For the primary health provider and judges, visual contact, kano a kano, no matter how limited, is a significant part of diagnosis and therefore outcome. A furrowed brow, paleness, clenched jaw, and tension around the eyes are indicators a person is hurting, or, for judges, perhaps hurting someone else. Conversely, the eyes also show the best of a person’s well-being, some would even say soul.
Articles abound regarding the value, or otherwise, of eye exercises. The scams surrounding costly programmes almost equal clickbaits like “a handsome multi millionaire Nigerian man requires companionship”. Yet amongst the overburden there is gold to be found in eye health and how we might exercise a most valuable aspect of our body. Not only should we treat our eyes with the discipline we do our teeth, we should use our widest vision and keep an eye out for our colleagues, friends, and family.
Few understand the eye is a separate organ with movement controlled by muscles that move even more than those which activate the limbs. Even when asleep, we have rapid eye movement (REM) to keep eyes and the brain healthy. Most muscles we have control over, some we don’t. Those contouring our physiques are under our control, the eye muscles not so much, consisting of extra ocular and intraocular muscles. The extra ocular muscles move the eye itself, the intraocular muscles move the pupils. Why differentiate?
Voluntary movements, such as looking left and right, or giving a nod and a wink are movements we have direct control over. The person’s reaction to our wink may result in a sudden vasodilation of the pupils, an action we have less or no direct control over. The other main point of difference is that the intraocular muscles tire far more rapidly than the extra ocular (voluntary) muscles.
At the end of a day of sitting you may go home more fatigued — even more so than after a physical workout, because of the extra fatigue in the intraocular muscles. These have unusually high absorption capacity for the fatigue-inducing chemicals that may be coursing around our bodies created by heavy mental workload, less sleep, poor diet, stress, alcohol, etc. In addition, sickness may compound this tiredness caused by eye syndrome.
For eye fitness, Rebecca and my advice is that protecting your overall health can go a long way toward keeping your eyes healthy! It’s important to make healthy choices and take good care of yourself. Regular eye health check-ups are essential, not only to prevent rapid vision deterioration but importantly for the insights the examinations can give for wider bodily disease. So, make that New Year resolution to have a comprehensive eye examination in February — book it now!
Keep in mind that healthy habits like eating well and being active can lower your risk for diseases and conditions that can lead to eye or vision problems, like diabetes or high blood pressure. Follow these tips for healthy vision:
Eat healthy foods
Be sure to have plenty of dark, leafy greens like spinach and kale. Eating fish that are high in omega-3 fatty acids — like salmon and tuna — is good for your eyes, too. And especially over the summer drink plenty of water as an adequate amount of hydration is needed for eye health.
Get active
Being physically active helps you stay healthy. It can also lower your risk of health conditions that can cause eye health or vision problems — like diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
Ball exercises
All ball sports help eye-hand co-ordination, even simply throwing a tennis ball 30x into a corner and catching it will improve eye muscle response. With summer here, take lessons from your children and grandchildren — throw the frisbee, play petanque, skip sea shells across the waves, focus on a moving object longer than usual.
Quit smoking
Smoking isn’t just bad for your lungs — it can hurt your eyes, too! Smoking increases your risk of diseases like macular degeneration and cataracts — and it can harm the optic nerve. If you’re ready to quit, quit.org.nz for free support.
Protect your eyes
Every day, you can take simple steps to keep your eyes healthy. Use these tips to protect your eyes from things that can harm them:
Wear sunglasses
Protect your eyes from the sun by wearing sunglasses — even on cloudy days! Be sure to look for sunglasses that block 99 to 100 percent of both UVA and UVB radiation.
Wear protective eyewear
Safety glasses and goggles are designed to protect your eyes during certain activities, like playing sports, doing construction work, or doing home repairs. You can buy them from most eye care providers and some sporting goods stores. www.nzao.nz/home/public/childrens-eye-health
Give your eyes a rest
Looking at a computer for a long time can tire out your eyes. Follow the 20:20:20 rule. Rest your eyes by taking a break every 20 minutes to look at something about 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
If you wear contacts, take steps to prevent eye infections
Always wash your hands before you put your contact lenses in or take them out. Be sure to disinfect your contact lenses and replace them regularly.
Rebecca and I wish you all a very rested and peaceful holiday season
Puri whitiora
Keep fit