According to a new study, myopia or nearsightedness is slowly becoming an epidemic for the world. As per study estimates, almost half of young adults in the United States and Europe are suffering from this problem.

As per experts, nearsightedness is a condition that occurs when the light coming into an eye doesn't focus on the retina but in front of it, making things look blurry.

Myopia is very common in china were nearly 80% to 90% of teens and young adults with the condition versus 10% to 20% 60 years ago. Eelier researchers thought that the explanation for why some people become nearsighted and why some continue to have 20/20 vision until they are old and gray was mostly a function of our genes.

Now researchers said that the focus these days is on environmental factor: How much time one spend outdoors while growing up.

The study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week, reported that children who spent 45 minutes more time outdoors a day were much less likely to be diagnosed with myopia.

Researchers for the study studied 1,903 children in grades 1 through 12 at a dozen schools in the large southern Chinese city of Guangzhou near Hong Kong.

Half of the schools were said to add an additional 40-minute class of outdoor activities during the day. Parents were encouraged to take their children outdoors after school and during the weekends.

Study led by Mingguang He of Sun Yat-sen University, after three years found that nearly 30.4% of the children in the first group had myopia versus 39.5% of the control group.