Good eye health has huge benefits no matter your age. With just a few simple changes to your lifestyle, you can keep your eyes safe and prevent conditions that could affect your vision. As March is National Save Your Vision Month, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to share some tips for maintaining good eye health, suggested by the National Eye Institute (NEI).
Tips for Maintaining Good Eye Health
- Stay a healthy weight. If you are overweight, you are at a higher risk for systemic conditions like diabetes that can lead to glaucoma and diabetic eye disease, putting you in danger of permanent vision loss.
- Eat well. This will not only ensure that you remain an optimal weight, it also promotes your eye health. Many fruits and vegetables offer benefits for the eyes, particularly leafy greens, along with foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as tuna, salmon, and halibut.
- Receive regular eye exams. You need a comprehensive eye exam annually even if you are suffering from no vision or eye health problems. For one thing, you may not realize that you need glasses or contact lenses. For another, your optometrist is able to detect signs of common eye diseases in their earliest stages, even before symptoms begin to show.
- Find out your family medical history. Many eye diseases are hereditary, meaning you are at higher risk for developing a condition if it runs in your family.
- Use eye protection. When working on a task that creates debris, using chemicals, or playing sports, you must use eye protection with polycarbonate lenses.
- Manage any chronic conditions you have. If you already suffer from diabetes, hypertension, or multiple sclerosis, it is important to keep the condition under control to avoid complications to your vision, which can include diabetic retinopathy, inflammation of the optic nerve, glaucoma, and blindness.
One last thing you can do to protect both your own eyes and your kids’ eyes is to make sure your family always wears sunglasses when outdoors. Find a pair for your child with 100 percent UV protection in the Real Kids collection.