Attending regular eye exams is just one way you can safeguard your vision, prevent injuries or illnesses that could threaten its integrity, and enhance it further. Keep reading to discover other strategies you can employ to boost it!
- Get Enough Key Vitamins And Minerals
Vitamins A, C and E as well as zinc contain cell reinforcements that may help protect against macular degeneration – a condition in which the macula, the part of the eye that controls focal vision, disintegrates.
Food sources of these essential supplements include an array of colorful vegetables and fruits.
- carrots
- red peppers
- broccoli
- spinach
- strawberries
- sweet potato
- citrus
Food sources that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon and flaxseed may also contribute to improving eye health.
- Remember The Carotenoids
Carotenoids mes A few other supplements can also aid in increasing visual perception. Lutein and zeaxanthin, two carotenoids found in retina, may play a key role. You can find them in green vegetables, broccoli, zucchini and eggs.
Lutein and zeaxanthin supplements may also help protect the macula by further increasing color thickness in that portion of the eye and protecting from ultraviolent and blue light rays.
- Remain Fit
Staying active and maintaining a healthy weight are both key to protecting your eyes as well as waistline. Type 2 diabetes, which tends to occur more commonly among overweight and corpulent individuals, can harm the blood vessels of the eyes, leading to vision problems.
Diabetic Retinopathy occurs when excess sugar levels in your bloodstream wreak havoc with your delicate nerve pathways, damaging them over time and disrupting vision. Diabetic Retinopathy causes your retina – the light-sensitive back part of the eye – to leak blood and fluid into it, impairing vision.
Maintaining healthy blood sugar levels will decrease the chances of type 2 diabetes and all its attendant complications.
- Oversee Chronic Conditions
Diabetes isn’t the only condition that can interfere with your vision. High blood pressure and multiple sclerosis may also have an effect on visual perception, both connected to chronic inflammation that can negatively impact health overall.
Optic nerve inflammation, for example, can be extremely painful and lead to total vision impairment. While an illness such as multiple sclerosis is unpreventable, you can take steps to mitigate its symptoms with healthy habits and medications.
High blood pressure can be effectively managed with diet, exercise and antihypertensive medication.
- Wear Protective Eyewear
No matter if you are playing racquetball, working in your carport, or performing science experiments at school – be sure to protect your eyes by wearing appropriate eyewear.
Eye protection can be lifesaving if there is any risk of synthetic substances, sharp objects, wood shavings, metal fragments or stray elbows entering your eye during a basketball game. Protective eyewear must provide maximum protection from harm in such circumstances.
Polycarbonate material is often used in protective goggles because of its greater tenacity than other plastic types.
- That Includes Sunglasses
That includes sunglasses! Sunglasses are not just fashionable accessories; they can help improve your vision as well. Look for sunglasses that block out 99-100% of UVA and UVB radiation from daylight sources.
Sunglasses provide protection for your eyes from conditions caused by eye injury, such as waterfalls, macular degeneration and pterygium (an excessive growth of tissue over the white portion of your eye). Pterygiums can lead to astigmatism which obscures vision.
Wearing a wide-brimmed cap can also help protect your eyes from sun damage.
- Follow To The 20-20-20 Guideline
Your eyes work hard throughout the day and deserve a break every now and then. PC work can put an incredible strain on them; to ease that burden, follow the 20-20-20 rule to reduce eye strain.
Every 20 minutes, take a 20 second break from looking at your computer screen and gaze upon something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
- Stop Smoking
As smoking can have serious repercussions for both your lungs and heart, hair, skin, teeth and virtually every other part of the body – smoking increases the risks of cataracts and age-related macular degeneration substantially. Smoking also has serious detrimental effects on vision – it increases waterfall risk dramatically!
Your eyes, lungs, heart, and other body parts can begin to heal from decades of tobacco-caused damage in just the first weeks after quitting; and as your blood vessels strengthen and inflammation is reduced in all parts of your body – including those in which nicotine was involved – more will benefit.
