10 Tips on how to maintain eye health naturally
Often some people forget the importance of maintaining eye health. Daily habits such as staring at a gadget screen to a hobby of reading in the dark can harm eye health. If allowed to continue, it is not impossible that, over time, your vision will decrease. Therefore, consider the simple ways below to maintain the ability to see and maintain the health of your eyes.
Various ways to maintain eye
health Taking care of eye health does not need to be expensive and complicated. Most of the tips below can even be done anywhere and anytime.
Here are various easy ways that you can try from now on so that your eyes are always healthy and awake:
1. Eating nutritious foods
The easiest way to maintain your eye health is to eat healthy food for your eyes. Fill your plate with food sources high in omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and carotenoids every day.
Carotenoids belong to a family of antioxidants that are good for the eyes and can also help boost the immune system and protect the body from disease.
You can meet all these nutritional intakes from healthy foods for the eyes, such as carrots, oranges, green leafy vegetables (spinach, mustard greens, broccoli, turnip greens), nuts, eggs, fatty fish (salmon, tuna, sardines), and so on.
Maintaining your diet is also beneficial to avoiding the risk of obesity and diseases such as type 2 diabetes, which is one of the leading causes of blindness in adults.
2. Avoid cigarette smoke
Did you know that cigarette smoke is harmful to the health of the lungs and heart and has a bad effect on the eyes? Yes, not many are aware that smoking can also cause eye problems.
According to the New York State Department of Health website, smoking is often associated with the following health problems:
- Macular degeneration: Smokers have a 3-4 times higher risk of developing macular degeneration.
- Cataracts: Heavy smokers who smoke more than 15 cigarettes a day have a 3 times higher risk of having cataracts in their eyes.
- Glaucoma: Smoking is often associated with high blood pressure, cataracts, and diabetes, which are risk factors for glaucoma.
- Diabetic retinopathy: Smoking also increases your risk of developing diabetes, so you are more likely to develop diabetes complications such as retinopathy.
- Dry eye syndrome: Active smokers also have a greater chance of developing dry eye syndrome.
If you do not immediately avoid smoking, especially if you have been exposed to one of the conditions above, it is possible that eye disorders can end in blindness. Therefore, stop smoking as soon as possible to maintain eye health, especially if you are young.
If you are not an active smoker, you still need to avoid exposure to secondhand smoke from people around you. Being a passive or secondhand smoker can be just as dangerous as being an active smoker.
3. Wear sunglasses outdoors.
It's not just your skin that you need to care for while you're outdoors. Your eyes too. However, of course, this is done differently.
When the weather is hot or even a little cloudy, you should wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from exposure to the sun's UV rays.
Glasses equipped with anti-radiation lenses can help protect your eyes. Excessive exposure to UV radiation increases the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration. Therefore, choose glasses that can block UVA and UVB rays up to 99 percent.
Make sure the lenses can protect your eyes as a whole by choosing lenses that cover your eyes from the front and sides. Good quality sunglasses can reduce glare while driving, so they don't hurt your eyes.
If you wear contact lenses, choose lenses equipped with UV protection. Or, you can stick with sunglasses for added protection.
4. Wearing glasses when swimming
There are still many people who may underestimate the importance of wearing swimming goggles to maintain eye health. In fact, with proper use, swimming goggles are useful for preventing the risk of irritation and allergies due to exposure to various bacteria and chemicals in the water.
Plus, wearing swimming goggles also helps you see and be more aware of your surroundings while in the water. In addition, swimming goggles will also be a barrier to foreign objects and not hurt your eyes.
People who have dry eyes, sensitive eyes, visual impairments (plus or minus eyes), or are recovering from certain eye diseases should also always wear swimming goggles. According to your condition, you can ask for a special prescription from your eye doctor and order special swimming goggles.
5. Set the appropriate lighting in the room
Another way to keep the eyes healthy is to adjust the lighting in the room. Activities in a room with good lighting can increase concentration, productivity, and morale more than in a dimly lit room.
Good room lighting can also maintain eye health because too bright can create glare, while too cloudy light makes vision blurry. Both can make the eyes tired over time.
