Chris Bennett: The word on the street

Evidence-based science is all the rage at the moment so the findings of a Spectrum Thea survey into eye conditions seen in practice deserves the attention of those holding the NHS purse strings.

It would seem obvious that the human body, developed over millennia to cope with the rigours of hunting plains animals and collecting berries, is not always best placed to cope with the changing demands placed upon it. How would many of those people waddling down your high street manage to launch a spear at a deer and track it to exhaustion on foot for three days?

Luckily we don't have to do that any more, we have adapted. However our rapidly changing world has to be viewed and the strain put upon the human visual system is immense. The last 100 years  have seen our fixation distance shrink and move from viewing 3D objects in natural light to flat screens illuminated 24/7. Our bodies that feed our vision have been bombarded with  high fat and sugar diets coupled with less and less exercise. Hardly a surprise that two thirds of the optometrists quizzed by Spectrum Thea had seen an increase in the number of younger patients suffering eye disease.