Many people associate poor eyesight with age. Several factors can diminish your vision, such as UV ray exposure, various health conditions, and staring at your devices for hours on end. It’s essential to take proper care of your eyes throughout your life, especially as you age into your golden years. However, many might wonder if there’s anything they can do to improve their eye health and reverse the aging process. In this post, we’ll discuss the answer to this curiosity and offer some strategies to practice that can help your vision in the long run.

Key Takeaways

  • Generally, eyesight does not improve as you get older. As part of the natural aging process, vision usually worsens, especially after the age of 40.
  • There are various things you can do to take care of your eye health and preserve your vision long-term. While these strategies can’t reverse the eye aging process, they can help prolong the eyesight you currently have.

Eat the Right Foods

There are a number of foods that help improve eyesight. To jumpstart your diet, try to incorporate plenty of garlic, eggs, leafy greens, fresh eggs, cold water fatty fish, dark chocolate, and carrots. These foods are high in lutein, zeaxanthin, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamins like beta-carotene — the dream team for improving your vision.

Eye Exercises

Blue-violet light that radiates from your phone and other devices can cause damage to your eyes and put you at risk of developing macular degeneration. So, it’s essential to engage in eye exercises to improve your vision.

Our eyes need regular exercise in order to keep them healthy, just like your heart and muscles. For a few minutes each day, trace a figure eight with your eyes and then focus on something 10-20 feet in front of you. You can also practice holding out your arm and focusing on your thumb as you bring it in close to your face to improve your focus and eye muscles.

Physical Activity

One study found that “every increase in physical activity level reduces the Advanced Glaucoma Intervention score by 3.4 points.” In other words, participants who engaged in consistent physical activity at a certain threshold had the potential to lower their risk of glaucoma or the severity of the condition. 

Diabetes Management

Those living with diabetes may also experience diabetic retinopathy, which damages the retina at the back of the eye. If left untreated, this condition can lead to decreased vision or blindness.

The retina has blood vessels that can get damaged by high sugar levels in the blood. Too much sugar can also cause these vessels to swell or even leak into the retina, causing blurriness and blind spots.

Managing these sugar levels, routine eye examinations, and early intervention can help prevent this damage to your eyes.

Protect Your Eyes from UV Radiation

Harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun can increase your risk of damaging your eyes. Long-term exposure can lead to modifying the proteins in your lenses, leading to cataracts, macular degeneration, or other types of eye issues. As a result, your eyes may worsen and lead to blurry vision and more severe eyesight loss.

It’s crucial to wear quality sunglasses and shade your eyes with hats when you spend time outdoors to protect your eyes from UV rays’ harmful effects.

Having the Right Prescription

If you don’t have the right prescription for both eyes, you can end up making one more dominant than the other. This can impact depth perception and rapidly increase the loss of vision in the weaker eye. That’s why it’s important to visit your eye doctor annually for exams so they can issue the proper prescription for both eyes.

Relaxation Techniques

Our eyes are constantly bombarded with visual stimuli, which can quickly lead to eye strain. Eye strain is a significant factor in causing poor eyesight and can lead to many issues, such as blurry vision, headaches, and dry eyes, to name a few. What you need is a little eye R&R every day. Try an eye spa by adding hot water to a towel and placing it over your eyes and temples. It will soothe your eyes and also your mind.

Seeing the Eye Doctor Each Year

Many eye problems can be avoided with proper care. This is where your optometrist comes in. Eye doctors can assess, diagnose, treat, and help prevent eye health issues. Generally, at each exam, they’ll take into account your current health conditions and medical history and use various instruments and technology to assess the overall state of your eyes and related structures. The goal is ongoing monitoring to catch issues early. The longer you put off visiting your eye doctor, the higher the chance of missing a critical issue. Many problems caught early through an eye exam can undergo treatment to help improve or maintain your vision and overall eye health.

If it’s been too long to remember the last time you had an eye exam, it might be time to visit us at Laurier Optical. We can assess your eye health, offer next steps, like prescription glasses, and provide tips on improving your vision as you age.