36 everyday habits that can save your eyesight

Regularly smoking marijuana may screw up your vision, according to preliminary results from a French study. Study participants who used marijuana at least seven times a week showed a slight delay in the signalling of their retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) on the surface of the retina. These cells receive visual information, and any delay could suggest impaired vision.

Practicing yoga or another form of stress reduction every day can do more than keep you calm, cool and collected, it can also save your vision. “We know that stress can strain our vision and can also get in the way of making healthy choices that will benefit our overall health and vision such as eating a healthy diet and getting regular exercise,” Evans says.

Could you hold this yoga pose if your life depended on it?

Eating too many refined carbs isn’t great for your overall health – and it could specifically mean trouble for your eyes. Eating high-glycaemic carbs may leave eyes more vulnerable to age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that free sugars (added sugars as well as the sugar component of honey, fruit juice and concentrates) make up no more that 10 per cent of daily kilojoule intake.

Remember to take your lenses out before placing in a new set. Sounds simple enough, right? Unfortunately not everyone adheres to it. Doctors recently removed 27 contact lenses from the eyes of a woman who had been wearing monthly disposable lenses for 35 years. The findings appear in The British Medical Journal.

Retinal detachment is a medical emergency. Symptoms such as sudden or gradual increase in either the number of floaters (little ‘cobwebs’ or specks that float around your field of vision), light flashes in the eye, or the appearance of a curtain over the field of vision, mean you should see a doctor ASAP.

Rubbing may provide instant gratification for itchy and irritated eyes, but it can actually make things worse. “Rubbing your eyes may also increase your chances of infection by further spreading whatever it is that is irritating your eyes,” Ecabs says. See an allergist or eye doctor to stop the itch safely, he says.

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Source: RD.com