In the 21st century, looking after your eyesight is incredibly important.
On a day-to-day basis, your eyes go through a lot. From the minute you wake up to the minute your head hits the pillow at night, your eyes work tirelessly.
Not to mention, digital screens have now become are a big part of human life, which is another factor to be conscious of. Every hour, your eyes come into contact with a screen, be it your smartphone or office computer, meaning you need to be extremely vigilant.
Why is Looking After Your Eyesight Important?
Quite simply, if you don’t look after your eyes, you will run the risk of damaging your vision, which can lead to you wearing glasses or – in some cases – losing parts of your vision. Of course, this is something you don’t want to happen, as your eyes are key to guiding you through daily life.
How Can I Look After My Eyes?
You’ll be happy to learn that there are lots of simple and easy ways you can look after your eyes.
Altogether, this short guide has gathered 10 tips and tricks for you to use. By using these tips and tricks, you can relax knowing that your eyes will remain in good and healthy condition.
When you’re ready, let’s go through them one-by-one.
1. Get Laser Eye Surgery
Firstly, it’s important to address any pre-existing damage you might have to your eyes.
For example, if your eyes have been damaged by previous surgery, diseases, trauma, or scratching, then you need to have the problem assessed and fixed by a professional doctor. LASIK surgery in San Diego are experts in eye surgery and will ensure you have a comfortable experience from beginning to end, so don’t hesitate to contact them.
Remember, the longer that eye problems go unresolved, the worse they can potentially get. Therefore, it’s always best to be on the safe side. Plus, with modern technology and procedures, laser eye surgery isn’t as scary as you would imagine. In fact, it’s all pretty straightforward.
2. Stop Smoking
Currently, around 19% of adults around the world smoke tobacco. In addition to this, 27.5% of US high school students use vape products. Despite public health knowledge being pretty good on the dangers of smoking, millions of people sadly continue to do it. This is bad, especially because smoking is bad for your eyesight.
Why is smoking bad for your eyes? Because studies show that smoking increases the risk of:
- Cataracts
- Glaucoma
- Dry eye syndrome
So, if you smoke, it’s highly recommended that you stop – or at least try to cut down – if you want to protect your eyesight.
3. Reduce Your Screentime
As mentioned in the introduction, screens are a big part of modern life.
When you wake up, you check your phone. When you go to work, you use a computer or laptop. When you go home, you watch TV and maybe play some videos games. When you’re lying in bed at night, you might browse your phone. Essentially, all of this screentime isn’t good for your eyes, which is why you need to be extra careful!
If you think you’re a bit of a screen addict, try your best to reduce the amount of time you spend staring at them. This will reduce the chances of you experiencing digital eye strain.
4. Turn on Night Mode (Smartphones, Laptops, Computers)
Also, here’s another pro-tip regarding screens: turn on night mode (or dark mode) when it’s dark outside.
The vast majority of smartphones, laptops, and computers come with built-in night mode.
Night mode reduces the amount of blue light emitting from your screen, replacing it instead with warmer colors instead (you will notice it creates an orange-type effect). This way, your eyes become less strained at night, and you can fall asleep a lot easier.
So, make sure to use night mode to protect your eyes. Also, you can change your settings so that it automatically turns on at set times (e.g., night mode on your smartphone will turn on at 5PM every day).
5. Wear Anti-Glare Glasses When Driving
When driving, the sun and flashing lights from other cars can hurt your eyes. To prevent this from happening, all you need to do is wear anti-glare glasses. Not only will they protect your eyes, they’ll also make you look cool – and what’s not to love about that?
6. Avoid Sharp Objects
The truth is, humans are never far away from sharp objects. Scissors, knives, sticks, forks – there are tons of them that play a part in everyday life.
Therefore, when you’re near a sharp object, always remain conscious of how close it is to your eyes and whether it poses a risk. By being on the safe side, you’ll reduce the chance of any accidents happening.
7. Go for Regular Eye Tests
These days, there are tons of places you can go for eye tests, from opticians to hospitals. Sometimes, you can even have them for free, which is great.
So, whenever you feel like your eyes are strained or aren’t quite right, you can book yourself in for an eye test. At least this way, you will have concrete evidence whether there’s a problem or not. If so, you’ll be able to have your problem resolved (more often than not, this will mean wearing glasses).
8. Get Plenty of Sleep
Life can be a little hectic. You have a career to focus on, your health to maintain, and a family to look after. All of these factors mean it’s easy to fall behind on your recommended sleep amount – which isn’t good.
Sure, there’s nothing wrong with occasionally staying up late, but it’s essential that (for the most part) you have a healthy sleeping pattern. In the long-term, your eyes will thank you for it, as they will be under significantly less strain.
9. Learn About Your Family’s Eyesight History
Often, when you encounter problems with your eyesight, it isn’t your fault. This is because it might be genetic, meaning it’s been passed onto you from past generations.
If you’re worried about your eyesight, you should speak to your parents and grandparents about your family’s eyesight history. They will be able to shed light on any important information you need to know. For example, you might have a family history of poor eyesight, which inevitably leads to most family members needing glasses in their adult life. And if you don’t have a family history of eyesight problems, you can relax knowing that you’re much less at risk.
10. Eat and Drink Healthy
Lastly, make sure to eat and drink healthily.
Believe it or not, the food and drink that you intake is related to the health of your eyes. This is why it’s important to be as healthy as possible if you want your eyesight to hold up over the coming decades.
For example, it’s recommended that you try to cut down on saturated fats and fatty meats.
There is also a negative link between drinking excess alcohol and your eyesight, which is another important factor to be conscious of.
So, if you have a poor diet, you should work on fixing it as soon as possible.
