Our eyes are the vital parts of the body. Your vision is the most precious gift. Maintaining good eye health is important. We have come across a lot of proactive tips helpful to take care of the most delicate sensory organ. Some of the common factors that affect the eye’s health are long working hours in front of your computer, pollution in the environment, sun rays, and a non-healthy diet. There are simple lifestyle tips to follow like wearing sunglasses and adding eye health vitamins to your diet in order to maintain eye health.
What do we need to follow?
- Avoid UV rays – The UV rays of the sun affects the skin as well as the eyes. Optometrists suggest wearing sunglasses on a sunny day or a cloudy day. This is because; the UV rays can penetrate the clouds. UV-protected contact lenses may also harm the eyes if the white part of the eye is not covered with sunglasses.
- Taking a break when starring computer – The monitor should be kept five to nine inches below eye level. This offers less strain on the eyes and helps to blink. Blinking maintains the moisture level in the eye and helps avoid dryness. The best formula is the “20/20/20 rule” which means for every twenty minutes look away from the computer and fix your sight 20 feet away for about 20 seconds. This method works best in reducing eye strain and is a good exercise to maintain eye health.
- Practicing simple eye exercises – Simple exercises help in maintaining blood circulation and supplies enough oxygenated blood throughout.
- Simple yet effective lifestyle – A healthy digestive system can absorb eye health vitamins effectively from our regular diet. Drinking plenty of water, getting a good night’s sleep, etc. can help in promoting digestion. This improves the overall health as well. Smoking and consuming alcohol not only harms the whole body but also mostly affects the vision. Too much alcohol diminishes the capability of the body to absorb essential nutrients in the food. Similarly, too much smoking irritates the eyes and gradually decreases sight. Contact lens wearers should not overuse the lens as it can cause severe damage to the surface of the eye.
Nutrients for eye health
Adding plenty of fruits and vegetables to the everyday diet supports eye health. Vegetables like papayas, carrots, cabbage, spinach, broccoli, etc. are all rich in beta carotene and other essential eye nutrients. Egg yolks, seafood, liver, and beef are also providing healthy nutrients for the eyes.
Vitamin A is well known for good vision. Apart from this, Vitamin C and E are good at promoting cell regeneration.
Carotenoids like beta-carotene are helpful in improving the functioning of the immune system. These powerful antioxidants protect the eyes from harmful irritants in the environment.
Lutein often called “natural sunglasses” is present in the center of the retina. This protects us from the light emitted from television and computer, sunlight, welding light, fluorescent light, etc. Vegetables like broccoli, spinach, and peas are rich in lutein.
Dairy products, fish, meat, etc. are rich in Zinc. As said earlier, Vitamin A is essential for eye health and Zinc helps in releasing Vitamin A from the liver.
Other than these natural methods, eye health supplements are also prescribed by optometrists to balance eye vision. These are mostly recommended only if you are unable to maintain a balanced diet. It is important to follow a healthy regimen as early as possible to have good eye health.
