Happy New Year!
We hope your year is off to a great start! With resolutions well underway and plans being made for the year ahead, we wanted to remind you of an often-overlooked appointment that you should add to your calendar this year – the eye doctor. Eye health is often forgotten in the litany of appointments that fill our calendars each year, but that shouldn’t be the case. Our eye health is just as important as the health of any other body system, and regular checkups should be scheduled in order to keep your eyes healthy for as long as possible. In this post, we’ll touch on some ways to support eye health between exams and review the prevalence of eyesight issues that many older adults face as they age.
Maintenance
Maintaining your eye health should be a routine just like your skin, teeth, and hair. Just like those routines, there is more than one step that you should take to ensure you’re doing all you can to keep your eyes healthy all year long.
Sunglasses: Harsh bright lights like the sunlight reflecting off the snow can quickly damage your eyes. Even moderate sunlight exposure causes strain on the eyes, so if you don’t wear glasses make sure to pick up an affordable pair of sunglasses during your next Target or Walmart trip. Pop them on while driving or while outside on sunny days to alleviate strain on your eyes with little effort. For those people who have prescription eyeglasses, you should look into a pair of prescription sunglasses to add to your collection. These sunglasses can help you stay safer while driving or walking and protect your eyes as a part of health maintenance.
Healthy food choices: Just like every other aspect of health, diet plays a major role in eye health. At this point we’ve all likely heard about carrots supporting eye health, but there are more foods that join the ranks of carrots as beneficial eye health promoters. Foods high in vitamin C, vitamin E, and Zinc are all exceptional tools that help support eye health. Things like poultry, beans, peas, broccoli, spinach, and eggs are just a few of the eye-health superfoods that you can work into your diet to keep your eyes healthy and full of nutrients for years to come.
Smart life choices: Quit smoking. There...that could be the whole section on life choice changes that support eye health. Nothing will yield better results for your eyes quicker than quitting smoking if you’re still lighting up. So again, if you want to make a change in your lifestyle, resolve to battle the addiction to cigarettes and talk with your healthcare provider about stop smoking aids or strategies that you can undergo to help you shake the addiction. Your entire body (especially eyes) will thank you.
Computer glow: If you (like so many millions of people) spend a lot of time on the computer or glowing screen device, you may have noticed how unpleasant you feel after an extended time. This unpleasant feeling should tell you all you need to know about the benefits of taking time away from the screen so that your eyes can rest. Our current understanding of eye strain on glowing devices suggests that you should allot a 20 second screen break for every 20 minutes you spend staring at a screen. During this time, you should focus your vision on a stationary object roughly 20 feet away – this allows your eyes to readjust and relax which in turn alleviates the strain that builds up.
As you age, there are eyesight concerns that you should keep in mind. Cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma, and dry eyes are just a few of the damaging conditions that are more likely to appear as you age, and just like with most medical problems, these are all much easier remedied if they are caught early. So, take time this January and call your eye care provider. If you don’t have one, do a little shopping around to find a comfortable provider near you and schedule a visit. Having your glasses prescription updated and any potential eye-health related conditions diagnosed will pay-off ten times over in the long run, so make the investment.
We hope your 2025 is off to a strong start, and we encourage you to take the time to plan appointments and activities that will help keep you healthy. A little work in planning goes a long way in the future, so if it’s not too late, add these appointments into your New Year resolutions, and keep your future bright and vivid for years to come.
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