Does reading in the dark make your eyesight worse?

Nicole Kell

As kids, many of use were told  that reading in the dark “weakens your eyes”. People tend to hold books closer to their face in dim lighting because of the decrease in contrast between the black words and white pages. Reading or focusing on close objects in the dark can makes the  eye muscles work harder than normal to focus on images and they can fatigue. Think of it as “eye exercise”.

Ophthalmologists have found no evidence to support the idea that this extra exercise your eyes get in low light is harmful and find no evidence to support this concept.   If you feel  headache or nausea it might be due to staring at something relatively close to your face.

It’s safe to read in low light.

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/health/04real.html

https://scienceline.org/2007/10/ask-peck-darkeyesmyopia/