Bad idea.

Nowadays, children are raised by tablets and venomous school teachers while their moms empower themselves clicking Excel sheets in an office and their dads contemplate suicide as they run the child support and alimony numbers in the quietness of their toilet sanctuary.

Contrary to what anyone could have predicted, that has serious adverse effects on the kids.

Daily Mail:

Children are risking short-sightedness unless they spend two hours a day outside and ditch screens and homework books, say experts.

A new epidemic of myopia in youngsters has been directly linked to the amount of time they spend doing ‘nearwork’.

Scientists have also predicted a rise in the numbers of people who will become blind in later life because people who develop short-sightedness at a young age have a higher risk of eye problems when they get older.

Some specialists believe the condition should be renamed ‘school myopia’ because the increase in diagnoses is so steep.

About 20 per cent of under-16s in the UK are short-sighted, compared with just 7.2 per cent in the 1960s.

Dr Clare Quigley, an opthalmologist at Galway University Hospital, conducted a study researching the lifestyles and health of 8,568 nine-year-olds which found a strong connection between the condition and a sedentary lifestyle.

She told the Sunday Times: ‘The factors that consistently appear most important in development of myopia are education and time spent indoors … more education is associated with greater myopia.’

Attending school damages kids’ eyesight, but at least it teaches them about The Holocaust.

Imagine all the things that kids could learn in the years they waste sitting in school listening to some viper rant about toxic masculinity if only the education system wasn’t designed to crush their souls.

Until now myopia has been seen mainly as a genetic condition but new research is now able to not only confirm, but quantify, how ‘nearwork’ can damage children’s vision.

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The condition is far more common in westernised societies when compared with those who live outdoor lifestyles.

Experts predict roughly 50 per cent of people will have myopia by 2050, an 20 per cent increase to the number who are now.

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In order to curb the increase, some people have suggested that opticians give out lifestyle prescriptions as well as medical ones by telling people to send children outside.

Medical prescriptions telling people to send their kids to play outside is a good idea, but an even better idea would be to turn two of the hours kids already spend in school into mandatory outside-play time.

It would be like a 2-hour recess where kids can socialize, play, make new friends, and do healthy kid stuff. Additionally, it would decrease the amount of time kids spend sitting in the classroom, which is a great thing, considering what we know about the sedentary lifestyle.

The Conversation:

As a society, we aren’t getting as much exercise as we should. In fact, current activity guidelines state that adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderately intense activity – or 75 minutes of vigorous activity – every week. But research has found that one in four adults aren’t active enough.

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Our research looked at what effect even short periods of physical inactivity had on our bodies. We found that even just two weeks of low activity actually increased participants’ risk of later developing serious health conditions such as cardiovascular disease.

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We know that physical activity is good for us. This is irrefutable, and we’ve known this for a long time. As far back as the 1950s, the link between day-to-day physical activity and health was first identified in the London transport workers study.

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Since then, some have branded physical activity a “miracle cure” for cardiovascular risk. Yet, as a society, we are more sedentary than ever, and cardiovascular-related deaths remain the leading cause of death worldwide.

What better way to ensure kids get enough physical activity and enough outdoor time than by integrating it into the school curriculum?

More play time, more socializing, more activity. Less sitting, less brainwashing, less passivity.

The benefits of getting two to three hours a week of outdoors time is said to be comparable to meeting the recommended amounts of exercise or living in a high socioeconomic area versus a low-status one.

Greenwich Time:

It’s been established that people who spend more time in parks and other natural settings tend to report higher levels of health and happiness, but new research shows there’s actually a magic number for it.

According to a study published this week in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, spending 120 minutes a week strolling a tree-lined street or sitting by a lake can greatly enhance a person’s overall sense of well-being. Less time didn’t yield any significant benefit, the research showed.

Those who got in two to three hours in nature were about 20% more likely to report high overall satisfaction with their lives than those who spent no time outdoors at all. The benefits to physical health were even greater, with those who met the outdoors benchmark being 60% more likely to report being in good health than their cooped-in counterparts.

The figures were adjusted for a number of characteristics known to influence health and happiness, including socioeconomic factors, neighborhood characteristics and general demographics.

Overall, they found, two hours or more of nature exposure had a significant impact: Its positive effect on an individual’s health and well-being was comparable to getting recommended amounts of exercise or of living in a high socioeconomic status area versus a low-status one.

They stress, however, that the effect is not necessarily a causal one. Though researchers controlled for a wide range of variables known to affect health and happiness, the study’s design didn’t allow them to completely rule out other factors that could result in higher health and happiness for nature lovers.

Aim to get at least two hours a week of outdoor time, just as if it were exercise. Whatever place you can find where you can see nature.

Maybe a nearby park, a street full of trees or even a garden.

It may be the case, for instance, that people who are more inclined to be physically active and have a positive outlook on life are more likely to seek recreation opportunities outdoors. It may also be the case that being outside in nature, which typically involves a lot of moving around, may serve as a proxy for physical activity overall.

However, the authors note that other studies have demonstrated the benefits of being outside even in the absence of physical activity. Research in Japan, for instance, found that simply sitting passively in a natural environment can confer benefits to physical and mental health. Other research has shown that exercising outdoors provides a boost to mental health above and beyond what you’d get from doing the same exercise inside.

Being in nature exposes you to forces that you can’t find in concrete tombs modern cities. The grass, the trees, the birds and the bees are not the only things that are alive outside. There is another world there — an old world, much older than our memory and much wiser than ourselves. This world is closer to Time itself, and you can feel its ancient forces interacting with you when you relax under a tree, when the sunlight meets your skin and when the wind caresses your face.

You can hear the whispers of life orchestrating a message of hope out there, telling you about the battles between Order and Chaos, their war and the balance encompassing struggle.

Inside the harmonic appearance of nature, you find life fighting to live. From things that are too small for the naked eye to see, to plants, insects and small animals. They’re all fighting, and they’re still here. They still exist and they still fight.

To exist is to fight.

Open your eyes in nature and you’ll see the champions of life, the ones who are still in the game, the ones who have never been truly defeated. Everything you see outside, every bug, every flower, every tree and every bird that flies is there because it fought to be there and its ancestors fought to be there. Their presence is a link to the ones that came before them.

In the grand scheme of things, these are the unconquered ones.

When you are outside, they remind you that you are one of them. That you are still here in the fight and that your people are still here, with you, struggling. Remembering your nature and identity empowers you. Nature empowers you.

When you are outside, remember that you are part of the beauty you see.

Accept your place in Creation and the forest will befriend you.

These ancient forces of nature want to flow through you and strengthen you.

You just have to let them.