpful.

We recently found out that our son age 9 has nearsightedness. His vision is 20/40 or so. I was wondering if Eyesight Rx will help him either reverse the nearsightedness or at least help so his vision won't get any worse and stay the same.
    It is impossible for us to predict any particular person's response regarding nearsightedness treatment. Eyesight Rx was formulated for adults. If his doctor approves, he can take half or a third of an adult dose.

In general terms (I understand each individual responds differently to eye supplements and you can't predict individual response), would it be possible that your eyesight supplement can significantly reduce very mild nearsightedness. I have -0.5 D in one eye and -0.25 D in the other. I am 23 years old. Have you had anecdotal feedback that distance acuity has measurably (as in reading one or two lines better on an eye-chart) improved with your eyesight supplement? NB: I am asking in general, I am not asking for a guarantee because I realise individual responses to supplements vary.
    Yes, we have had people report improvements from 0.25 to 1 diopter.