Ways to Improve Your Eyesight
January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month. Often called “the sneak thief of sight”, Glaucoma is an eye disease that causes loss of sight by damaging the eye’s optic nerve, which carries visual information from the eye to the brain. This disease affects more than 2.2 million Americans age 40 or older. As the loss of vision is usually unnoticeable until a significant amount of nerve damage has occurred, as many as half of all people with glaucoma maybe unaware of their disease.
Your eyes are one of the most important sensory input and they have an enormous impact on your quality of life. The easiest way of maintaining good eye health is to have a healthy diet and regular exercise. You can also take supplements that help provide the vitamin and minerals your eye needs.
A healthy diet contributes greatly to your overall health and vitamins A, B, C and E, which can be found in whole grains, vividly colored vegetables and other whole-foods, are especially good for your eyes. Other foods such as seafood, fish, leafy greens, and egg yolks also provide nutrients for your eyes as they contain:
- Zinc – is a key mineral with a high concentration in the retina, the light-sensitive tissue lining on the surface of the eye. Zinc is found primarily in meat, poultry, fish and seafood.
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids – helps supports the health of your retinas, improve night vision and hand-eye coordination. It’s usually found in fatty cold-water fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines.
- Lutein – is an antioxidant present in the retina and lens and can be commonly found in abundance in leafy green vegetables and egg yolks.
Aside from eating a whole-foods diet, you can also take vitamin supplements such as multivitamins such as Ocuvite Multivitamins which contains lutein, zinc, selenium, copper along with antioxidants A, C and E. Fish oil or omega 3-6-9 will contain omega-3 fatty acids. Many any of these supplements does not require a prescription and can be found at the over-the-count section of your pharmacy.
Visit the Prevent Blindness America website to learn more about Glaucoma and find out what programs and services are available by State. For more information on how to maintain your eye health, see “10 Ways to Stay Eagle-Eyed for Life” by Dr. Alan Inglis.
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