How best to take care of our precious eyes

How best to take care of our precious eyes? Bottom line is to take care of your general health. Sounds a bit, general, right? Our eyeballs are basically tiny organs of their own, with teeny tiny itty bitty blood vessels doing an amazing job of keeping our eyes healthy. To keep those itty bitty blood vessels happy, we do have to take a wholesome approach.

Diet: nice and balanced. Less of the nasties clogging up the arteries -sorry deep fried Mars bar. More of the goodies - hello green leafy veg. Studies are also showing you may get some brownie points if you add in omegas-3s and anti-oxidants into the mix. Oily fish, nuts and seeds, the odd glass of red wine. Walnut crusted salmon with a glass of Pinot Noir anyone?

Exercise: Who would have thought! Keeping active will also keep the eyes healthy. Why? It has to do with those tiny blood vessels again. Exercise keeps your vascular system happy which keeps your eyes happy.

Stress: Always go for less. I’m going to harp on about those tiny blood vessels again. Stress stresses blood vessels. Stressed blood vessels become damaged blood vessels. Damaged blood vessels can lead to problematic changes in the back of your eye. Take a deep breath. Relax your shoulders. There we go.

UV: No breaking news here. UV can damage both the inside and surface of the eye and that massive hole in the ozone right above New Zealand makes us especially vulnerable. The answer? Sunglasses. Wear them and wear them often. Ideally a pair that have a good “wrap” or hug your face with good amount of coverage. Less sun poking through = less UV poking through.

And last but not least, it’s always recommended to have that eye exam every 2 years. Sooner if you notice any changes in your vision. Prevention is easier than remediation.

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