Maintaining good eyesight is an important way to keep yourself active, independent, and happy as you age. Whether you’re young or old, we’re going to talk about some tips to improve your eyesight.
Get regular eye exams to stay on top of your eye health. This is the best way to find out if something is wrong and catch it before the problem develops into something serious.
There are also a lot of preventative measures that will help you maintain great vision. A lot of the items listed below have multiple positive side effects that aren’t limited to your vision.
1. Regular Exercise
Staying fit can really help your body in all areas, not just cut out excess fat. When it comes to vision, the most important benefit of exercise is staying away from Type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes can lead to a condition referred to as “retinopathy.” Your retina is home to a set of very small arteries that can be severely damaged when your blood circulates too much sugar.
2. Eat Key Nutrients
Your retina is also home to the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin. Eating these nutrients can help your retina stay in a healthy condition.
You can take concentrated forms of these carotenoids through supplements, but they’re also readily available in foods like leafy greens, most vegetables, and eggs.
You can prevent macular degeneration by consuming healthy amounts of vitamins C, E, and A. Zinc is another nutrient that helps to reinforce your macula and keep your vision crisp.
3. Take Care of Preexisting Conditions
Your doctors aren’t just blowing smoke when they give you directions on treating chronic conditions. Make sure that you don’t slack when keeping up on conditions like multiple sclerosis and high blood pressure.
These conditions, if untreated, can cause inflammation that affects your entire body, including your optic nerve. When your optic nerve comes into the picture, you can actually lose all vision and experience severe pain.
4. Protect Your Eyes
Protective lenses exist for a reason. When you’re going to be in the sun all day, consider wearing an appropriate pair of sunglasses to block out those excessive rays.
Additionally, make sure to wear eyewear when you’re working on dangerous projects in the garage, playing sports, or working with chemicals. We know that you’re capable of doing these things safely, but the world is unpredictable, and you never know what could end up in your eye.
Eye injuries are the fastest ways to experience damage to your vision, and you can typically prevent these issues with the help of protective lenses.
5. Give Yourself Breaks
We’ve shifted into the digital age, and you’d be hard-pressed to go throughout your day without looking at a screen.
Just because you need a screen to do work and communicate, though, doesn’t mean you have to look at one constantly. When you’re laying down to bed, consider limiting your screen time.
Additionally, try to avoid screens if you don’t need to use them. Maybe you had a text message to read, but that doesn’t mean you have to scroll Instagram for fifteen minutes after you hang up.
As a general rule, try to give yourself a minute-long break every time you’ve been looking at a screen for 20 minutes or more.
6. Know Your Genetic History
If you know your family history, you can prepare for and prevent a lot of illnesses.
Check with your family to see if there are any optic illnesses that you could reasonably expect to have. Things like retinal degeneration, optic atrophy, macular degeneration, and glaucoma are all hereditary and can be caught early if you’re looking for them.
7. Avoid Cigarettes
Your vision isn’t the only reason you should stay away from cigarettes, but it certainly ranks as one of the serious side effects of smoking.
The strain of smoking on your blood vessels can contribute to macular degeneration. Luckily, our bodies can recover from most of the effects of smoking if you stop. The best thing you can do for your health is to quit smoking as soon as possible.
8. Consider Surgery
The benefits of Lasik eye surgery are phenomenal. The surgery is relatively quick, effective, and can take care of many issues you might be experiencing with your cornea.
In other words, you can clear up your vision a great deal in a short amount of time. Unfortunately for those who are experiencing a decline in vision, Lasik is meant to correct the vision of those who already have a need for contact lenses or glasses.
9. Hands Off Your Glasses!
Make sure that your lenses and glasses are clean and free of smudges. Regular interruptions to your vision (like distinct smudges on your glasses) can eventually affect your vision.
Make sure that your eyewear and contact lenses are disinfected and clean whenever you put them on. Eyewear will typically come with instructions on how to keep clean and make sure your vision isn’t affected.
10. Be Aware of Irritations
Be aware of things that negatively affect your eyes and eyesight. Everyone is different, and exposure to different things may contribute to the degeneration of one person’s eyesight more than another’s.
Be on guard. If your eyes start to hurt after you watch a streaming service in bed, make a note of that and change the behavior. If there’s a time when your eyes start hurting regularly at work, figure out the issue and act accordingly.
Want to Learn More About How to Improve Your Eyesight?
There’s a lot more to learn if you want to keep up on your visual health. If you’re still curious about how to improve your eyesight, or you just want to learn more about ways you can prevent your vision from faltering, we’re here for you.
Explore our site for the information you need in order to keep your vision in tip-top shape.