Healthy Vision Awareness Month
May is Healthy Vision Awareness Month, so we’re sharing a few tips to help you keep your eyes healthy and happy.
While we all agree that eyesight has a huge impact on our daily lives and is probably the sense we would fear losing most, most people don’t pay much attention to their vision until there is a problem. While a professional eye exam can catch common problems and early warning signs, there are also simple steps you can take in your daily life to help create healthy vision for a lifetime!
- Always wear UV treated sunglasses, especially during protracted periods on the water or a golf course.
- Always wear eye protection. Examples of important activities are: sporting events, mowing your lawn, working with power tools or using household chemicals.
- Always work and read in a well-lighted room.
- Use anti-reflective coated eyeglasses when using a computer to lessen glare and eye fatigue.
- Eat a balanced diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables. Concentrate on food items with a lot of lutein and zeaxanthin (berries and veggies), as well as omega 3 fatty acids (oily fish like salmon).
- Give up the habit of smoking.
- Exercise regularly, and keep your weight in good control.
- Control your blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol.
- Limit alcohol intake. Using wine as an example: males shouldn’t intake more than 8oz per day, and females shouldn’t intake more than 4oz.
- See your eye care professional every other year if you are under age 65, or yearly if you are over age 65 or have a known eye condition.
- Take a good, well-known multivitamin and consider taking Omega-3 fish oil supplements after age 50.
