Your eyes can affect your health if you do not care for them. Your eyesight can worsen due to pollution, stress, age, and eating an unhealthy diet. While there are factors we have no control over, such as aging, there are several measures you can take to keep your eyes healthy.

Schedule Regular Eye Exams

Although you may seem to have healthy vision, you cannot be sure your eyes are okay unless you get help from a professional. Eye tests determine if you need correction. The tests can also help your eye doctor detect eye conditions early for treatment.

If you are above 60, you are likely to have a comprehensive dilated eye examination to check the inner structures of your eyes. During the test, your eye doctor will add drops to your eyes so that your pupil can dilate or widen. Doing so allows more light to enter the eyes so they can view your optic nerve, retina, and macula to check for signs of disease and damage.

Eat a Healthy Diet

A vision-healthy diet plays a significant role in keeping your eyes healthy. Eating plenty of fruits and dark, leafy greens prevents cataracts. Such foods have plenty of antioxidants, such as zeaxanthin and lutein.

Eating grapes also protects against retinal degeneration. Research also shows that eating a diet full of grapes gives high oxidant levels. Oxidants slow or prevent age-related macular degeneration.

Consuming fish full of omega-3 fatty acids, such as tuna, salmon, mackerel, and halibut, has many eye health benefits. You will get relief from inflammation of the ocular surface and its irritation symptoms. Omega-3 fatty acids also help your vision cells survive future injury or disease.

Control Your Weight

Weight plays a significant role in the health of your eyes. Individuals who are obese or overweight have a high risk of conditions that affect eye health. Regular exercises control or prevent diseases like diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Such conditions lead to vision problems. Therefore, exercising lowers your risk of harming your eye health.

Wear Sunglasses When Outdoors

Eyeglasses help protect the eyes from damage from UV rays from the sun. Sun exposure also increases your risk of age-related macular degeneration and cataracts.

When purchasing a pair of sunglasses, choose those with 99 to 100 percent protection from UVB and UVA radiation.

Rest Your Eyes

Working on a computer screen for long hours can reduce your blinking rate. As a result, your eyes become fatigued when you finish your tasks. Implementing the 20-20-20 rule can help your eyes rest and remain healthy even with the long digital screen time. The rule states that for every 20 minutes you spend on your computer, take a break and look at an object 20 feet in front. Doing that for 20 seconds reduces eyestrain.

It is also essential to get enough sleep to give your eye muscles a chance to rest. Lacking the appropriate amount of sleep reduces vision quality. Also, the eyes become lubricated during sleep. They also clear out all the irritants that accumulate in the daytime.

For more about keeping eyes healthy, call Clarity Vision at (919) 737-7200 to reach our office in Smithfield, NC.