ObjectivesTo evaluate the effects of physical exercises on the vision of students in China.MethodsTrials of the effects of physical exercises on students' vision were retrieved in databases of CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, Web of Science, EBSCO, PubMed and The Cochrane Library from inception to September 2019. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed risk of bias of included studies. Meta-analysis was carried out with RevMan 5.3 and Stata 13.0 software.ResultsA total of 8 studies including 681 students in the experimental group and 679 in the control group were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that physical exercises were beneficial to improving students' vision (SMD=1.02, 95%CI 0.90 to 1.13, P<0.000 01). The results of subgroup analysis showed that physical exercises in the elementary school students group (SMD=1.361, 95%CI 0.873 to 1.850, P<0.000 01), long period (>24 weeks) (SMD=1.502, 95%CI 0.984 to 2.019, P<0.000 01), medium frequency (3 times/week) (SMD=1.631, 95%CI 1.022 to 2.240, P<0.000 01), and short time (<90 min) (SMD=1.410, 95%CI 0.758 to 2.062, P<0.000 01) had superior results.ConclusionsPhysical exercises have beneficial effects on improving vision. Limited by quantity and quality of subjects, the above conclusions requires verification by more high-quality studies.