Eye Health - 360 Review on How to Keep Your Eyes Healthy

Most of us fail to realize how important our eyes are until they stop working properly!

From the day we’re born, so many of us take it for granted that we can see easily and clearly. Our eyes are always working all day long, from the moment we wake up in the morning until we go to sleep at night. If no problems arise, we’d never even give our eye health a second thought.

However, it’s when our vision starts to go, our eyesight suffers, or problems like cataracts develop that we really start to take notice. By then, it may even be too late to reverse the damage or prevent the degeneration.

That’s why it’s so important that you protect your eye health from Day 1! Keep your eyes healthy, and they’ll continue working efficiently with little to no problem for the rest of your life.

Below, we’re going to take a 360-degree look at how you can protect your eyes in every aspect of your daily life. Get ready to learn practical, actionable steps you can take to ensure your eyes remain healthy and fully functioning for as long as possible.

Nutrition and Eye Health

The food you eat will have a direct impact on the health of your eyes. Whether it’s a good impact or bad, that depends entirely on you!

One article [1] took a closer look at nutritional factors that could play a role in protecting your eyes from degeneration. It found that there were five specific nutrients that proved most effective:

• Vitamin A/beta-carotene (15 mg per day)

• Vitamin C (500 mg per day)

• Vitamin E (400 IU per day)

• Zinc (80 mg per day)

• Copper (2 mg per day)

All of these helped to decrease cases of advanced macular degeneration, the breakdown of the cells in your eyes.

There were two other antioxidants mentioned in the study: lutein and zeaxanthin. These are carotenes (like Vitamin A) that “may be of value for reducing AMD progression when given without beta-carotene”.

Another study [2] backed up the benefits of lutein specifically, stating, “lutein is known to improve or even prevent age-related macular disease which is the leading cause of blindness and vision impairment”.

Lutein and zeaxanthin are typically found in the same foods, foods that include parsley, egg yolks, green peas, kale, Swiss chard, spinach, parsley, and pistachios.

To maintain good eye health, experts [3] recommend a diet rich in:

• Fruits (the more colorful, the better!)

• Vegetables (dark, leafy greens and orange veggies)

• Fatty fish rich in Omega-3 fatty acids (like halibut, tuna, and salmon)

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Lifestyle and Eye Health

There are a lot of lifestyle factors that can either harm or help your eyes. The most important ones are:

Exercise and weight management. Exercise is useful for managing your weight, and can help to reduce the risk of conditions like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes. Obesity and diabetes both increase your risk of eye conditions like glaucoma or diabetic retinopathy, while high blood pressure and high cholesterol can lead to vision problems. Regular exercise is one of the best things you can do to protect your eyes!

Sun exposure. Getting enough sunlight is critical for the production of Vitamin D, which can protect your eyes against degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts [4]. However, too much time under direct sunlight can strain your eyes, and exposure to UV radiation can raise your risk of macular degeneration and cataracts.

Spend enough time in the sun to get your daily dose of Vitamin D (30 minutes is sufficient), but make sure to use sunglasses with UVA and UVB protection to shield your eyes.

Smoking. Smoking not only raises your high blood pressure and contributes to high cholesterol, but it can actually damage your optic nerve. It also increases the risk of developing cataracts, macular degeneration, and other age-related eye diseases. To protect your eyes, quit smoking TODAY.

Device use and eye strain. Spending long hours staring at a computer or phone screen can strain your eyes, dry out your eyes, and increase the rate of cellular degeneration. Give your eyes a break by looking away from your screen every 20 minutes or so. And try to take longer breaks every hour or two—your eyes will thank you.

Eye infections. Eye infections can lead to accelerated cellular breakdown, impairing your vision or speeding the formation of cataracts. It’s recommended that you throw away old makeup (after 3 months) to protect your eyes from infection. If you use contact lenses, wash your hands well before inserting or removing the contacts, and make sure the lenses are clean to avoid any particles, germs, or bacteria flourishing in your eyes.

Eye Checkups

This is VERY important, and highly recommended by all experts [5]! Regular eye doctor visits and vision screenings will not only help to protect your eyesight, but can actually find diseases like glaucoma which present with no symptoms visible to you.

Regular eye exams will include:

• A summary of your medical history, both family and personal

• Vision tests

• Eye coordination tests

• Optic nerve tests

• Eye pressure tests

• Microscopic and external examination of your eyes (pre- and post-dilation)

These tests can register the presence of not only vision problems, but also cellular degeneration, glaucoma, and other vision-impairing conditions.

Your eyes are so important to your daily life—you need them for nearly everything you do. It’s absolutely vital, then, that you go out of your way to protect them, and make smart diet and lifestyle choices that will improve their health. Armed with everything you’ve learned here, you’re ready to take care of your eyes and make sure they continue working well for the rest of your life.

Resources:

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31489894/

[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30231532/

[3] https://medlineplus.gov/eyecare.html

[4] https://www.webmd.com/eye-health/good-eyesight

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