All of a person’s senses can greatly contribute to their lives and shouldn’t be taken for granted. One of the most crucial is vision. People rely on their vision to perform all kinds of activities. It can be easy to take vision for granted, until something damages your eye health and you lose it.
You only get one set of eyes for a lifetime. You need to take care of them. The earlier you begin working on your eye health, the more protected they will live. There’s a lot of simple common sense lifestyle decisions that you can make which will allow your eyes to remain healthy and work well. Take this opportunity to learn more about potential eye issues and what can be done to help keep your eyes in good shape.
Common Eye Problems
The eyes are an incredibly complex aspect of the body. Due to this, they can be affected or damaged in a wide number of different ways. Whether it’s an infection, disease or condition, eyes can suffer from damage. Some of the most common eye problems include:
- Red eyes - Damage to the blood vessels can cause eyes to take on that red sheen that’s so common. This can also occur when the eyes are strained and tired.
- Lazy Eye - The technical term is amblyopia. Essentially, one eye develops improperly. From there, it will move unprompted and slowly when it shouldn’t. Treatment needs to begin early.
- Eyestrain - This is one of the most simplistic eye conditions that can occur. It’s simple overuse from screens or intense visuals while driving. Rest is usually enough for eyestrain.
- Cataracts - Sometimes a cloudy area will develop in the eyes lens. This makes it harder for light to get through to the retina. Cataracts can sometimes require surgery.
- Glaucoma - Another common eye issue is glaucoma. It’s actually several conditions which cause the eye to be under too much internal pressure and potentially damage the optic nerve.
- Near/Farsightedness - These are referred to as myopia and hyperopia respectively. Essentially, the eye focuses slightly off from the retina, which makes it harder to see up close or far away.
- Retinal Detachment - If the retina becomes damaged, the fluid from within the eye can seep through and cause the retina to detach from the eye. It needs urgent medical treatment to prevent potential vision loss.
These are just some of the many different things that affects eyes. It’s important to note that eyes tend to deteriorate as a person ages as well. The earlier you start thinking about your eye health, the sooner you can work on it.
How to Promote Eye Health
The first and most simple thing that can be done for the eyes is to eat a proper diet. The right balance of vitamins and minerals is crucial to basically every aspect of health. Green vegetables and fatty fish like salmon are great for promoting central vision. Exercise is also another important aspect to eye and general health. Blood circulates better when exercising and helps you maintain a healthy weight.
Sunglasses can help protect the eyes from excess ultraviolet light. If you’re wearing them, make sure that the glasses work for both UVA and UVB rays. Hats with brims can also help keep light from leaking past the edges of sunglasses. Protecting your eyes from devices is important as well. “Blue light” coming from devices can cause strain and obvious pain. Try to minimize the use of screens and when using one for an extended period of time, try to focus on a distant object for 20 seconds every 20 minutes or so.