Several other risks may occur if you are active or like to read in a dark room. Your eyes can be dry because, in low light, your eyes blink less often. Dry eyes can make your vision uncomfortable.
When adjusting the lighting in the room, you also need to adjust to the current state of eye health. People who have refractive problems (minus, plus, or cylindrical eyes) may need special lighting settings to see well. The same goes for visual impairments such as cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma, and other vision conditions.
Here are some tips for choosing room lights that are good for eye health:
- Avoid installing a light bulb that has bright fluorescent light.
- Install lighting that points below the eyes.
- Choose a bulb with a low wattage that emits a warm glow that resembles natural sunlight.
The lighting in the room is very important. However, it would help if you did not forget the importance of natural sunlight. Natural lighting has proven to be the most energy-efficient means of lighting than artificial lights.
Plus, natural lighting in the room also provides better lighting without glaring the eyes, like incandescent or fluorescent lamps. That way, you can comfortably move without worrying about your eye health.
6. Avoid looking at the gadget screen for too long
It's impossible in this day and age to do activities without the help of electronic devices and gadgets. However, make sure you don't use the gadget for too long.
Staring at computer screens and gadgets for too long can result in tired, dry, and strained eyes. In addition to experiencing eye problems, you can also be affected by several other disorders such as:
- Blurred vision
- Difficulty paying attention from a distance
- Headaches
- Neck, back, and shoulder pain
Rest your eyes every 20 minutes. Try to take short walks to avoid severe eye fatigue. If you are a worker who spends time in front of the computer, try to take a walk every 2 hours for 15 minutes.
You also need to maintain good posture when doing activities in front of a monitor screen or gadget not to disturb your eye health. Use a comfortable chair that is neither too high nor too low.
7. Doing eye exercises
can be done to help maintain the health of the eye muscles. You can do it in the morning, before bed, or when your eyes feel tired.
Here are the steps you can try to do eye exercises:
- While sitting relaxed, close your eyes and move your eyes up as far as possible. Hold for a few moments, then lower the "look" down. Repeat several times, then open your eyes and look around.
- After that, close your eyes again. While keeping your eyes closed, the lyrics to the right, then the lyrics to the left. Repeat several times, changing directions.
- Open your eyes and look around. Then, close your eyes again. Now, scroll diagonally from top right to bottom left while closing your eyes, then switch top left to bottom right. Repeat several times. Open your eyes.
- Finally, close your eyes tightly and blink a few times.
8. Adequate Sleep
Sleep: Having adequate and quality sleep is very important to maintain eye health, affecting improved vision.
Sleep can help your eyes to rest completely. After a day of activity, the eyes need time to repair and recover. When you are sleep-deprived, your eyes automatically don't have enough time to rest. This condition can cause a gradual weakening of your vision.
Plus, lack of sleep can cause your eyes to feel itchy, dry, and even reddened. This is because the eyes do not produce enough tears due to lack of sleep. As a result, the eyes are also at risk of infection.
So, make sure you get enough sleep at night. You can also adjust the lighting in the room so that it is comfortable and not too bright so that it is easier for you to fall asleep.
9. Regular exercise
Another way that is no less important to keep your eyes healthy is to exercise regularly. How could that be?
Many eye diseases or disorders are associated with other health problems, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol. Well, sufficient physical activity can keep you from the risk of these diseases so that your eyes are always healthy.
Exercise can also reduce the risk of glaucoma by 25%. Plus, exercising 3 times a week reduces your chances of developing macular degeneration in old age.
You don't need to do strenuous or high-intensity exercise. Simple activities such as walking and going up and down stairs will suffice, especially if done regularly.
Remember to wear sunglasses with UV protection when doing outdoor sports.
10. Routine eye check-ups Eye
examinations are not only done when you already have eye disorders. However, this needs to be made a habit and done regularly.
Eye examinations can help monitor how well your vision is and detect eye problems early. Even if you don't have any symptoms or complaints at this time, the right examination can help you identify an asymptomatic eye disorder.
Regular eye checks can tell you if your current eyeglass prescription is no longer accurate and needs updating.
Those were various tips for maintaining the health of your eyes. Begin to commit to yourself to do the tips above so that your eyes are always healthy and see well.
