Improving your eyesight is important but it’s just one of the reasons to get your eyes examined. For example, regular eye exams may help find eye diseases early on which greatly improves chances of preserving your vision. Even if your eyes feel healthy, you could have a problem and not know it.
What else can you do to keep your eyes healthy and protect your vision?
Eat Healthy Eye health starts with the food you eat. Nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, lutein, zinc, and vitamins C and E may help ward off age-related vision problems like macular degeneration and cataracts. The following foods are good sources of these essential nutrients:
A well-balanced diet also helps you stay at a healthy weight—lowering your odds of obesity and related diseases like type 2 diabetes, which is the leading cause of blindness in adults.
Keep Moving You already know that exercise is good for you. You may not know, however, that getting plenty of exercise may also help preserve your vision. It can also lower your risk of health
conditions that can cause eye health or vision problems—like diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
Quit Smoking Smoking isn’t just bad for your lungs—it can hurt your eyes, too! Smoking makes you more likely to get cataracts, damage your optic nerve, and macular degeneration, among many other medical problems.
Wear Protective Eyewear Protect your eyes from the sun by wearing sunglasses, even on cloudy days. Be sure to look for sunglasses that block 99 to 100 percent of both UVA and UVB radiation.
Safety glasses and goggles are designed to protect your eyes during certain activities, like playing sports, doing construction work, or doing home repairs. Additionally, if you use hazardous or airborne materials on the job or at home, wear safety glasses or protective goggles.
Replace Makeup Often Harmful bacteria can thrive in a lot of unlikely places. Don’t stick with the same mascara tube for more than 3 months and don’t forget to sharpen the tips of liner pencils. Always choose quality brands when buying eye makeup.
Rest Staring at a computer or phone screen for too long can cause: eyestrain; blurry vision; trouble focusing at a distance; dry eyes; headaches; and/or neck, back, and shoulder pain. To protect your eyes:
Rest your eyes by taking a break every 20 minutes to look at something about 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
Prevent Eye Infection Always wash your hands before you put your contact lenses in or take them out. Be sure to disinfect your contact lenses and replace them regularly. It’s also very important to rinse your lens storage case with fresh contact lens solution and let it air dry. This reduces the risk of the case getting contaminated. You also should discard and replace your storage case at least every three months.
-ProAct Clinical
