10 Ways to Improve Your Eyesight

It’s easy to take them for granted, but healthy eyes are not guaranteed for life. According to Prevent Blindness America, a non-profit dedicated to raising awareness about vision problems in the U.S., an estimated 50,000 people needlessly lose their eyesight every year. Most common eye diseases, like cataracts and glaucoma, are preventable. Here are just a few simple things you can do to keep your eyesight in top health.

1. Eat more blueberries

Blueberries are the fruit richest in antioxidants. A study by The Archives of Ophthalmology found that people who ate the most fruit were less likely to suffer from age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), one of the foremost causes of blindness in the elderly.

2. Spinach Twice a Week

Spinach contains an abundance of lutein, a nutrient that helps prevent ARMD and cataracts. For best absorption, take your lutein with some kind of fat. Olive oil is recommended.

3. Red onions

Instead of cooking with yellow onions, cook with red onions. They have more quercetin, an antioxidant that helps prevent cataracts.

4. Aim the A/C away from your eyes

When you turn on your car’s air conditioner, turn the vents so that the air does not hit your eyes directly. Over long consistent periods, dry eyes can lead to corneal abrasions and other eye problems.

5. Keep computer screen below eye level

Adjust your computer screen so that it is below your eyes, as this will keep your eyes half closed when looking at it. This prevents fluid evaporation and dry eyes.

6. Multivitamins work

Take a multivitamin pill every day and make it a strict habit. Studies showed that women who took vitamin C supplements for 10 or more years were 77% less likely to develop cataracts than women who didn’t. Make sure the supplement you take contains at least 150 mg of vitamin C.

7. Have fish twice a week

Oily fish contain omega-3 fatty acids, which help prevent dry eye syndrome. If you can’t do fish for some reason, take fish-oil supplements, which also contain omega-3.

8. Avoid grease and sweets

Greasy foods (like potato chips and hamburgers) as well as foods that are high in sugar content contain omega-6 fatty acids, which, unlike omega-3 fatty acids, are more likely to cause ARMD.

9. Eat more sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes are high in vitamin A, which helps improve your night vision.

10. Don’t smoke

If you smoke, quit. If you don’t smoke, keep it that way. Smoking increases your chance of getting cataracts, dry eye syndrome, ARMD and glaucoma.  

Not everyone can have perfect eyesight, some wear glasses or contacts. There are people who find that Lasik Results are the way to go when you don’t want to deal with the glasses or contacts.