Healthy Eyes

08.08.2014

If you are finding it difficult to focus on things that are close up and your arm isn’t long enough now to read your mobile phone texts or, you’re waving to people in the distance who you think are your friends but as they become closer you have never seen them before in your life and they are looking at you weirdly or, you  find that it takes longer to adapt to light changes or  need a megawatt bulb  to see things clearly or, you squint so much you have acquired the nick-name Mr Magoo it’s time to book an appointment with the Optician.

We should all have regular eye test at least every two years, even if you are not having problems seeing things. Early detection of eye disease will increase the chances of you not losing your sight.

The leading cause of Age-related Muscular Degeneration (AMD) and cataracts resulting in blindness in the UK is smoking. Giving up will help to reduce your risk of damaging your eyes.

Technology and eyes!

Most of us spend nearly 50 hours a week staring at some sort of screen, computer, laptop, IPad, Smart phone , TV etc. Have you noticed that at times your eyes feel tired, you have a headache, maybe get blurred vision or difficulty focusing?

Take regular breaks from the screen; go on, do this 20 -20- 20 exercise now!

Every 20 minutes look 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This will give your eye muscles a break and encourage you to blink, we tend to stare at the screen and not blink which dries our eyes out.

If you need to wear glasses to look at the screen then put them on! You will still look gorgeous!

Setting your work station up

  • Keep the screen 40 – 76 cms (16_30”) away from your eyes
  • Have the top of the monitor so that it is set at a level slightly below your horizontal eye line
  • Tilt the top of the monitor away from you at a 10 – 20 degree angle
  • Make sure the screen is clean – just looked at mine, it’s filthy, oops!
  • Try not to face the screen so that it has a glare from sunlight
  • Sit on an adjustable chair so that you are sitting at the proper height
  • Use a font size that you can see – a colleague of mine hasn’t changed the font size, instead he’s changed the size of his monitor, he’s as blind as a bat but is too vain to wear glasses, in a few years’ time his monitor will be the size of a cinema screen!!
  • Take into consideration all of the above which will not only help with your eye health but also your neck and back.
  • More people are using Ipads, take time to make sure that you are not putting your neck in awkward positions.Pamper session for your eyes
  • If you suffer with puffy eyes give yourself a little pampering, put a couple of slices of cucumber on your eyes and relax for 10 minutes – watch out that the dog doesn’t nick them as this happened to me in the past..

If your eyes are sore don’t overdo the eye drops, instead soak a couple of green tea bags in cold water for a couple of minutes and put them over your eyes for 15 – 20 minutes, relax, the dog won’t like these.

Floaters (grow up!!)

Some people have these; some people won’t know what I’m talking about. They are small dark or clear spots or strands that float in front of your eyes. Some people are born with them, some people develop them but your brain is very clever and learns to ignore them. If you look up to a clear sky you may be aware of them more.  They are very common and harmless but in some rare cases need to be investigated further.

There are many myths about eye sight….

  • Reading in the dark will damage your eyes – it can cause eye strain but no permanent damage
  • Contact lenses can get lost behind your eyes – No, there’s a membrane covering the eyes and eyelids so it’s impossible
  • Wearing someone else’s glasses can damage your eyes – it’s more likely to damage your body when you bump into things as you won’t be able to see properly! Certainly don’t drive wearing someone else’s glasses
  • Eating carrots will improve your eyesight – well, yes because they contain vitamins that are good for your eyes but you don’t have to  force yourself to eat a ton of carrots every  day, make sure that you have a healthy balanced diet with lots of omega 3 rich foods such as oily fish and foods like sweet potatoes and spinach.
  • Watching too much TV will damage your eyes – it won’t cause serious damage but is likely to give you a headache and tired, dry eyes.
  • Mums have eyes in the back of their head – yes, of course they do,100% that is  not a myth…

If you are concerned about any aspects of your eye health make an appointment to get them tested.

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