The ACT has the highest proportion of people with myopia, or short-sightedness, in Australia, according to the National Health Survey released on Wednesday.

Nearly a third (31.5 per cent) of ACT residents reported being near-sighted in the 2014/15 survey, up 18 per cent from the 2011/12 survey.

By comparison, just over a quarter (25.6 per cent) of Australians as a whole reported they were short-sighted.

Myopia was the most prevalent long-term condition for Canberrans canvassed in the bi-annual report.

It affects more women than men and was most common in those aged 45 to 64.

But Canberra optometrist Dr Mark Feltham was skeptical Canberra's short-sighted problem could be put down to our white collar way of life.

He said he sees about 10 per cent of Canberra's population for a range of eye issues, not just myopia.

"We're picking up long-sighted people as well as short-sighted people quite often," he said.

In fact, about a quarter (27.1 per cent) of ACT residents surveyed were far-sighted.

He said while there was a "general myopic shift in the general population of the world", many of the factors that worsened hereditary myopia were mitigated by Canberrans' outdoorsy lifestyles.

But Alan Murray, whose eyes were being tested by Dr Feltham, reckons Canberra's high number of optometry services could play a part in why our population is so bespectacled.

"It's good we have access to those services, whereas a lot of people in the world wouldn't. We've got more access to it and there's more awareness of it," the Fadden resident said.

The ACT also led the nation in terms of the proportion of hayfever sufferers.

More than a quarter of residents (25.9 per cent) suffered through seasonal sneezing, although Professor Simon Haberle, of the Canberra Pollen Count and Forecast, said the environment was the "principal driver".

"We've known for some time Canberra is a hot spot for hayfever sufferers and there are a number of reasons for that,' he said.

"I think the main one is Canberra is a landlocked city surrounded by lots of agricultural grasslands, and it also has a number of beautiful urban landscapes as well, which has many introduced trees from the northern hemisphere.

"We've actually been able to show there are key suburbs where people are suffering the most and these suburbs tend to have a high number of European trees in them, or [be] at the edge of Canberra where it's quite pastoral.

"Suburbs like Casey, Forde and Franklin in Gungahlin are quite strong and Melba, Holt and Higgins in Belconnen, Dickson and Reid in northern Canberra, and Macarthur, Gilmore, Isabella Plains and Calwell in Tuggeranong."

The report did deliver some good news for Canberrans however.

The ACT has the highest proportion of adults getting enough exercise in Australia, with more than half of those aged 18 to 64 getting active.

The territory also had the lowest rate of diabetes in Australia (4.3 per cent), lower than the national rate of 5.2 per cent, however around three-quarters of us (74.4 per cent) weren't eating enough fruit or vegetables.

Also, more than a third of ACT residents were drinking in excess of the National Health and Medical Researcher Council's guidelines of no more than four standard drinks on a single occasion.

Despite this, close to 88 per cent of us adhered to the council's guidelines on reducing the risk of alcohol-related harm over a lifetime and drank less than two standard drinks a day.