As you slog away at the gym or prepare a healthy meal from scratch, we bet you’re not thinking much about your eye health – but you should be! These healthy habits contribute to maintaining good vision, and can matter to your eyes as much as they matter to your cardiovascular health or the size of your waistline.
Maintaining good overall health is an excellent way to protect your vision, but there are lots of other habits that can help as well. We’ve put together our list of the top 20 things we recommend to keep your sight 20/20 … or as close to it as possible. And spoiler alert: our last tip is that you can’t maintain your eye health alone, so make sure you come in to talk to us about these and other ways to keep your vision in good shape.
Maintaining good overall health is an excellent way to protect your vision, but there are lots of other habits that can help as well. We’ve put together our list of the top 20 things we recommend to keep your sight 20/20 … or as close to it as possible. And spoiler alert: our last tip is that you can’t maintain your eye health alone, so make sure you come in to talk to us about these and other ways to keep your vision in good shape.
- Follow a balanced diet. A colourful eating plan packed with fruits and vegetables provides essential nutrients and antioxidants that promote eye health. Include leafy greens, citrus fruits, carrots, and berries … eating the rainbow is literally a feast for your eyes!
- Maintain a healthy weight. A healthy diet does more than provide nutrients. It can also help you avoid weight gain, reducing the risk of diseases like diabetes that can affect your vision.
- Protect your eyes from UV rays. Excessive exposure to the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays can impact your eye health. Invest in a quality pair of sunglasses that will protect your eyes, and make sure that they’re comfortable and fashionable enough that you want to wear them regularly.
- Use safety eyewear when engaging in activities that may pose a risk to your eyes. Safety goggles can prevent eye injuries in workplace settings, while playing sports, or during DIY home improvement projects. They also prevent damage and infection from splashes, droplets, and sprays.
- Take regular breaks to reduce eye strain. There are muscles in your eyes that work continuously when maintaining focus, so resting them can reduce strain and associated symptoms.
- Control your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Both of these conditions can affect your eyes’ blood vessels and contribute to potential vision problems. Keeping these conditions under control can help to protect your eyesight.
- Avoid smoking. Smoking isn’t good for any aspect of our health, including vision. Smokers are twice as likely to develop Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and two to three times more likely to get cataracts. Cut down as much as you can, or better yet, quit altogether.
- Limit alcohol. Like smoking, regular alcohol consumption negatively impacts our overall health. It can also affect our eyes in both the short and long term.
- Position your computer screen at eye level and a comfortable distance. Generally, the preferred viewing distance is about 50-100 centimetres. An easy trick is to make sure that your screen is about an arm’s length away from you.
- Practice good contact lens hygiene. Always clean your hands thoroughly to prevent infection and follow recommended cleaning and wearing protocols specific to your contact lenses and optometrist’s advice.
- Exercise regularly to promote good circulation. This increases your oxygen levels and can help to protect your eyes.
- Manage your stress levels. When we feel stressed, we enter into a fight or flight mode which can cause our blood pressure to increase. Chronic stress also leads to a buildup of pressure in your eyes, heightening your risk of optic nerve damage and glaucoma.
- Use lubricating drops if you experience dryness or discomfort. If your dry eye symptoms are persistent, talk to us about other options for dry eye treatment to protect the health of your eyes.
- Practice the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
- Get enough sleep to allow your eyes to rest and regenerate. Lack of sleep may leave your eyes feeling irritated, puffy, or red. You can get some relief by placing a cold washcloth over your eyes for about ten minutes.
- Maintain proper lighting conditions when reading or working. This reduces eye strain and prevents double vision and increased sensitivity to light.
- Stay hydrated by drinking water throughout the day. When we’re dehydrated, even our eyes notice! They may become dry, sore, or irritated, so keep chugging that water.
- Blink often. It’s simple advice, but it works, and it’s especially useful if you spend long periods looking at screens. These cause us to blink less often, which can contribute to dry eyes and other symptoms.
- Take regular breaks from screens. In addition to blinking, it’s a good idea to give your eyes regular breaks from the close-up focus required by screens. As we age, we may also benefit from reading glasses to reduce the risk of headaches and other symptoms associated with screen use.
- See your optometrist regularly! There are plenty of changes you can make in your daily life to help protect the health of your eyes, but it’s still essential to have your eyes assessed regularly by an optometrist, even if your vision seems perfect. At our clinic, we promote annual eye exams, no matter what age. We make it easy with our convenient online booking system, so come visit us at Dr. Sam Dhaliwal and Associates to keep your eyes in tip-top shape!