4 Tips For Healthy Eyes In 2017

Start the year off strong by taking care of your body, while promoting healthy eyes.

No matter what your New Year’s resolutions may be, it’s easy to add healthy eye habits to your lifestyle. Stay in shape by keeping active, and avoid common vision problems at the same time!

You can avoid the progression of cataracts and other vision problems in 2017 with these 4 habits:

1. Exercise More – Take Regular Eye Breaks

For many people, a “relaxing session” involves curling up and reading a book, watching TV or playing video games.

While these activities are great for relaxation, they are still strenuous on your eyes.

Try doing exercises in between computer sessions. Do stretches while looking out the window – you’ll be able to reduce back pain and combat vision fatigue at the same time.

We recommend taking 20 minute sessions between tasks to help relax the muscles in your eyes. This is also a great time to do push-ups, pull-ups or squats!

2. Eat Healthy – Choose Eye-Healthy Foods

Certain foods contain vitamins and nutrients that strengthen eyesight, including omega-3 fatty acids, beta carotene and lutein.

Carrots are packed with beta-carotene, and are one of the vegetables that are famous for promoting good eyesight. Other such vegetables include spinach, collards and kale. There are a wealth of options available to improve eyesight, no matter what your diet goals may be.

Need more protein in your diet? Try salmon, tuna, eggs, nuts or beans.

Looking for more fruit? Citrus fruits such as oranges and lemon are rich in Vitamin C.

It’s easy to add foods that promote strong eyesight to your diet. We recommend creating a diet calendar to help plan your meals and stay accountable to your goals. You’ll also be able to plan healthy options for your meals ahead of time, such as adding leafy greens that contain antioxidants that stave away cataracts.

3. Create A Healthy Work Environment

One suggestion that we can’t stress enough is improving your work environment. You’re most likely to be productive when you’re comfortable, and your eyes will thank you for it too!

Constantly staring a computer screen results in “computer vision syndrome,” a type of eye fatigue.

Here are a couple tips in setting up your workspace for a more productive 2017:

  • Adjust your chair to promote a proper posture
  • Keep your monitor below eye level
  • Move your monitor 20-26 inches away from your eyes when working
  • Reduce your monitor brightness to a comfortable level
  • Use lower intensity bulbs to light up your work area
  • If needed, use a glare filter to reduce glare from your monitor.

Taking the steps to properly set up your working conditions will not only result in a more comfortable work environment, but you’ll also improve your posture and promote healthy vision in the long run. It’s a win-win!

4. Adopt Better Eye Habits

Adopting better eye habits can help you reduce the progression of cataracts, staving away potential vision problems.

Here are some key takeaways from Dr. Boyd:

  • Use the right pair of shades to protect your eyes from the sun’s ultraviolet rays.
  • Quit smoking, or never start. Smoking is proven to promote cataract progression. If you’re having trouble quitting – ask your doctor for help.
  • Avoid steroid eye drops – these can speed up the progression of cataracts.

Eye fatigue and poor health result in the deterioration of eyesight. Further degeneration can lead to cataracts – which will require laser eye surgery.

Don’t Take Your Eyes For Granted

It’s easy to take what we have for granted. Whether that may be a roof above our heads, regular meals or healthy eyesight, it’s important to live a life of gratitude.

By improving your lifestyle with the above habits for healthy eyes, we hope you’ll be able to continue enjoying an awesome life, without any vision problems. Have a great 2017!

Team BoydVision