#62 - Take care of your eyes

How much attention every day do you pay to eyes care?

Our bodies are ageing, that's why every organ needs good habits to decrease the chance of unpleasant consequences, or at least to slow down the process to enjoy the beauty of life for as long as possible. Love every small part of you!

I know that nowadays there are amazing ways to correct eyes, many of my friends successfully and greatly improved their eyesights (costs are 1900 USD in Poland 2021).

Does it mean that you shouldn't develop additional care and awareness, and keep on track of the health of your eyes? The answer is yours - as always ;)

There are introduced ways to help keep your eyes in good shape for a long time, and it's not only about getting yourself the right pair of corrective lenses.

Always treat life holistically, by taking care of your eyes you care about the whole system.

PS. Consider visiting your eye doctor to get a regular check-up.

Smart ways to help keep your eyes healthy:

• Keep a healthy, balanced diet. Your diet should include plenty or fruits and vegetables, especially deep yellow and green leafy vegetables. Rich in vitamin A. Eating fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, tuna, and halibut can also help your eyes;

• Screen - adjust the display brightness not too bright, not too dark. Keep night mode turned on. If you spend a lot of time in front of a computer, you can forget to blink your eyes and your eyes can get tired. To reduce eyestrain, try the 20-20-20 rule: Every 20 minutes, look away about 20 feet in front of you for 20 seconds;

• Sleep well - as your eyes don't need to work intensively, they can also rest;

• Splash cool water on your face in the morning, it relaxes and soothes the eyes;

• Rely on few sources of light while reading or using screens. It’s not ideal to use screens in the dark where they are the only source of light;

• Maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight or having obesity increases your risk of developing diabetes. Having diabetes puts you at a higher risk of getting diabetic retinopathy or glaucoma;

• Do a regular exercise. Exercise may help to prevent or control diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. These diseases can lead to some eye or vision problems. So if you exercise regularly, you can lower your risk of getting these eye and vision problems;

• Wear sunglasses - many sources suggest them, I am personally not a big fan of those. Look for sunglasses that block out 99 to 100 percent of both UV-A and UV-B radiation. Before buying one make sure to debunk typical myths about price, the colour of lenses, and others;

• Wear protective eyewear. To prevent eye injuries, you need eye protection when playing certain sports, working in jobs such as factory work and construction, and doing repairs or projects in your home;

• Avoid smoking. Smoking increases the risk of developing age-related eye diseases such as macular degeneration and cataracts, and can damage the optic nerve;

• Know your family's medical history. Some eye diseases are inherited, so it is important to find out whether anyone in your family has had them. This can help you determine if you are at a higher risk of developing an eye disease;

• Know your other risk factors. As you get older, you are at a higher risk of developing age-related eye diseases and conditions. You may be able to lower your risk by changing some behaviours;

• If you wear contacts, take steps to prevent eye infections. Wash your hands well before you put on or take out your contact lenses. Also, follow the instructions on how to properly clean them, and replace them when needed;

• Do eye, or eyesight improving exercises like circles with eyes.

• Avoid rubbing your eyes - hands are exposed to a lot of dirt, dust, and bacteria, and all of these can be easily transferred to your peepers each time you touch or rub them. So avoid putting your hands to your eyes to prevent infection and irritation. If the habit is so ingrained in you, make an effort to get rid of it as soon as possible;

• Stay hydrated - sufficient fluid intake is essential to your body’s overall wellbeing, including the eyes. If you’re hydrated enough, you prevent your eyes from getting dry and irritated;

• Use the right kind of eye make-up - if you wear make-up, choose the brands that work well for you. Steer clear of eye shadows, mascara, and eyeliners that cause an allergic reaction to your eyes. Don’t forget to use a make-up remover before going to bed to avoid bacterial, build-up from residual make-up left in the eye area. Likewise, clean your make-up brushes regularly, especially those that you use for eye make-up application;

• Eye area is very sensitive, so make sure you don't expose them to acids, heavy-duty makeup, excess light and other chemical materials.

