The exercise is found to decrease the risk of macular degeneration and cataracts in two studies of regular runners.

    Add vision protection to exercise's list of benefits.

    In two new analyses based on the National Runners' Health Study, one found that people who ran an average of 2 to 4 kilometers a day (1 mile equals 1.6 kilometers) had a 19% decrease in their risk of age-related macular degeneration, when compared with people who ran less than 2 kilometers per day. Those who ran more than 4 kilometers per day had a 42% to 54% decrease in risk. The other analysis found that men who ran 64 or more kilometers a week had a 35% lower cataract risk than those who ran less than 16 kilometers per week. Paul T. Williams, a staff scientist with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and author of both studies, believes that exercise could provide similar protective benefits for the eyes as it does for the heart and other systems.

    "There are overlaps," he says. The study appeared in January's Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.

    兩項在經常跑步的人群中開展的調查顯示，這項運動可降低黃斑變性和白內障的發病幾率。

    經常運動的好處多多，現在可以把“保護視力”也算進去了。

    近期，研究人員基于全國跑步者健康調查進行了兩項分析。其中一項分析結果顯示：與每天跑步少于2公里的人相比，平均每天跑2至4公里（1英里約合 1.6公里）的人患上與年齡相關的黃斑變性的風險可降低19%。而那些每天跑步4公里以上的人們患此疾病的風險要下降42%至54%。另一項分析結果顯示，與每周跑步少于16公里的人相比，每周跑步64公里或更多的人們患白內障的風險可降低35%。美國能源部勞倫斯伯克萊國家實驗室的科學家，同時也是這兩項調查報告的起草者保羅·T·威廉姆斯認為，運功不但有益于心臟和其他器官，也同樣對視力具有保護作用。

    他表示，“運動的益處可以相互重疊。”這項調查報告刊登在一月份的《眼科學研究和視覺科學》上。