7 tips to healthier vision

Do you struggle with dry eyes? Every year does your vision keep getting worse? Or do you have a family history of certain eye disorders and looking for ways to keep your vision in check? There are many ways to improve eye health and prevent damage down the road. Finding the root of the problem and taking preventative measures is important when it comes to eye health.

Here are 7 tips to healthier vision:

Eat right & avoid 4 F’s

Certain foods are great for eye health. A diet rich in low glycemic fruits and vegetables has been known to improve eye health. Specifically, try adding in more greens like spinach, kale or collard greens into your diet. In addition to good fats such as seeds, nuts, olives, olive oil, and fish such as salmon, tuna and halibut. They are filled with omega-3 fatty acids, which are also great for eye health. Foods to avoid are the 4 F’s: Fried, Fatty, Fast, and Fake foods, as these foods can promote inflammation in the body and can spike blood sugar levels. Key is to reduce inflammation and prevent blood sugar imbalances!

Give it a rest

If you’re like most working adults and spend hours on the computer every day, make sure you’re taking breaks from screen time to reduce eye strain.  The best strategy is the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes looked 20 feet away from your computer for 20 seconds.

Protect your eyes

Protect your eyes just like you would your skin when in the sun. Make sure to wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from damaging UV rays. Make sure to find sunglasses that offer both UVA and UVB protection. In addition to protecting your eyes from the sun, you also need to protect your eyes from the blue lights emitted from computers and screens. Blue lights which are Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and the blue light is in the (400–490 nm) range. Studies have shown that continued exposure to blue light can affect many physiologic functions including disrupting circadian rhythm and eye health. There are simple ways to reduce blue light exposure including downloading blue light filters on your phone and computer or wearing blue light blocking glasses.

Quit smoking

There are many health reasons to quit smoking. If the fact that there are over 7,000 chemicals in cigarrettes isn’t enough alone to convince you to stop smoking, hopefully the fact that smoking can affect your vision will.

But how you may ask? Nicotine, one well-known compound found in cigarettes, actually binds to specific receptors in your retinal cells in your eye (which are responsible for processing vision). Nicotine binds to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). Which in turn alters certain neurotransmitters from functioning and alters vision information processing. In addition to changes happening within the eye, the chemicals can expose your eyes (and rest of your body) to high levels of oxidative stress, which damages blood vessels. If the small blood vessels in your eye get damaged, this can lead to vision problems or worse.

Know your history

Many eye problems can be genetic. See if family members have any eye conditions and make sure to get regular check ups if this is the case to help maintain healthy vision. Some common genetic eye disorders include: Retinitis pigmentosa, Leber Congenital Amaurosis (which can have symptoms of Photophobia: Increased sensitivity to light and Nystagmus: uncontrolled eye movements), and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Age-related macular degeneration is the number one cause of blindness in the world. This is why yearly eye health check-ups are so crucial and to know your family history.

Take care of your contacts

I get it, people do not like to wear glasses all the time. Contacts do provide another option besides wearing glasses. However, it is easy to get into bad habits when it comes to contact wearing. Make sure to replace your contacts at the recommended time. Wash your hands before touching your contacts and take them out at night to give your eyes the rest and oxygen it needs. Key tip: have multiple contact lens cases to ensure that your contacts are kept in a clean container at all times!

Acupuncture for healthy vision

A fun fact most people do not know about acupuncture is that it can help vision. Acupuncture has been shown to increase blood flow, reduce inflammation, and help to even prevent certain eye disorders. A number of studies found that acupuncture may have positive effects on people who suffer from chronic dry eye. One study showed that acupuncture could help reduce tear loss that those with dry eye usually experience. Another study looked at how certain acupuncture points affected different areas of the brain and found that when looking at MRI scans after acupuncture the occipital cortex and somatosensory cortex were activated. This could shed light on exactly how acupuncture can help to promote health vision.

If you suffer from vision loss or eye conditions such as macular degeneration, retinopathy, or even dry eyes. Give our office a call today at (425) 686-4498 to schedule your consultation to learn more about how we can help.