If you’ve found this blog and you’re reading this post, then you’re more than likely trying to improve your eyesight, and maybe you’re even wondering if you may be unknowingly inflicting eye damage upon yourself too. So before we go ahead and try to improve your eyesight, we should make sure that you are not suffering from eye damage first. There are several different things that may be subtly causing eye damage, and you may find that diagnosing and correcting these issues can quickly help you improve your eyesight.
Eye Damage
So let’s get started, shall we? There are a number of bad habits that may be causing eye damage without you realizing it. One of the main causes of eye damage that flies under the radar is smoking. Many people simply don’t know that smoking causes eye damage. In addition to causing short term damage to your eyes such as irritation and redness, smoking can leave lasting eye damage. Smoking has been shown to greatly increase the risk of developing Age-Related Macular Degeneration, which is an eye disease prevalent among the elderly that results in a major blur and distortion in eyesight and can eventually lead to becoming legally blind. Smoking increases the risk of developing this eye disease because the chemicals from cigarettes will reach and damage the macular, which is the most sensitive part of the retina, by traveling through the bloodstream. Unfortunately, there is no cure for Macular Degeneration, and there is little that can be done to repair this part of the retina once the eye damage is done.
Luckily, there is good news for current smokers who are now aware of the eye damage smoking causes and are in the process or soon to be in the process of quitting smoking. Studies have shown that smokers who quit reduce their risk of developing Macular Degeneration as time passes. After ten years, the risks start to decrease, and after twenty years of non-smoking, smokers can expect to have about the same chance of getting Macular Degeneration as non smokers. So far, smoking is the only proven cause of Age-Related Macular Degeneration. So not only may you notice your eyesight improve immediately by stopping smoking due to the temporary effects of irritation and red eye, but quitting will also greatly help the long term health of your eyes by preventing eye damage by reducing the risk of getting Age-Related Macular Degeneration.
Another bad habit that can cause eye damage is eye strain, usually caused from staring at a computer monitor for an extended period of time. While not being as subtle or being capable of causing the long term eye damage that smoking does, it can definitely be a contributing factor to eye problems. The effects are pretty much temporary, so if eye strain is causing eye damage to you and hampering your vision then you should be able to see a quick improvement in your eyesight after you correct it.
There are a number of things you can do to improve your eyesight and prevent eye damage by relieving eye strain. To start things off, you can try and prevent eye strain by making sure you are sitting far back from the monitor. Staring at it from too close of a distance can just be too much light and can be rather overwhelming, leading to sore eyes and even headaches and causing eye damage. Also, when we look at monitors, the amount we blink tends to go down. So if you notice your eyes starting to hurt or get blurry while staring at the screen, make sure you are blinking enough so that you don’t cause damage to your eyes.
There are also several excercises that you can perform to reduce eye strain and prevent eye damage. Related to the above, you can perform a deep wink, closing your eyes for 5-7 seconds tightly before opening them widely. You can also change your focus away from the screen to some sort of random object at least twenty feet away. Focus on the object long enough for your eyes to readjust and relax, and then go back to the monitor. Lastly, you can also perform the act of palming, which is closing your eyes and then covering them with your palms shaped into cups. Keep them there for about a minute. The purpose of this is just to relax your eyes while blocking out all light and movement. These techniques can be used to improve your eyesight and prevent eye damage if you suffer from eye strain and must still look at a monitor for extended periods of time.
That about wraps it up for this first section in covering how to improve your eyesight by preventing eye damage. I hope this has been informational and helpful to any of you who may be looking to improve your eyesight and prevent eye damage. Be sure to check back soon for more information and techniques on how to improve your eyesight.
Cheers
Mark
