“Planning for a summer delivery for your child? You might want to choose an ophthalmologist along with an obstetrician…Babies born in June and July had a 24% greater chance of becoming severely myopic than those born in December and January the group with the least number of severely myopic individuals…“It is probably a long-term effect of early-life exposure to natural light that increases the chances of a child becoming short-sighted…A more thorough laboratory analysis of myopia in young chickens 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, though scientists are not sure exactly how it operates. This is the same gland that sets our body’s internal clock or permits it to participate in “Circadian rhythms.”…” Full Slice

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