DIY: How to take care of your eye on a daily basis
Eye care is not a short-term process to see results, it requires long-term care, and persistent persistence.
Hair loss and myopia are the two major pain points of this generation of young people, especially myopia. Since computers, iPads, smartphones, etc. have become essential for work and social interaction, these luminous screens have become the “external trunk” of the human body. The eyes, too, have been forced to become the busiest “social animal” of all organs.
More and more young people are suffering from glaucoma and cataracts, which used to be a problem for the elderly.
The reason for many people’s myopia is not because their eyes were born with bad conditions, but because they are tired of using their eyes too much and become myopic. Securities operators, programmers, office clerical workers, designers, advertisers, and many more occupations that rely on the Internet to work, are exposed to computer and cell phone screens for at least 8 hours a day. It is very hard on the eyes.
As a veteran of the eye-consuming family, I have started to lose my standard vision because of the intensity of eye use of more than 10 hours a day. Also experienced dry eyes, eye pain, tears in the wind, poor night vision and a series of heartbreaking problems. Today and share with you the self-help strategy of the fee-eyed people. It is my long road to eye care, summed up in the long road to effective eye care method that everyone can apply.
The primary goal of eye care is to prevent ciliary muscle overwork
Why do you get blurry vision when you stare at the computer for a long time? It’s a matter of bringing up a part of the eye called the ciliary muscle.
The ciliary muscle is a smooth muscle in the eye whose main function is to change the shape of the crystalline lens by pulling on it, helping us to quickly anchor to the best focal length when looking at something.
When we look at a distance, the ciliary muscle is in a relaxed state, maintaining the original visual acuity. But when we look at things at close range for long periods of time, the ciliary muscles will continue to tighten and contract, losing the ability to see far and close in focus. The end result is that you have just returned to the screen in front of you, lift your head to find that the distant landscape has been a blur. And when this state of fatigue continues to be unable to be adjusted, the length of the eye axis may be changed, from pseudomyopia to true myopia.
Modern people work on computers and play with cell phones, not giving the ciliary muscle a chance to be lazy and feel the fish, visual fatigue leading to vision loss has naturally become a common occurrence.
You need these methods to solve visual fatigue
The most cost effective way to protect your eyes–seeing from a distance
Among all the ways to protect your eyes, I think the most cost-effective, simple and effective one is to look into the distance. This is also the most direct way to exercise our ciliary muscles and actively adjust the “eye focus”.
Therefore, when I feel my eyes are sore in front of the computer, I will leave the screen and get up to go to the window to look at the buildings and greenery in the distance, so as to slowly get used to the distance and let the ciliary muscle recover from the tightness.
There is also an authoritative international standard practice of 20:20:20: every 20 minutes, look at least 6 meters (20 feet) away and look at least 20 seconds.
Although the operation is simple, it is difficult to do it on time when you are busy. So I use my phone to set an alarm every 20 minutes to help develop this eye care habit as I practice looking away.
The most convenient way to protect your eyes – blinking
Blinking, again, is an important eye care technique. Blinking regularly helps our tear glands to secrete and prevent dry eyes.
The normal blink rate is about 20 times per minute, but when we look at the screen in front of us without looking away, this rate can be as low as 3 to 5 times, which makes eye problems more likely to occur due to the lack of adequate tear secretion.
So now when I read novels, work, or brush apps, I consciously remind myself to blink more and actively do “SPA” for my eyes.
Getting a good night’s sleep is more important than you think
In my practical experience, one of the most most helpful things for eye care is getting a good night’s sleep. And there is no single thing more important than that.
Sleep is the only time when your eyes can stop working and go into self-healing. The importance cannot be overstated. A study of myopic children aged 12 to 19 in the United States showed that children with myopia generally slept less than children without myopia.
The stage where I found myself starting to have blurred vision and various eye problems was during the days of frequent late nights and overtime work.
Modern people are used to sleeping late and constantly compressing the length of sleep. I am surrounded by night owls who go to sleep after 0:00. In recent years, I have rarely gone to bed before 11:00 a.m., which does not give my eyes enough time to rest.
In the comparison between going to bed early and going to bed late, I also clearly feel the difference between the two. When you have enough sleep, your eyes feel more moist and clearer when you wake up, and the time to enter visual fatigue is slower. When you don’t get enough sleep, the redness in your eyes will be very obvious and the eye pain from the previous day will remain the same.
