上班族注意了,护眼之道面面观

Aging eyes bring more than crow's feet and wrinkles. It's what you can't see -- the health of your eyes -- that is the bigger concern, doctors say. By the age of 40, many people may begin coping with vision problems they didn't have before. These might include dry eyes and presbyopia, or an inability to focus on objects that are close up, and can leave people feeling fatigued and headachy by the end of the workday. Genetics largely determines how our eyes age. But new research suggests that nutrition and environment can lessen some of the risks to eye health and vision.
眼睛老化带来的不止是鱼尾纹和皱纹。医生说，人们无法直接看见的东西──你双眼的健康──才是更令人担忧的事。很多人到了40岁的年纪可能就得开始应对视力问题，而这些是他们之前从未遇到过的。这些毛病包括干眼病和老花眼，后者的症状是近距离视物困难，可能会让人在一天工作结束时感到疲劳和头痛。我们的双眼如何老化在很大程度上是由遗传决定的。但新研究表明，良好的营养和环境能减少眼睛健康和视力所面临的风险。

As people get older, 'The lens of your eye gradually loses the ability to focus in and out the way it used to,' said Julia Haller, ophthalmologist-in-chief at Wills Eye Institute in Philadelphia. 'Some people refuse to wear reading glasses . . . and really fight it. They may hold out a little longer but eventually we all succumb to the inevitable.'
费城威尔斯眼科医院(Wills Eye Hospital)首席眼科医师茱莉亚•哈勒(Julia Haller)说，随着年纪的增长，“你眼睛的晶状体会逐渐丧失过去那种聚焦调节的功能。有些人拒绝佩戴老花镜……并与之斗争。你的双眼可能会再坚持一段时间，但最终，我们所有人都得向这一必然趋势低头”。

While we can't win against Mother Nature, some strategies can minimize the damage. Avoid self-prescribing with, say, off-the-shelf reading glasses sold at drugstores, says Gary Etting, an optometrist who specializes in vision therapy in Los Angeles. People often select glasses that appear to make things clearest, he said. But this may be a stronger prescription than they need, which can encourage their loss of focus to go faster.
虽然我们不能战胜自然规律，但有些措施能减少我们受到的损害。洛杉矶专攻视觉治疗的验光师加里•埃廷(Gary Etting)说，不要进行自我诊断，说什么药店里就有现成的老花镜出售。他说人们常常挑选那些貌似让视线变得最清晰的眼镜。但这种选择对他们的实际需求而言可能是一种过强的处方，会加速他们聚焦能力的丧失。

Also, glasses you need for reading may be different than ones you need when using a computer, he said. 'So people who wear their reading glasses on the computer can also be encouraging their eyes to weaken faster.'
埃廷说，此外，你阅读时需要佩戴的眼镜和你用电脑时要戴的眼镜可能并不一样。“所以那些在用电脑时却佩戴读书镜的人也是在导致眼睛加速弱化。”

Scientists have been studying ways to prevent vision problems in young people, which also might help protect eyes as they age. Two studies published in the May issue of Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, suggest that spending time outdoors may help minimize or prevent nearsightedness, or myopia, in children. Myopia can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses. But it can also be a precursor to severe myopia in adulthood, which is linked to the later development of eye disorders such as glaucoma and retinal detachment.
科学家一直在研究帮助年轻人预防视力问题的方法，这些方法可能在人们老了的时候也有助于护眼。在五月刊的美国眼科学会(American Academy of Ophthalmology)杂志《眼科学》(Ophthalmology)上发表了论文的两项研究表明，户外活动可能有助于儿童预防近视或缓解近视症状。近视眼可以通过佩戴框架眼镜或隐形眼镜得到矫正，但近视也会成为成年后高度近视的先兆，而高度近视又与日后的青光眼、视网膜脱落等眼疾的形成息息相关。

One of the studies, involving 571 students in Taiwan, compared changes in eyesight over a year between a group of children that had outside recess and another that didn't require going outdoors. The other study, in Denmark, compared detailed eye measurements of 235 nearsighted children taken during periods of longer and shorter days.
其中一项研究比较了两组儿童一年中的视力变化情况，其中一组儿童进行了户外休息，而另一组却没被要求这样做，共有571名台湾学生参与了这一研究。另一项研究在丹麦进行，比较了235名近视儿童的各项眼睛参数，这些参数是在日长各异的不同时期测得的。

Some researchers believe the effect could be related to oxygen exposure or the amount of light exposure causing the pupil to constrict. It could also result from children focusing at far distances for extended periods. 'I think the conclusion we're most comfortable drawing is that the jury is still out on that,' said Rachel Bishop, chief of consult services of the National Eye Institute, who wasn't affiliated with the studies. Other possible reasons, such as greater physical activity when outside or less time spent looking at screens indoors, seem less likely, she said.
一些研究人员相信，户外活动产生的影响可能与氧暴露或光照量相关，光照会令人的瞳孔收缩。这种影响的产生也可能是因为孩子们远眺的时间延长了。美国国家眼科研究所(National Eye Institute)咨询服务主管雷切尔•毕夏普(Rachel Bishop)说：“我认为，目前我们得出的最令人欣慰的结论就是：一切都尚无定论。”她还说，其他一些可能的原因，比如在户外进行了强度较大的身体活动或在室内盯着屏幕看的时间减少了，似乎更不可能成立。毕夏普并未参与上述两项研究。