Bilberries and Other Ways of Protecting Your Eyesight
You should have your eyes and your eyesight examined by a professional optometrist or ophthalmologist every year, unless your doctor tells you otherwise. At the same time, you should have your eyeglass or contacts prescription (if applicable) checked for accuracy.
To help protect my eyesight, especially since I wear corrective glasses, I visit my optometrist every year. It’s been my experience that many eye doctors don’t do it, but the most efficient eye examination includes dilating your eyes with drops. The doctor can then check your eyes for common diseases and eye problems such as Glaucoma, Cataracts, Macular Degeneration, et cetera. Contrary to popular belief, these types of eye problems aren’t limited to the elderly!
In between visits to your eye doctor, if you ever experience unusual sensations such as blurry vision, flashes of light, double vision, eye pain, for a few examples, you should immediately contact him or her and make an appointment for an examination.
Otherwise, on a daily basis, there are other things you can do to help protect your eyesight, especially as you grow older. Professionals recommend that we should all protect our eyes year-around from the harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun. There are many brands and styles sunglasses on the market you can buy for this protection. Federal law stipulates that all sunglasses must give the wearer protection from UV rays. However, not all brands actually do. So be sure to check the tags before you buy.
Or, you can order a pair of prescription sunglasses from your optometrist. You can also order a pair of eyeglasses that have transition or photochromic lenses in them. These lenses lighten or darken according to the amount of light they are exposed to. However, if you wear transition or photochromic lenses all the time, like I do, you should lower your glasses down on your nose for at least ten minutes every time you go outside. Why? So your eyes can absorb some of the Vitamin D it needs from the sunshine.
Eating right is another important factor in protecting your eyesight. Just like ever other part of our bodies, our eyes need vitamins, nutrients, and minerals in order to work well and stay strong. Some of the best foods to eat for your eyes, as well as your overall health, are vegetables such as carrots, celery, tomatoes, green beans, corn, lettuce, peas, squash, and chili peppers, (believe-it-or-not.)
Don’t forget to include fruits such as apricots, lemons, kiwis, blueberries and bilberries in your diet as well. Bilberries are especially helpful in keeping your eyesight, especially for people who suffer from Macular Degeneration. Research shows that bilberries can actually help reverse the negatives effects of this blinding disease.
If you can’t find Bilberries on your supermarket shelves, you can buy extracts that come in easy-to-swallow tablets. In fact, along with eating healthy foods that will help protect your eyesight, you should take a multi-vitamin every day.
Choose a well-balanced vitamin that contains the Recommended Daily Allowance
(RDAs)you need for your age, sex, and health condition. A vitamin that contains
Lutein would be especially beneficial for your eyes. Lutein is a carotenoid that is also essential to good eye health and vision.
