Your eyesight enables you to do many things. Eyesight gives you the ability to play video games, write articles, text and so on. It lets us play Soccer, Football, camp, and play with friends. Our eyesight lets us live our lives efficiently and quickly, and helps keep us safe.
For most people, they would not function the same in their life without their eyesight. With something so important, there are many things that could ruin your eyesight.
1. Electronic Devices
According to the Vision Council:
• Over 33% of American adults spend about four to six hours on electronic devices.
• About fourteen percent of Americans spend ten to twelve hours on electronic devices.
Electronic devices are also found in education, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. They state that “In 2009, some 97% of teachers had one or more computers located in the classroom every day, while 54% could bring computers into the classroom.” Every job in the modern world includes electronic devices, but they also bring a number of eye problems.
The main problem is called ‘Computer Vision Syndrome.’ American Optometric Association defines it as “a group of eye and vision-related problems that result from prolonged computer use.” Most people experience this when they look at a screen for extended amounts of time.
There are many symptoms that are included with the syndrome, but the most common are: eyestrain, headaches, blurred vision, dry eyes, and neck and shoulder pain. Those are caused by, according to the American Optometric Association, “poor lighting, glare on the computer screen, improper viewing distances, poor seating posture, and uncorrected vision.” For information on how to correct it, visit here.
2. Smoking
As you already know, smoking has many effects on your overall body. But, most people don’t know the extent that which it damages your eyes.
According to Doctor. Rachel Bishop, “It can increase your risk of suffering from cataracts and retinal diseases that lead to vision loss.” It also makes existing eye problems worse.
Cataracts, the clouding of the eye’s natural vision, is found in over 50% of Americans. But, smoking raises the risk by an enormous amount. According to All About Vision, it doubles the chance of forming cataracts.
Age-Related Macular Degeneration, affects the retina, and causes “blind-spots”, according to All About Vision. When you smoke, the chance of getting this increases by about 75%. And, it raises higher as you age.
More symptoms include Uveitis, the inflammation of the eye’s middle layer, and Diabetic Retinopathy, which damages the blood vessels of the retina, according to All About.
3. Ultraviolet Radiation Exposure
Most people know that UV light causes skin cancer, but aside from damaging your skin, it also damages our eyes as well. Just like how the UV light damages skin, it causes cellular damage. Our body, according to Doctor Bishop, has things to compensate for it, but our body can’t do it after a certain point.
According to All About Vision, “Extended exposure to the sun’s UV rays has been linked to eye damage, including Cataracts, Macular Degeneration, Pinguecula and Pterygium and Photokeratitis that can cause temporary vision loss.”
Along with this, there are also many outdoor factors that can cause this. Your location, altitude, time of day, and setting. For example, EV levels increase in the higher altitudes, and UV levels increase in tropical areas.
4. Overall Health
As many people know, your overall health is very important to your daily life. For example, cholesterol and blood pressure can improve your eyesight. But, if you are not healthy, there are many eye problems that may occur.
There are many examples of this, according to the National Eye Institute, “if the person has high blood pressure, they’re at a higher risk for having damage to the eye that can lead to vision loss. There are certain eye diseases associated with diabetes and high blood pressure.”
In general, if you’re healthy, you shouldn’t be causing many problems that will affect your eyesight. But, on the other hand, if you’re unhealthy, you’re causing many problems that affect your eyesight.
5. Aging
If you didn’t know, aging affects your eyesight, just like it affects your overall health. Your body loses strength, your hair turns grey, just like how your eyes change over the years.
As you age, your eyes start losing some of its abilities. Once example of that is tear production. As you age, your eyes slowly start to lose its ability to make tears, leading to dry eye syndrome.
According to Woman’s Health, “Aging often also causes the lens to grow opaque. This clouding of the lens, called cataract, usually takes years to develop.” That causes a major health problem, and relates to both age and the number of topics stated above.
As you grow older, your eyes also start to harden and lose elasticity. According to Woman’s Health, that prevents you from focusing on objects such as, for example, a book. This condition is called Presbyopia.
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