Have you wondered whether some of your everyday habits could be damaging your eyes? Sometimes the things we take for granted can have a surprising impact on various parts of our bodies. While some things can seem quite obvious as potentially harmful, others may take you by surprise. To help reduce the risk of unnecessary damage, it’s a good idea to get to know what your lifestyle may be doing to your vision health.
Habits That Are Damaging Your Eyes
Eyesight naturally alters and changes over time. This is the result of your changing body as you age as well as being due to environmental factors. While there’s little you can do about the aging process throughout your life, you can understand the impact of your environment. In this way, you may be able to improve your habits to reduce the harm they cause to your eye health.
- Smoking – There’s no mystery that smoking is bad for you. While it has a top reputation as being harmful in terms of your heart health and cancer risk, it can also be damaging to your eyes. Primarily, it can seriously increase the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which is the leading cause of blindness. Smokers have a three times greater likelihood of developing AMD than non-smokers. It’s for this reason that many optometrists tell their patients to quit smoking and support their vision wellness with natural eye supplements.
- Sunlight Exposure – Heavy sunlight exposure, particularly from activities such as sunbathing, in which your face is tilted up toward the sun, can be damaging to your eyes due to ultraviolet light. Choose sunglasses with the CE Marked label for UV protection, and don’t assume that just because your sunglasses are expensive that they automatically protect. Once you have them, wear them.
- Device Screens – There is no scientific evidence to suggest that television, computer and phone screens are directly harmful to your vision. However, using these screens for a long time can lead to eye exhaustion and dryness. They cause us to stare and blink less often. That can be damaging and can lead to temporarily blurred vision. To help overcome this, look away from your computer screen every 20 minutes for at least 20 seconds at a distance of at least 20 feet away (20-20-20). Consider lubricating drops if your optometrist recommends them (though avoid anti-redness drops which can make things worse).
Lubricating Drops, Natural Eye Supplements and Optometrist Check-Ups
When you decide to avoid damaging your eyes by keeping up better behaviors, be sure to stick to these habits over time. It’s all well and good to do them for one day, but it’s considerably better to make a lifestyle out of them.
