Do You Know How Healthy Your Eyes Are? Visiting a doctor regularly to check your eyes is important. The National Eye Institute has some good suggestions for taking care of your eyes:
Protect Your Overall Health to Keep Your Eyes Healthy
Eat healthy foods. The National Eye Institute recommends that you have plenty of dark, leafy greens like spinach, kale, and collard greens. Eating fish that are high in omega-3 fatty acids is good for your eyes, too.
Get active. Being physically active helps you stay healthy. It can also lower your risk of health conditions that can cause eye health or vision problems — like diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
Quit smoking. Smoking can hurt your eyes. Smoking increases your risk of diseases like macular degeneration and cataracts — and it can harm the optic nerve.
Know your family’s health history and health risks
Talk with your family members to find out if they’ve had any eye problems. Some eye diseases and conditions run in families, such as age-related macular degeneration or glaucoma. Tell your eye doctor if any eye diseases run in your family. Health conditions, like diabetes or high blood pressure, can also increase your risk of some eye diseases. For example, people with diabetes are at risk for diabetic retinopathy — an eye condition that can cause vision loss and blindness.
Protect Your Eyes
Wear sunglasses. Protect your eyes from the sun by wearing sunglasses — even on cloudy days. Look for sunglasses that block 99 to 100 percent of both UVA and UVB radiation.
Wear protective eyewear. Safety glasses and goggles are designed to protect your eyes during certain activities, like playing sports, doing construction work, or doing home repairs. You can buy them from most eye care providers and some sporting goods stores.
Give your eyes a rest. Looking at a computer for a long time can tire out your eyes. Rest your eyes by taking a break every 20 minutes to look at something about 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
If you wear contacts, take steps to prevent eye infections. Always wash your hands before you put your contact lenses in or take them out. Be sure to disinfect your contact lenses and replace them regularly.
As people in our society don’t receive enough sleep and stare at computers and games all day, I agree it is essential we rest our eyes. I can see people reaching the end of their lives with their eyes completely busted due to electronics and no sleep.