by Caryl Teh
8 October is World Sight Day! It is celebrated every second Thursday of October and aims to focus global attention on vision impairment and blindness. So today we thought we’d share five simple and best ways to take care of your eyes and prevent blindness. And then some fun trivia about the wonderful human eye.
1. The 20-20-20 rule for 20/20 vision in 2020 (yes that’s a lot of 20s)
- The rule: Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away from you for 20 seconds.
- The rationale: If you spend a lot of time using a computer, you can forget to blink, causing your eyes to get tired.
2. BLINK!
- Working on a computer all day can give you dry eyes. This is partly because when we do things up close, we don’t blink as much. Paradoxically, one of the most common symptoms of dry eyes is an eye that waters.
- Set a “blink” reminder on your computer.
3. Work station set-up
- Your screen should be 50-66cm away from your eyes, & a little below eye level.
- Ergotron even offers a planner that measures the appropriate height for your chair and keyboard when you stand or sit.
4. Wear sunglasses
- Sunglasses outdoors play an important role in protecting your eyes from UV-A and UV-B rays that could damage your eyes.
- More than just looking cool, this is a legitimate reason to wear sunglasses even on cloudy days.
5. Stay healthy!
- Yes, having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes does affect your chance of getting cataracts, damaging your optic nerve, and triggering macular degeneration.
- So, don’t smoke.
- Eat a diet rich in certain dark green vegetables like spinach & kale. Salmon & tuna for omega-3 fatty acids. Non-meat protein sources like eggs, nuts and beans. Vitamins C & E from oranges & other citrus fruits or juices.
Sources:
MedlinePlus
PreventBlindness
WebMD
Opto
PrincetoneyGroup
ScienceDaily
