Do you want to live a healthy life and take the best possible care of your body? The eyes are very important and are often overlooked. Over 2.4 million eye injuries occur yearly and most of these are preventable. Since Nectar Sunglasses is dedicated to delivering high quality sunglasses at an affordable price, we feel that it's appropriate to mention some eye care tips. Some important eye care tips include limiting screen time, quitting smoking, wearing sunglasses as well as protective eye wear.
Screen Time
Technology is becoming more prevalent with 77% of americans owning a smart phone. Along with being glued to their smart phones, many Americans spend 8-10 hours a day behind a screen at work. Unfortunately, excessive screen time can cause many negative health effects such as Eyestrain, blurry vision, trouble focusing at a distance, Dry eyes, Headaches, Neck aches, back , and shoulder pain.
So what can be done to mitigate too much screen time? There are many ways including:
- Ensuring you have your prescription glasses or contacts up to date
- Talking to your doctor about specialized computer glasses
- Moving the screen to ensure your eyes are level with the top of monitor. This allows you to look slightly down at the screen.
- Attempting to avoid avoid glare from windows and lights and considering using an anti-glare screen.
- Using a supportive chair that allows your feet to be flat while sitting.
- Blinking more will help dry eyes.
- Resting your eyes every 20 minutes by looking at a fixed object 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
- Standing up every two hours and walk around for 10 minutes. Not only will this help your eyes, but walking could potentially help you lose weight!
Smoking
An important eye care tip is to refrain from smoking. It's common knowledge that smoking is bad for you as it kills 480,000 Americans each year, including approximately 41,000 of these deaths from exposure to secondhand smoke. Smoking increases your risk of getting cataracts, and macular degeneration. Cataracts occur when the eyes become gradually clouded which eventually cause blindness. As we age, proteins clump together, causing clouds to appear. Once these cataracts become severe enough, surgery will be required to remove them. While cataracts are the most common cause behind vision loss for the above 40 crowd, 90% of people who have cataract surgery recover their vision to anywhere from 20/20 to 20/40.
If you thought cataracts were bad, Macular Degeneration takes it to another level. This disease is the leading cause of blindness and impacts more than 10 million Americans. This figure is more than glaucoma and cataracts combined and is caused by a weakening of the central retina.
Sunglasses
It may seem obvious coming from a sunglass company, but wearing high quality sunglasses is a crucial eye care tip. The correct pair of shades protects your eyes from the sun's UV or Ultra Violet rays. Similar to smoking, UV exposure increases your odds of getting cataracts and macular degeneration.
Thus, it's crucial to choose a pair that blocks 99% to 100% of UVA and UVB rays. Wraparound lenses protect your eyes from side glares, while polarized lenses reduce glare while driving. Even if you wear contact lenses, you should still have some UV protection by wearing sunglasses as extra protection. Fortunately, we pride ourselves on offering Euphoric HD Polarized Lenses which provide superior quality without a high price tag.
More importantly, our specialized fusion technology filters out all harmful rays. Since Nectar Sunglasses value an outdoor lifestyle, we offer products that offer 100% UV Protection, glare reduction, and reduced eyestrain from glare caused by snow and water. In addition, our lenses have TAC or Tri Acetate Cellulose polarized technology. which protect you from all damaging UV rays up to 400 nanometers.
Safety Eyeware
Similar to wearing sunglasses, appropriate safety eye ware will protect your eyes. Another important eye care tip is to wear proper safety eye wear if your job exposes you to hazardous or airborne materials. For example, surf board builders wear goggles to protect themselves from airborne materials while carpenters wear goggles to protect themselves from dust. Other jobs such as welding take eye safety to another level by having welders wear a specialized helmet. This helmet not only protects the eyes but also the face and neck from sparks, ultraviolet lights, infrared light, sparks and heat.
In addition to specific jobs, many sports like hockey, racquetball, and lacrosse can lead to eye injury. Thus, its important to wear eye protection which can include helmets with protective face masks or sports goggles with polycarbonate lenses. These ball sports can damage your eyes, one overlooked sport that can cause eye damage is swimming.
Chlorine pools are generally safe and bacteria free because this chemical mixes with organic matter, destroying harmful bacteria. However, Chlorine creates chemical compounds, which irritate skin and eyes. A good way to enjoy swimming and keeping your eyes healthy is to swim in saltwater pools. However, chlorine is a byproduct of salt, so there will always be a small amount in saltwater pools. Despite this, saltwater pools are generally considered gentler to your eyes and skin per Dr. Arthur Kobayashi, OD.
Swimming with the right set of goggles will greatly reduce any pain that you might have. In fact, swimming legend, Michael Phelps, practices this eye care tip by wearing polarized goggles to protect his eyes and improve his vision while underwater. You should also wear goggles even if you wear contact lenses. According to Dr. Kobayashi, you should wear goggles over your contacts as the water could damage your contacts by potentially changing the shape and fold in your eye.
So there you have it, five important eye care tips to keep your eyes healthy. Having good eyesight can lead to an increased quality of life and many injuries are easily preventable. You learned about crucial eye care tips which include avoiding excessive screen time, refraining from smoking, wearing UV protection sunglasses, and wearing appropriate protective eye gear. Are there other ways to protect the eyes? Please tell us below!
