Nine Habits for Healthy Eyes
We are asked often about how to maintain healthy eyes as we age. Similar to your overall health, there are plenty of steps you can take to maintain healthy eyes. Aging is a natural process and one of the only guarantees in life. By making a conscious effort to maintain a healthy lifestyle, your overall health should improve. Be sure to consult your doctor prior to undergoing any dramatic lifestyle changes. In general, the following nine items will lead to a higher level of health.
- Stop smoking right now or never start.
- Exercise regularly (150 aerobic minutes/week) and maintain a healthy weight.
- Eat right to protect your healthy eyes. Eat foods like California Avocados, dark leafy greens such as spinach, kale or collared greens, and be sure to include nuts, whole grains and fish that are high is in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, albacore tuna, trout and halibut.
- Monitor your healthy eyes by establishing a relationship with an Optometrist and schedule annual comprehensive dilated eye exams. An online refraction is not an eye exam.
- Healthy eyes require protection. Do remember to wear protective eyewear when playing sports or doing activities around the home, like yard work, home repairs or soldering Arduino boards.
- Wear sunglasses that block 99-100% of ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation. Feel free to wear your sunglasses indoors and even on those lovely gray days of Portland, Oregon.
- When possible, wear daily disposable contact lenses as they are the healthiest modality for your eyes and our planet.
- Wash your hands before taking out your contact lenses and cleanse your contact lenses properly to avoid infection. Refer to these contact lens care instructions.
- Practice workplace safety by wearing protective eyewear. Remember Murphy’s Law.
