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Health

Classrooms decorated like woodlands seem to slow myopia progression

Spending a lot of time outdoors may be the best way to prevent myopia, or delay its progression, but this isn't always practical. Now, research suggests that bringing the outside in may be a valid workaround

By Chris Simms

21 March 2025

A classroom decorated to resemble a woodland as part of a myopia trial in a school in Lijiang in Yunnan province, China

A classroom decorated as part of a myopia trial in Lijiang in Yunnan province, China

Weizhong Lan/ AIER Academy of Opthalmology, Central South University

Myopia has long been linked to spending too much time inside, but new research suggests that just simulating the outdoors in classrooms could help ward off the condition in children.

Short-sightedness, or myopia, generally emerges as the eye changes shape during normal development in early life, and the distance between the cornea at the front of the eye and the retina at the back becomes too long. This results in blurry vision of distant objects…

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