How To Keep Your Eyes From Aging

Regular center exams are key to protecting your vision. Photograph Courtesy: Within Artistic House/iStock

Welcome to Aging Well, a SymptomFind series with tips to help you protect your health and well-being as yous get older. This first edition focuses on eye health — and throughout the serial, nosotros'll bring you trusted tips to help you stay potent, salubrious and independent for years to come up.

Many centre diseases are more common in older adults. But vision loss does not have to be a normal part of crumbling. In fact, yous tin make simple changes to your daily routine to lower your risk for eye diseases that cause vision loss.

In this guide, nosotros're offering evidence-based tips to help yous protect your vision as you get older. Learn how changes you lot make today tin can protect your sight for a lifetime.

Yes, everyone's vision changes slightly as they become older. Later age 45, the lens of your middle doesn't focus besides — and that makes it harder to come across things upwards close. That'south why many older adults use glasses to read.

If you're having trouble reading or seeing things up close, run across your eye doctor for an examination. Your eye doctor may recommend prescription reading glasses or contacts, or you may be able to use over-the-counter reading spectacles.

While this minor vision change is a normal and expected role of aging, more serious vision changes and vision loss are not normal. See your doctor right away if y'all observe changes in your vision.

Am I at Risk for Eye Diseases?

Older adults are at higher take a chance for several eye diseases, including cataracts, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration.

Cataracts are cloudy areas in the lens of your eye. More than than one-half of Americans over age eighty take had cataracts. The good news is, a unproblematic surgery can fix cataracts.
Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that damages the nerve that connects your eye to your encephalon. Early handling can stop the damage and protect your sight.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an centre disease that makes your key vision blurry. People ages 55 and older are at college risk for AMD, but there may be treatments that can help.

Diabetic eye disease is some other main cause of vision loss in older adults. If y'all have diabetes, you're at chance for diabetic heart illness — and your risk gets college as you become older.

Your take chances for eye diseases may as well be college depending on your race, gender, family history of eye diseases and any other health weather you take. Talk with your medico virtually your personal risk for middle disease.

And retrieve, while your risk for these eye problems goes up every bit you historic period, you tin nonetheless take steps to protect your heart wellness. And so don't requite up on your eyes!

How Can I Protect My Sight?

Taking care of your eye health can be as unproblematic as eating your veggies and remembering your sunglasses when you lot go out the firm. Follow these vi tips to protect your vision.

1. Get Regular Heart Exams

Eye diseases that cause vision loss frequently have no early symptoms. And so the simply way to find them early is to get regular eye exams. Your center physician can test your vision and find eye problems early on, when they're easier to treat.

The National Centre Establish says that anybody over age lx needs an eye exam every one to two years. But depending on your take a chance for eye diseases, you may need to offset getting eye exams earlier or get them more often. For example, people with diabetes may need to become centre exams at least once a year. Ask your doctor how often yous demand an center exam.

2. Eat Right for Your Sight

Healthy eating is key to your overall health. It can aid prevent conditions like diabetes that can damage your eyes. And certain foods have nutrients that tin help protect your vision, including:

Leafy green veggies, like spinach and collards
Dark orangish veggies, like sweetness potatoes and carrots
Fish that provide Omega-3 fat acids, similar salmon and tuna

Then eat enough of colorful veggies and fat fish equally part of a healthy, balanced diet.

3. Stay Active to Proceed Seeing Your Best

Regular physical activeness is another key style to stay healthy every bit you become older. And information technology lowers your risk for health weather that can affect your vision, like loftier blood pressure level and high cholesterol.

Try to get about two and one-half hours of moderate-intensity aerobic activeness each week. That's annihilation that raises your heart rate and makes yous breathe faster, similar walking, biking or swimming. You could do 30 minutes on five days a calendar week, or whatever schedule works for yous. And at to the lowest degree two days a week, do an action that strengthens your muscles, like yoga, lifting weights or even carrying groceries.

If you're just getting started, do as much every bit you lot can and work your way upwardly to more! Even five minutes of walking a twenty-four hour period can make a deviation.

4. Manage Your Other Health Conditions

Health atmospheric condition like diabetes and loftier blood pressure put you at higher adventure for eye bug. And then getting these atmospheric condition under control is fundamental to protecting your sight.

For example, if you have diabetes, controlling your blood sugar can lower your risk for diabetic eye illness. Talk with your physician most the best way to manage your health conditions.

5. Ever Wear Your Sunglasses

Ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun can harm your optics and raise your chance for cataracts. So it's of import to wear sunglasses that block UV light. Try to clothing your sunglasses whenever you go out in the daytime — even if it's cloudy outside.

six. If You Smoke, Quit

Smoking isn't just bad for your lungs and your overall wellness. Information technology as well raises your run a risk for AMD and cataracts. If y'all smoke, make a plan to quit.

Get Assistance Living with Vision Loss

If you already have vision loss, there are lots of services and devices that can assist you make the most of the sight you lot even so have. These are sometimes called "low vision" or "vision rehab" services.

A specialist can help you lot learn to practise everyday tasks more easily. For example, you may need a magnifying device to help you read, or yous may need to rearrange your article of furniture to help you move effectually your home better. Ask your doc about services and devices that tin aid you lot alive better with low vision.

Resource Links:

"Healthy Aging Includes Salubrious Vision" via Centers for Affliction Control and Prevention (CDC)
"Crumbling and Your Optics" via National Institute on Aging
"viii Things You Tin Do Right At present to Protect Your Vision" via National Eye Institute
"36 Fabulous Foods to Help Protect Your Vision" via American University of Ophthalmology
"The Low Down on Eye Exercises" via Harvard Medical School
"How Much Concrete Activeness Do Older Adults Need?" via CDC