Eye health is often overlooked but extremely important. The reason why it’s overlooked is that we depend on our vision so much as we are using it every day of our waking hours. This leads us into believing that our eye health is fine. However, it’s extremely important to visit your optometrist every year.

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Vision can slowly deteriorate over time without you realizing it. Another reason why eye health is overlooked is that you don’t know if it’s a problem until you have it. Multiple different factors can cause a decline in eye health.

They can be due to poor lifestyle habits such as reading in dark lit conditions and not sleeping well, genetics such as premature birth, ageing, failing to treat symptoms soon enough such as glasses prescription or from medical conditions such as diabetes.

Symptoms of Vision and Eye Health Decline

Eye Health
  • Frequent eye strains: dry eyes, inability to move vigorously
  • Inability to see far distances
  • Staring at something and getting headaches or migraines
  • Watery eyes
  • Sensitivity to lights or brightness
  • Itching or sensitive eyes

If any of the above symptoms are present in you or are getting into your way of life, you need to seek the help of your doctor or optometrist as soon as possible. However, if these symptoms come and go as one-offs, you can treat them yourself.

Maintaining eye health and better practices is the best way to avoiding eye concerns and vision deterioration. And even if you may not feel the symptoms often, it’s still a good idea to have good practices towards preserving the health of your eyes. 

How to Improve Eye Health

Eye Health

Here are a few ways you can improve and preserve conditions for your eye health and vision:

  • Eat a balanced diet. Try eating foods that are rich in antioxidants. These are important for the functioning and health of the eyes. Fresh fruits and leafy vegetables are highly suggested.
  • Adjust your environment lighting. Make sure that no room is too bright or dark for your eyes, Strong lights can be harmful to your eyes and cause long term damage, and dark lit rooms will encourage your eyes to work harder to focus. This causes strains. Find a balance in lighting where your eyes can easily adjust and don’t demand too much from them.
  • Use Sunglasses. The sun emits harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays that can damage your eyes if there is overexposure. Choose sunglasses with UV-A and UV-B protection. You can even get prescribed sunglasses that will protect your eyes while also helping your eyes to see better.
  • Get regular exercise. Exercise is very important for eye health. Physical activity can promote blood circulation and increase oxygen levels to the eyes for better vision and long term protection.
  • Take Breaks during work or study. Take regular breaks at work and study often demand the eyes focus. Doing this too long without resting periods will result in fatigue and poor vision.
  • Get periodic eye examinations. Always check with the optometrist and doctor about your vision. This is probably the most important point of all as even though you may be practising the above points, you can never really be sure what stage of decline your eye is at. Also, if you feel like there isn’t a problem with your vision, play it safe and get your regular eye examination.

Now that you have a better understanding of eye health, make sure you are taking care of your body, sticking with good habits and avoiding the things that put your eye health and vision quality at harm. Developing better lifestyle habits and being disciplined enough to stick to it is the key to better health and living.

Head over to the Okadoc app to immediately book an appointment with your health practitioner.