Improving Eye Health: Your Guide to Improving Eye Health

The importance of the eye is to view particular features around us and then to navigate through the world. The eye is a part of the special senses system. All organs must be cared for to maintain and improve physical health, but this guide will provide tips on improving eye health. With that said, here are the 5 tips for improving eye health.

1. Maintain a healthy diet

All body parts—except the hair, nails, and cornea—have arteries to supply oxygen and nutrients. These nutrients and oxygen keep your eyes healthy from diseases and vision loss. However, different vitamins are vital to various organs of the eye. Your retina—the tissue responsible for light-sensing—acts most beneficial from vitamin A for the light required for us to see particular features. This affects the quality of your eyesight. Another essential antioxidant is vitamin E because this lowers the risk of having eye diseases in the long run. Another antioxidant beneficial for the eye is vitamin C, which protects the body from damage caused by different factors, from environmental to unhealthy eating habits. This is because vitamin C is responsible for repairing and growing tissue for body parts. The most powerful antioxidants responsible for eye health, above all the previous vitamins, are lutein and zeaxanthin. They protect your eyes from age-related macular diseases, the leading cause of vision loss.

Foods that contain the vitamins within them are:

● Carrots (rich in vitamin A)

● Sweet potatoes (rich in vitamin A)

● Apricots (vitamin A)

● Dairy (vitamin A)

● Lean meat (vitamin A)

● Tuna (vitamin A)

● Salmon (vitamin E)

● Almonds (vitamin E)

● Spinach (vitamins A and E, lutein and zeaxanthin)

● Kale (vitamin C, lutein and zeaxanthin)

● Broccoli (vitamin C, lutein and zeaxanthin)

● Citrus fruits (vitamin C)

● Sweet yellow corn (lutein and zeaxanthin)

2. Flush Your Eyes and Clear Makeup

Washing your eyes is one of the most essential factors for eye health. Vision quality is the main objective for our eyes, but correctly flushing your eyes can lower the risk of having eye problems or diseases. Flushing helps remove particles stuck in or on your eyelids, eyelashes, and eyebrow ridges.

Here is the process for flushing your eyes:

1. Make sure to remove contacts before cleaning at all.

2. Wash your hands with soap and water— you want to keep your hands clean when touching parts of your face.

3. Bend over the sink when flushing your eyes.

4. Use warm, gentle water to clean.

5. Keep your eyes open as much as possible— this may be tricky, but this will help water enter your eyes.

6. Spend around 10 to 15 minutes on each eye doing this.

What not to do when flushing out your eyes:

● DO NOT rub or press on your eyes. This makes the particles easier to stay in, and your cornea can also be damaged.

● Avoid medicated droplets

Loaded debris from makeup can lead to eye infections, so carefully removing makeup—especially mascara—should be removed with coconut oil or makeup wipes, then touched gently with a cold compress. Afterward, flush your eyes carefully using the process delivered above.

3. Limit Screen Usage

Hygiene is an essential factor for taking care of your eyes because it promotes your eyes’ function. However, an additional factor to maintain healthy eyesight is to limit the time you use a screen. Several studies explain how exposure to excessive blue light from digital devices can cause vision loss and develop eye strain or worse, eye cancer. Strained eyes have indicators: headaches, sore eyes, dry eyes, tiredness, and muscle fatigue. Furthermore, our eyes are also not built to be protected from blue light causing this lighting to pass thoroughly into our cornea and lens. Managing time is an important quality that benefits how long you use a screen. Minimize your screen time to two hours or less and take breaks between the time you use a device. Filters for blue light are also available on your devices for you to minimize.

4. Wear Sunglasses or Glasses Blocking UV Radiation

Sunglasses serve a purpose to protect your eyes from the sun and provide a comfortable quality when spending time outdoors. The two types of ultraviolet rays are UVA and UVB. UVA rays penetrate deep into the skin and eyes but cause more damage to your eyes and skin because they go deep into your cells, leading to some skin cancers and harmful eye conditions. UVB rays, on the other hand, directly damage DNA plus cause sunburn and short-term damage to your eyes. UV-protection sunglasses mean that they block these harmful ultraviolet radiations from hitting your eyes, plus lower the risk of eye damage to maintain a healthier vision. Eyeglasses with UV protection can also have this power.

Before purchasing sunglasses, check the labels to find if the glasses are protected from ultraviolet radiation. The indication will either be a 100% UV-protected or a UV 400 label. On the other hand, when receiving glasses, whether changing out old glasses or getting started to wear glasses, choose glasses with UV protection. You can also talk to your optometrist for a test to see if your sunglasses protect you from UV rays or to select the right glasses for you.

5. Be Up-to-Date with Yearly Eyes Exams

Annual eye exams can help identify eye problems, discover possible eye diseases, or protect your vision. Some people believe that eye exams are meaningless because they assume their vision is working just fine or because they already visit their health provider yearly, but eye doctors provide eye exams to see in detail any issues you may be facing. Yearly eye exams are especially crucial for those who have diabetes because they are at a higher risk for vision loss.

Although an annual eye exam is beneficial for everyone, some common reasons to see an eye doctor include:

● Vision loss

● Amblyopia (also called ‘lazy eye’, common in children)

● Double vision

● Eye pain

● Redness of an eye

● Astigmatism

● Eye floaters (Spots in vision appearing like specks that drift across your eyes)

● Photopsia (Disturbance when looking at light)

The Bottom Line

Without taking care of our eyes, it becomes difficult for you to navigate around the world. The previous tips explain the ways you can maintain eye health effectively. The comfortable vision you have, the comfortable quality of life you would have to explore. All human body systems work together like a team— a team that keeps you healthy, so it’s essential to make healthy choices for your physical health, because different negative symptoms around you can occur when left untreated. Taking good care of yourself could be a struggle initially. Still, it impacts you positively by getting along a strong, healthy way in life.