So changing your sleep habits is really something that should be on the agenda of the eye-friendly people as soon as possible.
Currently, I have adjusted my sleep schedule to before 10pm. Also, when I have to work on urgent tasks, I have changed from staying up late to getting up early.
You know that after the night is the resting period of the eyes, it is not suitable for heavy eye use. If you move against the clock and catch up on work and play games, the damage to your eyes is double. So get a good night’s sleep to give your eyes a cushion, and then go to catch up with the work progress, is in line with the way of heaven eye.
Increase blood circulation for brighter eyes
Poor blood circulation is also an important factor in poor eyesight.
Japanese ophthalmologist Dr. Chihiro Motobu, in his best-selling book “Better Vision for the Whole Family”, suggests that the complex and delicate eye cells rely on blood for nutrient input and metabolite discharge. Once the blood flow is not good, the eyes will follow all kinds of problems.
If you want to know whether your blood circulation is good, sedentary is the most direct way to measure it. As an office animal, I sit in a chair for 15 to 20 minutes and feel the soreness of numb legs and feet, which is a common problem for many sedentary social animals. The root cause is the lack of physical activity, resulting in poor blood flow. Vision is also naturally affected.
To improve blood circulation throughout the body, it is essential to keep exercising. I will set aside 15 minutes a day for sit-ups, jogging or jumping rope and other exercises. Among them, I would recommend jumping rope. It can not only exercise cardio, but also fat loss and slimming, and not too picky about where to exercise, the most important thing is that after jumping will feel the whole person blood boiling up. Very suitable for sports white to increase the amount of activity.
The local focus on improving blood circulation in the eyes, eye massage is the easiest way. I have regained the student eye exercises, fixed 3 to 5 times a day, to balance the pressure of excessive vision. At the same time, I have been taking hot baths and soaking my feet for 20 minutes a day, and I feel that my blood circulation has changed for the better.
Increase outdoor light to improve vision quality
Can light hours also have an effect on vision? I was surprised to hear about this theory, as I am afraid of the sun.
In a nearly two-year study of 101 children aged 10 to 15 years, the Queensland University of Technology in Australia found that myopic children had significantly less time in the sun than non-myopic children.
And deprivation of vision experiments on chicks also proved that chicks who received more intense light were more slowly myopic than those who did not.
Why does light exposure have an effect on vision? Simply put, it is because light promotes the synthesis of dopamine in the eye, which prevents the eye axis from lengthening and the formation of true myopia.
So after learning this information, when I have time, I will go outside more often to feel the direct sunlight. Neighborhoods and parks are good places to take a walk, and in an environment with lots of green vegetation, you can take better care of your eyes. When I’m indoors, I open the curtains to let the light in, which also creates more opportunities for contact with the sun.
What should I take to protect my eyes?
In order to restore the health of my eyes, I have bought many eye care products that are sold in the market. The main ingredients include lutein, beta carotene, anthocyanin, vitamin A, etc.
Lutein, a pigment rich in the macula of the eye. It cannot be synthesized automatically by the human body and can only be supplemented through food and medicine. Its main function is to protect the health of the fundus of the eye by providing antioxidants and breaking down blue light damage. Foods rich in lutein include corn, egg yolks, oranges, and various vegetables.
Anthocyanins, which increase the regeneration of retinas, a light-sensitive substance. If there is a decrease in retinal matter, you will feel blurred vision in low light. Anthocyanins also relax the ciliary muscle and help relieve visual fatigue. Blueberries, purple potatoes, eggplant and purple kale are rich in anthocyanins.
Vitamin A and beta carotene, too, are nutrients that can act on vision. They can improve night vision and prevent dry eyes. However, it is important to note that vitamin A and other substances are likely to be sufficient in the daily diet and need to be taken in appropriate amounts according to individual circumstances.
My personal feeling about the effect of taking the supplements is that it works, but the effect is not very obvious. Compared to before I took it, my eyes are more moist, and there is a little relief from minor symptoms such as tearing in the wind. Although the improvement is not too much, I still feel that it is necessary to take health supplements. This is because it can give our eyes enough nutrients to make some salvation in the overconsumption of the eyes and stop the continued slide of eye health.
Eye care professionals, what do you need to get?
There are many eye care props on the market, such as eye protection post, steam eye mask, anti-blue light glasses, eye massager and so on.
