How to Ensure Good Eye Health in Your 40s and 50s

There are very few inevitabilities in life. Unfortunately, one of those unavoidable situations is aging. No matter what, you will grow older as the years march inexorably on. However, getting older doesn’t have to signify a loss or reduction in ability and capability.

In fact, while it’s often assumed that your eyes will get worse with age, there’s actually quite a lot you can do to reduce the chance of this occurring and maintain your eyes for many years to come, even into your 40s and 50s.

So, if you’re interested in maintaining vision for the long haul, read on and see all that you can do.

Get Regular Check-Ups

The best way to maintain your eyes is to deal with problems before they occur or before they snowball into larger issues.

After all, prevention is worth a dozen cures. Once you hit the age of 40, the American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends that you have a baseline comprehensive eye exam. This base exam is important because it will allow your eye doctor to track any changes that occur as well as to identify problems early.

In fact, once you’re past this baseline assessment, you should make sure to have a complete eye examination every 2–4 years throughout the decade after this initial test. 

Keep an Eye Out

Another important thing to do is to make sure to pay attention to any troubling signs or symptoms that might prompt an immediate visit to the ophthalmologist. 

There are some that are more age-related and require care. These are things like needing more light to see, or having trouble reading or doing work at a close-up angle. You may also find yourself dealing with increased sensitivity to the glare that reflects off of windshields or pavement. A more interesting side effect is that your perception of colours might change entirely. You could see things in a different light, too, and you might find that you produce less tears.

Other signs that are more concerning and indicative of serious eye problems like cataracts, diabetice retinopathy, glaucoma, or macular degeneration, which can lead to blindness and low vision, include:

• Sudden vision changes. Any rapid changes to your eyesight can be indicative of issues with blood vessels and damage to your eyes.
• Loss of peripheral vision. If you can’t see out of the side of your eyes, this is very concerning and can be a sign that your vision is being lost due to a condition. Get this treated quickly if you think you are experiencing a loss of your peripheral vision.
• Floaters and flashes. Floating particles are common things to see, but if you’re suddenly seeing massive bunches of floaters along with bright flashes, that is very worrisome. This could be a sign of retinal detachment and requires immediate attention with your eye doctor. 
• Distorted vision. Any images that start to look wavy or distorted are also major problems related to macular degeneration and need quick treatment to be fixed. 

A Balanced Diet

Another important factor in slowing, if not fully stopping, the degeneration of your vision is to have a healthy diet.

Certain genetic dispositions may leave some people more predisposed to developing particular diseases and conditions. However, if you have a healthy diet, it helps slow down this dangerous progression significantly.

There are a lot of reasons to eat healthy, even beyond the eyesight benefits. Of course, it’ll keep you in good health, but the vision boost can’t be overstated. Your eyes depend on the nutrients in your food to operate optimally. These nutrients can be found in many different foods.

Of course, it’s not always feasible or affordable to have an extremely balanced diet. Thankfully, owing to the miracles of modern medicine, there are many vitamin supplements available that are a simple and convenient alternative.

Choose foods or supplements that contain lots of antioxidants, Omega-3, and lutein to help preserve your eyesight. If you can’t tell which ones to take, look for vitamins specifically targeted to help your eyesight.

Eye Exercise

Your eyes are like any muscle in your body, meaning they need to be worked out and kept up to their top shape.

If you don’t use the muscles in your eye, you will lose their function quicker. For instance, start by focusing on an object five feet away for 10 seconds. Then, do the same for an object 10 feet away for the same time period, then even farther out and so on, so that your distant focus lens stays active and in-shape.

This is important because often in the modern age, we find ourselves staring at computers and screens really close to our eyes, meaning the longer-range muscles fall into disrepair. 

Give Them a Break

It’s almost impossible in modern society to get away from the screens and computers that so dominate our world, and not just because work often relies on using computers and phones to a large extent.

Unfortunately, this can be very straining on your eyes, damaging them over time. That’s why you should try to take sufficient breaks to rest your eyes. This way, you can reduce eye strain and the consequent dry eyes. 

The Final Word

There’s a lot you can do to slow down the effects of aging, in particular on your eyesight. While it’s impossible to perfectly maintain them, your actions can make a difference in easing the burden and reducing the stress that you put on your eyes, often unnecessarily. In fact, taking breaks and exercising your eyes can actually benefit their performance along with all the other suggestions. 

By now, it should become clear that rapid eye deterioration doesn’t have to be an inevitable part of life. In fact, there’s a lot you can do to ensure good eye health regardless of your age, and, although it requires a bit of care and concern on your part, the pay-off is well worth it. If you want professional advice, help, and procedures like laser eye surgery to really max out the strength of your vision, reach out to us at the Clearview Vision Institute. We can be called at 416-445-8439 or through our contact portal right here.