Protecting Your Eyes

Modern life puts a lot of strain on the eyes. Following some

but not all, eye problems.

Any factors that let us down, spoil our mood and lead to stress inevitably

influence the “mirror of the soul” – our eyes. Computer

modeling supported the suggestions of scientists that the function of

processing images is directly influenced by the work of brain. Hence the

conclusion: the higher the level of stress, the harder it is for our brain

to process the incoming information from the retina. Or, vice versa, the

less stress we experience, the better we see, despite gender, age and

possible diseases. Quite often bad health -- nausea, dizziness and weakness

-- is the result of excess eyestrain.

So let’s repeat the traditional advice of all ophthalmologists:

with glaucoma, cataracts or dystrophy of the retina.

Eye diet

In the beginning, it is necessary to learn one simple rule: if the overall

diet is balanced and comprehensive and digestion and blood circulation

are fine, then the body is quite able to supply the eyes with all the

needed vitamins and microelements. A wise diet for the eyes means a wise

diet for the body, and vice versa. We can only talk about some nuances,

which can influence the eye health a little bit more. It goes without

saying that a constant lack of vitamin A will eventually reduce eye health,

but that doesn’t mean that you need to eat tons of carrots. Just

add carrots to your daily diet. Don’t forget that beta-carotene

is digested only when mixed with fats, so carrot juice or salad should

be dressed with a little vegetable oil or sour cream. However, Finnish

scientists have recently found out that beta-carotene can be dangerous

for smokers. The experiments have shown that it reacts with some substances

that are contained in cigarette smoke and can cause lung cancer.

Naturopaths recommend supplying the eyes with potassium, which is contained

in parsley, celery, potatoes, rockmelon, green onion, oranges, cucumbers

and watermelons. It is easy to follow this advice since potassium is good

for other systems of your body as well. Every day, drink this mixture:

one teaspoon of pure apple vinegar mixed with one glass of water and one

teaspoon of honey. You can cook baked fruits with honey for dessert and

cut down on coffee, white bread, refined sugars and alcohol in your diet

if you really care about your eyes.

The lights

For the eyes to stay healthy, you should work and relax in comfortable

light. Normal lighting should be around 20-30 watts for one square meter

of surface, depending on the purpose of the room. You can combine the

overhead light with the light of a standing lamp. In the kitchen, put

additional lights over working surfaces. A bright light in the bedroom

will not let you feel sleepy and in your working room you will need a

table lamp.

A big difference between the lighting in a work area and the rest of

the room will quickly make the eyes tired and lower the sharpness of your

vision. That’s why it is not recommended to watch TV or work on

a computer in a dark room.

Fitness club for eyes

Your eyes need an easy, relaxing workout, which should be done,

in the following sequence:

1. Shut the eyes tightly several times and try to relax.
2. Open the eyes and do several circular movements with them clockwise and vice versa. Do an equal number of movements on each side.
3. Move the eyes intensively to the both sides and up and down.
4. Blink fast for several seconds.
5. Put your warm palms on your eyes, cross your fingers on the forehead and wait until deep darkness appears.
6. Blink 100 times.
7. Put your forefinger on the tip of your nose and look at this point for several seconds.

Wisdom of yoga

According to yoga teaching, in a relaxed state, about 50% of all human

bio-energy is consumed by eyesight. This fact was proven by science. Yoga

claims that preservation of bio-energy is achieved by silence, closed

eyes and concentration. Try to find time for outdoor activities in the

country, away from the city borders. The eyes are used to analyze images

of landscapes. That’s what they’ve been used for, for thousands

of years, since the beginning of humankind. By the way, in the countryside

you have an opportunity to do another yoga type of training – watching

the sunrise and sunset. It is believed that it helps to sharpen the eyesight.

While outdoors, try to look up in the sky and follow the movement of clouds

or watch the stars at night. They say that doing this will make your eyes <---newpage--->

shiny and your mind clear.

Five pieces of advice for healthy eyes

• Don’t read or write close to the text. The distance between your eyes and the book should be equal to the length of a semi-bent arm. The lighting should be bright, not less than 60 watts, but it shouldn’t shine directly into the eyes. Never read or write while lying down, especially when lying on your side, because in this position your eyes are in a different distance from the text;
• The distance between the eyes and the computer screen should not be less than 2 feet;
• Don’t watch TV too closely. Ideally, the distance should equal six lengths of the TV diagonal. For example, a TV with a 20-inch diameter

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  should be watched from the distance of 10 feet. The light shouldn’t fall on the screen or bother the eyes.
• Alcohol and smoking influence eyesight negatively. Substances contained in cigarettes irritate the optic nerve and lower the sharpness of the eyesight (by the way, second-hand smoke does this as well). Often nicotine causes malfunctions in distinguishing colors: first, it is hard to distinguish the color green, then red, yellow and blue;
• Don’t wear sunglasses constantly. Wearing them in semi-darkness will harm your eyes.

Some rules for those who wear contact lenses

• Wash your hands properly before touching contact lenses
• Always apply a special solution after you remove the lenses
• Don’t use contact lens solution twice
• Don’t sleep with the lenses in (except if you wear special lenses for nonstop wear or medical ones which are put on before going to sleep)
• Only use lenses if the package is sealed and has not been disturbed
• Don’t wear lenses when sick with the flu
• Use only sterile lenses with a good “best before” date
• Remove lenses if you feel dryness or irritation, redness or have blurred vision