10 Tried and Tested Tips to Keep Your Eyes Healthy

Our eyes are one of the most important sense organs of our body, and is probably the most ignored as well!

It is essential that you take proper care of your eyes in order to keep enjoying the beauty of this wonderful world. However, this is not what is happening. As per AAO, American Academy of Ophthalmology, more than 43 million Americans are at a risk of developing age related eye disorders by 2020.

To prevent this from happening, here are a few tips that would help you in keeping your eyes fit and fine. Let’s check out.

Say no to screens

Needless to say, we often end up gluing to our screens, all thanks to a range of captivating devices like tablets, smartphones, laptops, MP3 players and so on. Not to forget, the screens at airports, train stations, and movie theatres also capture our attention pretty instantly.

This might look like entertainment to you, but the constant glare and the straining contrast can lead to eyestrain, and in some worst cases, it can even lead to computer vision syndrome.

If you find yourself struggling with blurred vision, headache, fatigue, neck pain and the likes – chances are high that ‘screens’ are taking a toll on your health.

The best way to cope up with this is to maintain a minimum distance of an arm’s length between your computer screen and your eyes, and a minimum distance of 16 inches from your handheld device.

Check if you have any family history of eye diseases

It is essential to know your family history. Enquire if any of your family members suffer from diabetes or high blood pressure? Such traits increase your chances of suffering from eye diseases.

Wear shades

Extensive exposure to UV rays can interfere with the health of your eyes and can even lead to cataract, or AMD and certain other eye related problems.

Thus, it is highly recommended to wear sunglasses that are capable of blocking UVA and UVB radiation. To check the quality of the shades, you should look for an ANSI sticker on the sunglasses. Such a sticker indicates that the sunglasses are in line with the guidelines laid by American National Standards Institute.

Use your contact lenses with utmost care

While contact lens is a quick solution to handling spectacles, they often serve as a breeding ground for a range of infections. Thus, care should be taken that you wash your hands before applying and removing the contacts.

Also, do not use any other alternative liquid to moisten your contacts. Avoid using saliva or tap water, as this way you are introducing hundreds of bacteria directly to your eyes which could be a dangerous step. For quality contacts, you can check out https://www.contactlenses.co.uk for more details.

Further, also keep the case in which you keep your lens clean and bacteria-free.

Take proper care of your makeup

Yes, this might sound a bit weird, but believe us, your eye makeup can have an everlasting impact on your eye’s health. The mascara that you use, the eye liner, the liner pencils and the likes – all of these serve as a breeding ground for bacteria.

Thus, it is highly recommended to replace your eye makeup every 6 months. Also, avoid lining the inner layer of your lash line. This can block the oil glands and can even prove to be dangerous for your eyes.

Be mindful of any warning signs

Keep a proper check on your eye health and closely look for any signs that might indicate a change in your vision. If you start having problems while seeing things or are experiencing double vision, or a hazy and blurred vision, this might indicate probable eye problems and need immediate attention.

Further, any changes in the physical appearance of your eyes including red eyes, watery eyes, eye pain and swelling also indicate degradation in the health of your eyes.

Say hello to green tea

Well yes, apart from detoxifying your body, green tea can also help you in boosting your eye health. Green tea not only hydrates your body but also infuses a range of antioxidants in your body that might prevent the onset of cataracts and AMD.

Have a natural and well-balanced diet

This goes without saying that green leafy vegetables are a blessing to your eye health. They work by reducing the harmful effects of glare and exposure on your eyes. In addition, also start consuming carrots as they are a storehouse of vitamin A and help you boost your vision.

Additionally, seafood diet can also help you in boosting your eye health. Sea food diet is known for omega 3 fatty acids and free radicals which prevent your eyes from any diseases.

Blink in between

Generally, our eyes tend to blink between 15 and 20 times per minute. But, this rate drops drastically when we are viewing a screen.

As a matter of fact, blinking is crucial to your eye’s health as it keeps the cornea of your eyes well-moistened. If you do not blink enough, your cornea might get dry and feel irritated, and this can even lead to dry eye.

Thus, a general rule of thumb is to follow 20/20/20 rule i.e., after every 20 minutes, look at a 20 feet away distance for 20 seconds.

Get rid of bad habits

Well, yes, our habits also decide the health of our eyes to a large extent. Avoid reading in low light, and do not rely completely on eye drops to fight redness.

We understand that certain habits, especially the bad ones when developed, are a bit hard to kick out. But, you can always take a step ahead to keep the things under control. For example, the most common bad habit is smoking which actually leads to a variety of health problems of those of heart, lungs and eyes to be specific. So you should always try to take appropriate actions to mitigate them. As like there are various available alternatives for smoking like nicotine gums, nicotine patches, NRT. If this doesn’t work, another alternative to smoking is the use of electronic cigarettes using different flavors of nicotine eliquids to gradually overcome your smoking addiction.

The trick here is to divert your mind.