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5 Important Habits for Keeping Your Eyes Healthy


People have always suffered from vision problems due to overlooking the necessity of eyecare.

But in a world where many of our professional and personal lives revolve around screens, this is especially true today.

It’s essential that our eyes need some rest from time to time. After working for long hours in front of a computer, they’d ideally get some respite along with us, but instead they’re often put to work again on a game console, TV, or book.

Although some of these activities are avoidable and others not so much, they’re a part of the modern lifestyle, and in order to help care for your eyes, you don’t necessarily need to get rid of them completely (although it would help further).

Not looking after your eyes can have many short-term and long-term effects on your vision and even accelerate vision loss as you age. Luckily, you’re here, so you’ve already taken the first step to stopping that from happening and looking after your eyes and vision.

Here are five more steps you can take to help ensure your vision stays clear and healthy for many more years to come.

1. Eat foods that are good for your eyes

There are many important vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants found in foods that strengthen the eyesight, including beta carotene, lutein, vitamins A, C and E, omega-3 fatty acids and zinc.

The problem is, our diet is often sparse in the foods that contain them. Increase the amount of vision-boosting foods in your diet by treating the following as staples on your weekly shopping list:

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  • Carrots are well known for improving the eyesight. They’re packed with beta-carotene, lutein and lycopene. Lutein and lycopene are phytonutrients that protect the eyes from sun damage and UVB radiation.
  • Citrus fruits and juices such as oranges and lemons are rich in Vitamin C, which protect the eyes against infections and diseases.
  • Green leafy vegetables like cabbage, spinach, and kale contain antioxidants, vitamin A, and other nutrients that protect the eyes from common vision problems like cataracts.
  • Eggs, grapes and dark berries are good sources of zinc and other minerals that help support healthy vision.

2. Make your working environment comfortable

Despite the amount of time we spend using them, people’s screens habits are generally incredibly poor.

Computer vision syndrome is a type of eye fatigue that strains the eyes and comes about due to poor screen habits. To safeguard against it, observe proper posture when working and keep your computer monitor below eye level and at least 20 to 26 inches away from your eyes.

If you find it’s a real problem, you can also wear properly graded eyeglasses to protect your eyes from the glare and/or use a glare filter for your screen.

3. Wear the right sunglasses

Sunglasses are one vision protecting habit that many people have welcomely adopted. Not least because it takes little effort and makes you look cool.

But people have somewhat forgotten the point of wearing sunglasses is not to look good, but to protect the eyes against direct sun exposure and UVA and UVB rays. Avoid cheap pairs that don’t offer 100 percent protection, and remember that bigger is always better for sunglasses as they can also protect the delicate skin around your eyes.

4. Use proper lighting when working

Lighting is an often overlooked factor in eye care. Yet fluorescent lighting is an artificial source of ultraviolet (UV) light which can also, when exposed to frequently, lead to vision loss.

Make sure that overhead lights are not too bright or too dim when working or doing vision-intensive tasks. If you’re working at a computer, adjust the brightness, text size, and contrast to properly suit your vision and make your eyes more comfortable.

5. Take breaks regularly and exercise your eyes

Stretching and exercising your body in general are great ways to reduce many of the symptoms associated with computer vision syndrome, things like back and neck pain and eye fatigue.

However, eye doctors also advise exercising your eyes as an effective way to keep them young and healthy. One way to do this is to stop whatever you are doing at least every 20 minutes to look at least 20 metres away for at least 20 seconds. This will help relax the muscles inside the eyes and particularly help slow down the onset of presybopia.

Making these steps a regular part of your routine shows that you value your eyes. Now why not take an extra step to make them even happier and upgrade to better vision?

5 Important Habits for Keeping Your Eyes Healthy