Don’t Lose Your Eyesight as You Get Older

By Dr. Mercola

Contrary to popular belief, deteriorating vision is primarily a side effect of modern lifestyle. Aging does not automatically mean you will lose your eyesight. The key is to properly nourish your eyes throughout the years, and avoid chronic eye strain.

For example, I noticed my near vision started to deteriorate around 20 years ago, but after applying these principles, at 61, I don’t wear reading glasses unless I need to see small print and there is very little light.

Staring at a computer screen for hours on end is a common cause of blurred vision, short-sightedness, and other eye problems.¹

Spending time outdoors is helpful, and research suggests that children playing outdoors for at least 40 minutes a day have a reduced risk of short-sightedness.²

Your diet may be paramount though. Chronic vitamin A deficiency, for example, can lead to total blindness. Other nutrient insufficiencies significantly contribute to the development of macular degeneration.

Many people these days spend a large portion of their days staring at computer screens of varying sizes, and this is a major source of eye strain and fatigue. A recent Epoch Times article²⁴ offers a number of common-sense suggestions for minimizing computer-related eye strain, and All About Vision²⁵ also lists helpful ways to protect your eyes when working in front of a screen. Some of these suggestions include the following:

• Prevent screen glare by installing an anti-glare screen on your monitor, or a computer hood if you have large open windows causing glare on your screen. Darker colored walls with a matte finish are also preferable to bright white walls
• Optimize your lighting by making sure your screen is the brightest thing in the room. According to All About Vision, “when you use a computer your ambient lighting should be about half as bright as that typically found in most offices”
• Sit at least an arm’s length away from your computer screen, and make sure the screen is positioned just below eye level
• Adjust the color temperature, brightness, text size, and contrast on your screen. If a website with white background glows like a light source, it’s too bright. Blue light is also associated with more eye strain than orange and red wavelengths, so reducing the color temperature (the amount of blue light) of your display may be helpful
• Practice your distance vision. Every 20 minutes or so, take a break from the screen to look at something further away from you, such as across the street if you’re by a window

Other Natural Strategies That Help Protect Your Vision

In my opinion, there are natural, common-sense strategies you can employ to help protect your healthy vision, starting with your diet. As discussed above, certain foods are more or less necessary for optimal vision, and can go a long way toward protecting your eyesight throughout life. Besides the suggestions detailed above, here are a few other lifestyle strategies that can help optimize your eye health.

• Quit smoking, if you currently do. Smoking ramps up free radical production throughout your body, and puts you at risk for a number of conditions rooted in chronic inflammation, including poor vision.
• Care for your cardiovascular system by getting regular exercise. High blood pressure can cause damage to the miniscule blood vessels on your retina, obstructing free blood flow. A regular, effective exercise program consisting of aerobics, Peak Fitness exercises, core building, and strength training, can go a long way toward reducing your blood pressure. It’s also critical for optimizing your insulin and leptin levels.
• Avoid processed foods and added sugars, particularly fructose.²⁶ This is another primary way to maintain optimal blood pressure. Consuming 74 grams or more per day of fructose (equal to 2.5 sugary drinks) increases your risk of having blood pressure levels of 160/100 mmHg by 77 percent.
• Normalize your blood sugar. Excessive sugar in your blood can pull fluid from the lens of your eye, affecting your ability to focus. It can also damage the blood vessels in your retina, thereby obstructing blood flow. To keep your blood sugar in a healthy range, follow my comprehensive nutrition guidelines, exercise, and avoid processed foods and excess sugar, especially fructose.
• Avoid trans fats. A diet high in trans fat appears to contribute to macular degeneration by interfering with omega-3fats in your body. Trans fat is found in many processed foods and baked goods, including margarine, shortening, fried foods like French fries, fried chicken, and doughnuts, cookies, pastries, and crackers.
• Avoid aspartame. Vision problems are one of the many potential acute symptoms of aspartame poisoning.

Sources and References

• ^1, 24 Epoch Times August 20, 2015
• ² BBC News September 15, 2015
• ³ NIH AMD Definitions and Data
• ⁴ New York Times October 22, 2015
• ^5, 26 Nutritionaction.com July 18, 2015
• ⁶ WebMD October 8, 2015
• ⁷ Science Daily August 31, 2015
• ⁸ University at Buffalo August 27, 2015
• ⁹ Rawfoodworld.com September 2015
• ^10, 11 American Optometric Association, Lutein and Zeaxanthin
• ¹² British Journal of Ophthalmology Aug 1998; 82(8): 907–910
• ¹³ Science Daily March 9, 2015
• ¹⁴ Time Magazine March 30, 2015
• ¹⁵ Valensa, Astaxanthin, the Newest Carotenoid Eye Healthcare Dietary Supplement Solution
• ¹⁶ Dr. Mark Tso Bio
• ¹⁷ Pure Appl. Chem., Vol. 71, No. 12, pp. 2253±2262, 1999 (PDF)
• ¹⁸ Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture May 1, 2001: 81(6); 559-568
• ¹⁹ Medlineplus.com, Bilberry
• ^20, 23 Howstuffworks.com, Benefits of Bilberry
• ²¹ Advances in Gerontology 2005;16:76-9
• ²² Total Health Magazine, Black Currant
• ²⁵  All About Vision, Computer Eye Strain: 10 Steps for Relief

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