Your eyes are one of nature’s most wonderful gifts to you because without them, it would be impossible for you to fully enjoy the beauty of your surroundings. The eye is indeed a very amazing and complicated organ, composed of a perfect system that includes the pupil, retina, cornea, iris, lens, and optic nerve. All these parts belong to forty individual subsystems, and together, they capture and interpret more than one million pulse signals per millisecond, something that even supercomputers cannot perform without flaw!
However, just like other organs in the body, the eye can be subject to stress and injury, and can lose its full potential when not properly taken care of. If you have a pair of beautiful eyes today, you have to do your best to maintain them even as you age.
1. Load Up With Eye-Healthy Foods
Most eye conditions are a result of poor nutrition, so if you want to maintain and enhance your vision, you have to add more eye-healthy food to your diet. Many of the foods that are considered beneficial for the eyes contain vitamins and nutrients that do not only improve your vision but also delay the onset of degenerative eye diseases. Green, leafy vegetables such as green cabbage and spinach, for instance, contain quercetin and rutin, two substances that protect the eye from ultraviolet radiation and reduce the leakage from small blood vessels in your retina. Zinc found in yogurt, beans, whole grains, and some meats also improve eye health by increasing the production of melanin, which is a protective eye pigment. Load with omega-3- and vitamin A-, and vitamin E-rich foods as well, because they play a very important role in fighting off free radicals and in the development of the retina.
2. Protect Your Eyes from the Sun
The eyes are a very sensitive organ, and when directly exposed to the sun, can develop certain diseases that can eventually lead to blindness. Ultraviolet rays that come from the sun can create cumulative damage, which means the longer your expose your eyes to the sun, the greater your chances of acquiring macular degeneration when you get old. Protect your eyes by wearing eyewear designed to ward off harmful UV rays. Invest in a quality pair of sunglasses that could block at least 99 percent of UVA and UVB radiation. In the same manner, a large umbrella or hat should be able to protect your eyes by blocking out up to 50 percent of UV radiation so make sure you bring one every time you leave the house.
3. Take a Break from the Computer
Many eye conditions are a result of spending too much time in front of the computer or the television. When working with computers, make sure you take 5 minutes break for every thirty minutes to an hour of work. Staring in front of the monitor for too long can cause eye strain and tension, which may lead to eye problems in the long run. As much as possible, limit your television watching to two hours.
4. Prevent Eye Hazards
If your job involves working in areas that pose eye hazards, make sure that you wear protective goggles all the time. Doing so will reduce your risk of eye injury due to accidents by up to 90 percent. Tiny wood or metal debris can cause abrasion to your cornea, so as much as possible, stay away from areas that pose eye hazards if you’re not wearing any eye protection. You can also eliminate the possibility of any eye injury by checking your equipments before starting your work. Glass lens are preferable when you’re choosing safety eyewear because they are less likely to get scratched and you can even have one designed for your eye corrective prescription.
5. Walk Your Way to Healthy Eyes
Finally, don’t forget to perform your daily exercises. Scientists have found out that light to moderate exercises such as brisk walking can reduce a person’s risk for glaucoma by a large percentage. When glaucoma patients were asked to incorporate at least fifteen minutes of walking exercises to their daily activities, a significant improvement in their condition was found to a point that some of them even stopped taking their medications.
If you are still young, it would be a good idea to start incorporating these habits to your life. When you do, you will have a higher chance of maintaining healthy vision even in the later years of your life.
