Many people take their vision for granted. Anybody who has lost some or all of their vision knows that good sight is a precious gift. Take a moment to think about what it means to be completely blind. To be blind means never seeing another sunset. Blindness is being unable to look at the faces of people you love. It also means you’ll never get the opportunity to visually recognize the faces of new friends and additions to the family. Unfortunately, human eyes age over the course of time. As you age, you also become more prone to degenerative eye diseases like macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataracts. However, there is a great deal that you can do to protect the health of your eyes now so that you never get these diseases. You can also ensure that the damage from one of these diseases doesn’t get any worse.
1. Regular Eye Examinations
It’s easy to procrastinate and delay that visit to the optician. However if you value your eye health, you should try to ensure that you have your eyes tested once every year. During the course of a twelve month period, your prescription can alter. Hence different vision correction may be required. If possible, get someone else to drive you to your appointment. This will enable you to opt for a dilated eye exam. A dilated eye exam involves the use of special eye drops. The drops force the pupils to dilate and prevent them from contracting again when the optometrist shines a light into your eye. Pupil dilation helps the optometrist to see the back of your eyes clearly. Thus a dilated eye exam can be useful for spotting problems with the retina, optic nerve and blood vessels.
2. Using Your PC
Spending long periods of time staring at a computer screen is not good for the health of your eyes. If you use a PC a lot, then you should adjust the brightness of the screen. Staring at a very bright computer screen can damage your eyes over time. When you use your computer, look away from the screen at regular intervals. While you are looking away from the screen focus on an object that is far away, or just close your eyes for a minute or so. Do not use your computer for more than an hour without taking a ten minute break to rest your eyes. Use the ten minutes to visit the bathroom, get something to drink, or simply stretch your legs.
You can also damage your vision if you strain to see the text on your computer or other electronic devices. If the text you are reading is slightly too small for you to see it clearly, magnify it until the words become clear.
3. Your Environment
Bright lights can do a great deal of harm to your eyes. Fortunately, there are ways of minimizing the damage. When you go outside on a sunny day, make sure you protect your eyes with sunglasses that have UVA and UVB protection. When you are at home, use lamps and dim lighting. Try not to use bright fluorescent lights in your home.
4. Good Nutrition
Having regular eye examinations and controlling the light in your environment is an excellent start when it comes to maintaining healthy eyes. However if you eat the wrong foods, your eyes will never be as healthy as they could be. If you want healthy eyes, you should make sure you eat a nutritionally well-balanced diet that contains a lot of whole foods. Regular exercise is also a must for healthy eyes. Obesity-related diseases like diabetes and hypertension can do irreversible damage to your eyes.
There are specific vitamins and minerals that are thought especially beneficial when it comes to eye health. Vitamins A, B, C and E are essential for good eye health. Zinc, copper, omega 3 fish oils, selenium, bilberry and lutein are also good for the health of your eyes. If you do not get enough of these vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat, consider buying them in supplement form.
Doing the right things to protect your eyes today will help to ensure that you can see what tomorrow looks like.
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