Developing a Daily Eye Routine to Maintain Healthy Vision

As the old saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the same goes for building a healthy lifestyle. It’s the little steps we take every day that build up over time and eventually lead to us achieving our goal weights or maximum gains. But, have you ever thought about how developing a daily eye routine could help you maintain healthy vision as well?

Regular Eye Exams

If you want to begin building a healthy eye routine, making regular appointments with your eye doctor should be your first step. Regular eye exams are important for detecting any issues that may develop as soon as possible. This way, doctors can start any potential problems immediately.

How often should you get regular eye exams? This depends on your age. Children should start visiting an eye doctor at six months old. You should schedule them again at age three and once more between ages five and six. After that point, children with healthy eyes should have eye exams every two years.

People ages 20 to 30 should have eye exams every two years. When you enter your thirties, you should have annual eye exams. This is when your vision can begin to change and it’s more likely for problems like cataracts and glaucoma to develop.

Eat Eye-Healthy Food

There are a lot of foods that contain nutrients that are very beneficial to your eye health. You should begin incorporating more of these foods into your everyday diet. Your mom may have told you when you were a kid that if you didn’t eat your carrots you’d go blind. Well, she was right… to a degree anyway.

Carrots contain beta-carotene and vitamin A, which are great nutrients for your vision. Not eating carrots won’t result in you losing your vision, but by adding this eye-healthy food into your daily diet, you can help prevent vision problems down the road. There are many other foods, such as spinach, kale, avocados, red meats, poultry, and many, many others that help your vision. If you eat well-balanced meals with lots of fruits and vegetables, chances are you’re eating all the right things for your vision already.

Wear Sunglasses

You should protect your eyes from the sun’s harmful UV rays the same way you protect your skin from them. Whenever you’re going out in the sun, it’s recommended that you lather your skin with sunscreen, right? The same goes for your eyes.

You should wear sunglasses whenever you’re outside, every day, even when it’s cloudy and dreary out. UV rays can cause damage to your retinas – damage that can’t be reversed. UV rays can also cause cataracts and even cause less serious damage like red and itchy eyes. While temporary, these less serious issues can be really uncomfortable and are completely avoidable.

It is recommended by the American Optometric Association that you should wear sunglasses that block out both UVA and UVB radiation. They should have gray lenses to allow for proper color recognition and keep out at least 99-100 percent of both types of rays. It’s also important to ensure the lenses aren’t scratched and you protect them from scratches.

Cut Back on Electronics Usage

Most people spend a good portion of their day staring at computer screens, cell phones, and tablets which can have a debilitating effect on your eyes. Spending so much time using these electronics can cause significant eye strain, blurred vision, and dry eye. And, eye strain can cause frequent headaches. Problems like digital eye strain and Computer Vision Syndrome are becoming more and more prevalent as we become more and more dependent on technology.

What if it isn’t possible to cut back the amount of time you spend on electronics because it’s a part of your job? In this case, you need to remember to give your eyes frequent rest.

There are also other precautions you can take to decrease the impact on your eyes. Make sure your computer screen sits back about 20 inches from your eyes and position it below your eye level by about five inches. Use light bulbs with lower wattages and pull your curtains or drapes closed to reduce glares. It’s also a good idea to step away from your computer for at least 15 minutes every two hours.

Take Care of Your Contacts

Forty-five million Americans wear contacts to help them see better. But not everyone follows the recommendations given for contact wearers which can cause damage to your eyes. If you don’t take care of your contacts, you can experience red or irritated eyes, blurred vision, eye pain, or you can damage your corneas. Infections can develop in your eyes if your contacts are not changed properly or if they have dirt on them which can scratch your eyes. With all of the long-term risks associated with eye infections, it’s best to take this advice very seriously.

If you wear contacts, you should clean and soak them in fresh solution, and always replace your contacts when it is advised. This means you don’t wear 30-day contacts for longer than 30 days and don’t wear one-day contacts for a week, etc.

Include Vitamin Supplements in Your Daily Eye Routine

Eyes need vitamins and minerals to stay healthy, just as our bodies do. Eye vitamin supplements, like our Ocu-Plus Formula, can significantly improve your eye health and vision. You should add eye vitamins into your daily routine and you will begin to notice a decrease in the number of symptoms, such as blurred vision and eye strain, you experience throughout the day.

By taking a few minutes out of your day to work on your eyes, you can ensure better, clearer, and stronger vision. In the morning, remember to wear your sunglasses on the way out. Eat a nutritious breakfast and take regular breaks from computer work. At lunch, do some eye exercises. Then, at night, take your multivitamin or supplement with your healthy dinner. Remember to wash your hands before taking your contacts out at the end of the day. And, of course, book your annual eye exam!