There are different forms, but the main principle is to improve the fatigue of the ciliary muscle through hot compresses, cold compresses and massage to stimulate blood circulation in 3 ways. So I think eye care props, according to preference to start on.
My personal most commonly used props, is the disposable steam eye masks from Jane’s Vision. This steam eye mask is easier to use, generates more steam, can relieve eye fatigue, steam eye 5 to 10 minutes can also close the eyes to recuperate. Among them, ZhenShiMing came out with the Yi JiangNan series, which focuses on Chinese herbal ingredients, the taste and appearance design I like. But the downside is that disposable steam eye masks are wasteful and can’t be recycled, they are consumables. The rechargeable steam eye masks can be used for a long time, but the vapor generated is limited and less comfortable.
And the more common eye drops, both generic and medical brands. In addition to the case of compliance with medical advice, I do not recommend it. Because eye drops with a long time will produce drug resistance, the original drop can be relieved for a long time, with a long time to relieve the effect is getting shorter and shorter, and is not suitable for individuals to relieve fatigue. I have had a crazy experience of a dozen drops of eye drops every day, after a lot of consumption, eyes red and dry and can not play the effect of anti-fatigue, and finally abandoned.
The anti-blue light products, anti-blue light glasses, anti-blue light cell phone film, to reduce the blue light damage to the eyes. But this protective effect is very limited, to reduce the use of the screen is the king.
As a reading enthusiast, vision loss for me the greatest pain, is to lose a lot of fun reading e-books. Every time you read an e-book for a long time, your eyes will hurt to death. So return to paper books, and listening to books has become my alternative reading program.
The advantage of paper books is no screen blue light radiation, eye fatigue more slowly, the disadvantage is that some paper books are smaller font, reading is not comfortable.
And listening to books, you can listen to books through some of the app to achieve, the eyes transferred to listen with the ears, to reduce the burden on the eyes. But for people who are used to reading books, the speed of listening to books is relatively slow, you can consider using 2 times the speed, 3 times the speed to complete the reading faster.
Meditation for eye care, improving vision through the brain
Meditation not only relaxes our body and mind and relieves the brain from fatigue, but also loosens up the eye muscles. Compared to ordinary eye closure, the effect of eye closure in meditation is multiplied to relieve fatigue.
There are two types of meditation that I commonly use. The first is to sit in silence with my eyes closed, focusing on the process of my breathing, slowly inhaling and then exhaling, without being distracted by the cluttered thoughts in my brain.
The second is to temporarily forget the existence of the body and close my eyes to pay attention and listen to the sound of the wind, rain, insects and birds. When I open my eyes, I will find that my vision becomes much clearer and my spirit is fuller.
Adjusting lifestyle habits is more important than anything else
Although there are many ways to take care of your eyes, I think having good eye habits is the best foundation for eye care. And bad eye habits lead to the occurrence of many eye diseases. What are the common bad habits?
Do not look at the phone in the dark
Looking at the phone in the dark is an extremely eye-consuming habit. It will not only make the eyes enter a state of fatigue quickly. Too strong contrast between light and dark will also make the strong light source stimulate the macula under the eyes. Previously, there was also information circulating on the internet that looking at the phone in the dark causes macular degeneration. So I abandoned the habit of looking at the phone in the dark and made sure to keep the indoor light source bright before reading.
Keep the right distance from the screen
The best distance between the human eye and the computer screen is 50 to 70 cm, and the distance between the screen and the cell phone is more than 30 cm. Too close to the distance, the eyes are very harmful. Because of severe visual fatigue, I hold the phone closer and closer when I look at it, which makes my eyes more tired. So now I pay close attention to the distance when using my eyes. And catch up with the drama and watch movies, must be using the computer to watch more than 3 meters apart, and do not use the phone chase. It is too easy to fatigue the ciliary muscle because of the ultra-short viewing distance of cell phones.
Say goodbye to the unhealthy state of the body
Many times the loss of vision is not just a single problem of the eyes, the reflection is actually a comprehensive decline in the state of the body.
The human body is an interconnected structure, so to maintain good eyesight, it is essential to maintain and exercise the body. In order to be able to adjust my vision, I also became more aware of my habits, early to bed and early to rise, less takeout of greasy food, more exercise, in every small detail, so that the eyes have more improvement.
Eye care is not a short-term process to see the results, it requires long-term care, and persistent persistence. I hope that each of the fee eye family can pay attention to their eye health, adhere to the beneficial actions of eye care, and regain clear good vision.