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According to Wikipedia article about Myopia:

Large amounts of near work while wearing glasses can be very detrimental to the eyes and can be a cause of worsening nearsightedness. The best way to avoid needing new lenses is by reducing the amount of near work, which forces the eyes into a continuous near-focusing position that eventually causes or increases myopia, by taking frequent breaks from near work, and by only wearing glasses when they are needed

Unfortunately, the article doesn't put any reference to scientific article to support this claim. Does anyone know any research confirming this? Does it mean it's best for people with low degree of myopia to read without using their glasses?

PatrixCR
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    Related: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1964/has-increased-computer-use-led-to-increased-myopia?rq=1 – DuckMaestro Sep 12 '12 at 18:41
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    Anecdotally, I got the opposite advice from my optometrist. I was encouraged to wear my glasses (which correct for nearsightedness) while reading. – Simon Sep 14 '12 at 17:04
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    @Simon My eye doctor told me to wear glasses all the time too (I have myopia & astigmatism). – PatrixCR Sep 15 '12 at 13:27

1 Answers1

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There are two cases:

  1. Unaided eye can not focus at a reading distance.
    In this case, glasses are recommended because blurry vision leads to physical and mental fatigue.

  2. Unaided eye can focus at a reading distance.
    There are conflicting studies regarding the effects of wearing glasses. Myopia might be alleviated by avoiding corrective lenses while focusing on closer objects. Some studies go as far as to suggest wearing reading glasses (negative correction). But the effects remain inconclusive.

tejasvi88
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    [Welcome to Skeptics!](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1505/welcome-to-new-users) Wikipedia is a great place to start research, but not a great place to finish, and we generally frown on using it to directly support a conclusion. Please follow some of the links in Wikipedia (and look for similar papers, citations and any metaanalyses) and directly cite the papers you find rather than depending on their analysis. – Oddthinking Nov 14 '20 at 18:21