Estimates suggest that more than 20 million Americans live with severe vision loss. Although it’s impossible to prevent every eye problem and disease, there are things that you can do to help keep your eyes healthy and in good condition, reducing your risk of experiencing vision loss in the future. Here are our top 10 tips to save your vision.
1 – Eat foods proven to be good for eye health
Many people fail to realize how much of an impact their diet can have on their vision. A healthy, balanced diet is recommended for everyone, but there are certain foods that contain vitamins and minerals that are particularly good for the health of your eyes. Vegetables, particularly the leafy green variety, are proven to boost eye health. Foods that are high in vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein, zeaxanthin, and omega-3 fatty acids are also exceptionally beneficial for eye health.
2 – Don’t smoke
Most of us know that smoking is bad for our health, but it’s also directly linked to eye diseases like age-related macular generation (AMD) and cataracts. Smoking could increase your risk of developing these conditions, so quitting will benefit your eye health too.
3 – Find out your family history
Did you know that many eye diseases are actually genetic? If you have immediate blood relatives with conditions such as cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and macular degeneration, you could be at greater risk of developing them too. By finding out your family history, you can make your eye doctor aware and they can monitor your eye health more closely.
4 – Get regular exercise
Getting enough exercise is important for general health and will benefit all of your body systems, including that which is responsible for your vision. Studies have also found that people who exercise regularly could be at lower risk of developing glaucoma, which is normally caused by a dangerous rise in the amount of pressure within the eyes.
5 – Maintain a healthy body weight
Unsurprisingly, people who are obese are at greater risk of developing problems with their vision. This is because excess weight can lead to conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure, both of which can have complications for the eyes. Diabetic retinopathy is a common complication of uncontrolled diabetes and occurs when persistently high blood sugar levels damage the blood vessels serving the retina. Meanwhile, high blood pressure has been linked to glaucoma. Maintaining a healthy body weight can help you to avoid these potentially sight-threatening conditions.
6 – Wear eye protection
Our eyes are extremely delicate. Nevertheless, it’s estimated that as many as 2.5 million eye injuries occur in the United States every year and most of these are preventable. Eye injuries can occur for a range of reasons – from being hit in the face by a ball traveling at speed, to shards of wood or chemicals directly entering the eye. Activities like woodworking, gardening and home repairs, painting, cleaning, auto-repairs, and certain sports can all increase your risk of suffering an eye injury. Ask your eye doctor what eye protection they recommend.
7 – Use sunglasses when outdoors
We all know to wear sunblock to protect our skin from the harmful effects of UV light. However, many of us overlook the importance of protecting our eyes. UV radiation is just as damaging for the sensitive cells of our eye, which can suffer from retinal damage, skin cancer, and more if they are persistently exposed. UV blocking sunglasses have been shown to reduce the risk of developing cataracts. Choose a variety of sunglasses that are proven to block 100% of both UVA and UVB rays for the best protection.
8 – Try and minimize your screen time
We are spending more time using screens than ever before, but there are negative effects of doing so. This includes dry eyes, eye fatigue, headaches, and poor sleeping patterns. This is primarily due to overexposure to artificial blue light which is emitted by our screens. Some studies show that too much blue light cold also causes cellular changes within the eyes that could affect our vision. Blue light blocking lenses or filters, and plenty of breaks from screen time will help.
9 – Make sure you look after contact lenses properly
If you wear contact lenses, it’s essential that you look after them properly. Since they sit directly on the surface of the eyes, if they aren’t cleaned sufficiently, you could transfer germs and bacteria into your eyes that could cause infections. Wearing your contact lenses when sleeping, using saliva or water to clean them, or even using disposable contact lenses beyond the recommended time frame can also cause eye problems including corneal ulcers, eye pain, and vision loss.
10 – Visit your eye doctor regularly
The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends that all people see their eye doctor at least once every two years so that they can have their eyes comprehensively assessed. If you wear glasses or contact lenses, the frequency of these visits may be increased. Your comprehensive eye exam will include screening your eyes for sight-threatening diseases such as glaucoma and cataracts, so attending will enable any developing problems to be detected and treated promptly.