Like other senses, your sense of sight is priceless. It helps you work every day and proceed with your life delightfully. However, your eye is a delicate organ that needs lots of care. According to the World Health Organization, 2.2 billion people worldwide have blindness or vision impairment. Out of which one billion people have lower eyesight and blindness due to unaddressed refractive error and unaddressed presbyopia.
To save yourselves from blindness and eyesight impairment, you have to take measures daily. Following are some routine activities to avoid eyesight problems.
Eyesight Precautions
· Good Diet Is a Key
Make a habit of eating vitamins and minerals regularly. Include omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin C and E in your food. Eat green vegetables, fish, eggs and citrus food. These foods will also decrease the chance of diabetes, which effects eyesight very often and can cause macular degeneration or cataracts.
· Sunglasses for UV Protection
Too much exposure to UV rays can cause cataracts, macular degeneration, and pterygium. A good pair of sunglasses can help you save your eyes from sunlight. Use sunglasses that stop 99% to 100% UVA and UVB radiations.
· Short Frequent Breaks Are Vital
Staring at computer or mobile phones for too long can tire your eyes. Continuously watching screens can cause eyestrain, blurry vision, trouble focusing at a distance, headaches, dry eyes, and pain on shoulder, neck or back. Take frequent short breaks when you are using them.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) suggests that it is better to take 5-6 minute pauses after every 50-60 minutes than taking breaks after 2 hours for 15 minutes.
· Regular Checkups with an Eye Doctor Help
Some eye diseases don’t show symptoms; visit an eye doctor for a regular eye exam. A checkup can find diseases like glaucoma and macular degeneration that typically don’t show signs. A person who has family history of different eye diseases and diabetes or high blood pressure should have regular checkups with ophthalmologists. They will tell you how often you should examine your eyes.
· Quitting Smoking Is an Excellent Move
Smoking is an unhealthy habit. It is the cause of many diseases related to heart, lungs, and eyes. It damages eyes and also leads you to blindness. The eye diseases it causes are cataracts, macular degeneration, and optic nerve damage. If you are unable to quit your habit of smoking, go to a doctor for consultation.
Bottom Line
With little precautions, you can save your eyes from lifetime blindness and from other eye diseases. You should not wait for the age of 40 before you start saving your eyes from disorders. Younger people can use these healthy tips to prevent their eyesight from any early weaknesses. You may not relate to these precautions right now but paying attention to them can prevent many serious medical issues in your eyes for the future.