You might not feel the need to exercise your eyes, because, well, there aren't any immediate symptoms or signs of weak or tired eyes. If you want to guard yourself against hazy spots and blurry vision in the future, then I suggest you exercise them as often as possible. One of the best ways to do so is to try special yoga exercises for the eyes.

Yoga for eyes is a certain type of eye workout that can be done at any given time of the day, all you need is a few minutes.

Session - Series of Exercises:

• Palms on eyes. Rub your palms together to generate heat, place the palms on your eyes. Be gentle, make sure you don't press it. Keep your eyes open and count to 20. Let your eyes see the darkness inside your hands.

• Blink for a minute, very fast. Keep opening and closing your eyelids quickly without straining them.

• Focus on some object in front of you, focus and rotate your head while being focused.

• Look as far to right and then as far to left. Breath in a relaxed manner, and do this exercise very slowly. Don't jump big from one focus point to another, if you cant gaze smoothly, jump with your focus as dense as you can.

• Same ways look - up and down.

• Then - diagonally. From top right to the bottom left, and reverse way.

• Close your eyes tight for 3-5 seconds, and then open them as wide as you can, without moving your eyebrows, face muscles, or forehead.

• Sit straight, keep your body relaxed. Take a pen or use a pointing finger, shut one eye. Bring it close to the eye, on eye level, focus on the tip. Move the pen near and far from it, constantly being focused. Same for another eye. I do a couple of rounds, usually after a moment I feel, my eyes getting tired. I push a little bit longer and I stop.

• Finish with palming. But this time you keep your eyes closed.

For anyone who wants to avoid reading glasses, pinhole glasses are seen as a simple and inexpensive alternative.

However, it's still a long-term process of wearing them, since nothing happens overnight. You can research this topic to find an optimal for you to better your eyesight and add up to your eye care routine.

Pinhole glasses, also known as stenopeic glasses, or ayurvedic glasses. These are eyeglasses with a series of pinhole-sized perforations filling an opaque sheet of plastic in place of each lens. Similar to the workings of a pinhole camera, each perforation allows only a very narrow beam of light to enter the eye which reduces the size of the circle of confusion, on the retina and increases the depth of field. In eyes with refractive error, the result is often a sharper image.

Unlike conventional prescription glasses, pinhole glasses produce an image without the pincushion effect around the edges (which makes straight lines appear curved). While pinhole glasses are claimed to be useful for people who are both near- and far-sighted, they are not recommended for people with over 6 diopters of myopia.

Additionally, pinhole glasses reduce brightness and peripheral vision, and thus should not be used for driving or when operating machinery.

Merchants state that after prolonged use, the plastic grating should become easy to ignore. However, each time the user blinks, the horizontal lines of the grating will briefly appear to be thicker. This is because the eyelid moving over the pupil will reduce the amount of light falling onto the retina and thus will briefly remove the lateral inhibition effect which normally makes all the holes appear bigger (and the grating appear thinner). So, as long as the user keeps blinking, they will be constantly reminded of the dark grating covering their eyes.

Although many promises given by merchants of these glasses, the real effect remain not proven to improve eyesight. But, obviously, interested individuals might safely use it to try for themselves, and conclude if they are actually useful and helped to see clearer and better.

The pinhole occluder, a device used by ophthalmologists and optometrists for diagnosis of refractive errors, works on the same principles but is not intended for use outside of diagnosis.

If you decide to purchase pinhole glasses, try to wear them every day for 20-30 min.

• Sunbath. Stand in a place, where the sun rays are falling. Close your eyes and face the sun, make sure your eyes are relaxed and not shut tightly. Slowly move your head from left to right. You can practice it regularly, every morning.

• Look at some green nature. It helps to relax the eyes.

• Rosewater. This keeps your eyes moist and clear. It’s especially helpful during allergy season. It has anti-inflammatory properties. It's a natural remedy for many problems including eye dryness and eye itchiness. Make sure that you have a trusted vendor, so your rosewater is 100% pure.

• Reduce time spent looking on artificial light-producing devices like a computer screen, television, mobile phone, tablet, or virtual reality glasses. Do it as much as possible, looking at nature around you, or even your surroundings will save some good health for your eyes and sight.