14 Must-know Habits to Protect Your Eye Health

The eyes are the most sensitive part of the body. Thus, it can get easily affected by many factors, namely pollution, stress, unhealthy diet and more. However, one can ensure that these factors do not decline our eye health by following the day-to-day habits mentioned below.

By adopting these 14 tips, you can keep your vision clear and your eyes healthy for a longer period. So, let's read on how to keep the eyes healthy!

1. Avoid Rubbing Your Eyes

As our hands touch a lot of things throughout the day, it is evident they may come in contact with dust, dirt and bacteria. So, if you have a habit of rubbing your eyes, you may be putting them in danger of attracting infection and irritation. So, try to get rid of this habit as soon as possible.

Benefits of Avoiding the Habit of Rubbing Eyes

• By avoiding this habit, you are preventing the chances of vision impairment. It often means that when you rub the eyes too hard, it damages the eye lens, which further hampers your vision.
• There are other problems, too, like blurry vision, eye pain, fatigue, headache, nausea, etc., that you can prevent by not rubbing the eyes.

Other Tips to Stop Rubbing Your Eyes

If the leading cause of your eye rubbing is an eye condition like allergies and infection, visit the doctor for treatment. They give over-the-medications like eye drops to flush the dirt out. In addition, prescription drugs help cure the allergy.

2. Adopt a Healthy Diet for Your Eyes

One of the first suggestions you will get on how to improve eye health is to adopt a balanced diet. In other words, your diet must include nutrients that promote healthy vision, like Vitamin A, Lutein, Zinc, and Vitamin C. Also, it must contain Omega-3 fatty acids and Vitamin E. The benefits of eating a healthy diet are mentioned below.

Benefits of Adopting a Healthy Diet for Eyes

• It keeps you away from age-related vision problems like cataracts and macular degeneration.
• A balanced diet also maintains a healthy weight so you can avoid obesity and type-2 diabetes, which are the leading cause of eye problems.

Other Tips on Adopting Healthy Diet for Eyes

To ensure you are eating a balanced diet, ensure your plate contains a combination of leafy vegetables, oyster/ pork, oranges/ citrus fruit. Also include oily fishes like Salmon or Tuna and non-meat protein sources like beans, nuts or eggs.

3. Practice Frequent Hand-Washing

Most common vision-related eye problems happen because of our eyes coming in contact with unclean hands. Thus, it is a healthy habit to wash it frequently. Otherwise, you expose your eye to problems like staph, pink eye, gonorrhoea, and even chlamydia.

Moreover, these viral and bacterial infections can also develop long-term vision problems. So, make sure to wash your hands before touching your eyes

Benefits of Washing Hands Frequently

• By washing your hands frequently, you are protecting your eyes from infection. In addition, you are eliminating the chances of transferring diseases like conjunctivitis.
• Washing hands helps protect your eyes from coming in contact with spices, especially after cooking or eating. As a result, preventing the instances of burning and redness of eyes.

Other Tips on Washing Hands Frequently

While washing hands, ensure you follow the full process of rubbing soap in a circular motion until it forms foams. Also, scrub the front, back and between your fingers to avoid leaving out any area. This minimises the chances of bacteria contact.

4. Quit Smoking

Smoking damages not only your lungs but also your optic nerves. Thus, it makes you susceptible to getting cataracts. Apart from this, it also increases the chances of developing other age-related eye diseases. So, one of the essential tips for a healthy eye is to quit smoking.

For this purpose, you can also take the help of a therapist. The benefits are as follows.

Benefits of Quitting Smoking

• If you quit smoking, you stop irritating and inflaming your eyes which is one of the leading causes of developing Uveitis.
• Diabetic Retinopathy is an eye disease that patients with diabetes develop. Moreover, since smoking worsens diabetes, it also increases the chances of catching Diabetic Retinopathy. So, quitting smoking helps here.

Other Tips to Quit Smoking

Many approaches are available to quit smoking, like medicines, nicotine replacement therapy and alternative nicotine products. However, it is best to take professional assistance for this purpose.

5. Protect Your Eyes From Direct Sunlight

When the direct sunlight falls into your eyes, it gets exposed to UV rays and other harmful particles. This increases the chances of developing age-related macular degeneration causing photokeratitis or sunburn.

To avoid this, it is better to wear sunglasses so that apart from making a fashion statement, the purpose of protecting your eyes also gets served.

Benefits of Protecting Eyes From Direct Sunlight

• Protecting eyes from direct sunlight also keeps you young for a long time. In other words, it avoids early wrinkles as you do not contract your eye muscles while looking at the sun. This is the cause of well-worn lines on the face.
• One of the biggest threats you can attract from direct contact with UV rays is skin cancer. In addition, it also shows that applying SPF lotion near the eye increases the danger of cancer.

Other Tips on Protecting Eyes From Direct Sunlight

The best way to protect your eyes from direct sunlight is by wearing sunglasses. In contrast, you can also wear contact glasses and UV-protected eyeglasses. These also help in avoiding cataracts, macular degeneration and other diseases.

6. Wear Safety Glasses

If you are a big fan of swimming, do not forget to wear goggles. It is vital to protect your eyes from chlorine in the water. Besides this, you also need your safety glasses when gardening or trying a DIY project. It prevents your eyes from getting in contact with small sharp particles, dust, dirt and other injuries.

Benefits of Wearing Safety Glasses

• There are many hazardous and airborne particles we do not notice while carrying DIY or other work. Safety glasses protect us from those and avoid any injuries.
• While carrying any sports activities we usually wear helmets and safety glasses. This is because their polycarbonate lenses shields our eyes from any damage.

Other Tips on Wearing Safety Glasses

While looking for safety glass, there are three points to keep in mind. First, notice whether the frame is comfortable or too heavy. Also ascertain whether the lens contains features like scratch-proof, fog-free and 3mm thickness.

7. Practice 20-20-20 Rule

One of the top tips on how to keep your eyes healthy is following the 20-20-20 rule. It includes three steps; one is every 20 minutes, look at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds. The second is to blink your eyes 20 times to prevent them from getting dry. Third, after every 20 minutes, get out of the seat and take 20 steps.

Benefits of Practising the 20-20-20 Rule

• The 20 steps not only give a rest to your eyes but also promote healthy posture and blood circulation in the body.
• Staying away from the screen every 20 minutes avoids eye problems like eye strain, headaches, blurry vision, neck or shoulder pain etc.

Other Tips on Practising the 20-20-20 Rule

While practising the 20-20-20 rule, ensure no light glare enters your eyes. Also, if you have dry eyes, blink more often and try to use artificial tears.

8. Use Only High-Quality Eye Makeup

There is no problem putting on makeup, but it is dangerous when you choose products that are not of high quality. So, make sure you use only those known brands that work well for you. Also, avoid mascara, eye-shadows and eyeliners, if possible, to avoid allergies. Also, always remove your makeup and wash your makeup brushes after application.

Benefits of Using Only High-Quality Eye Makeup

• The difference between high-quality and low-quality makeup is the pigment and formula used to design the product. If incorrect, it can result in bumps, eye infections and reduced eyesight. So, by choosing the right one, you can rule out the chances.
• If you choose the right quality product in the first place, you will not have to invest in other skin care products to undo the harm you have caused. Thus, it reduces your expenses.

Other Tips on Using Only High-Quality Eye Makeup

Make sure you do not remove your makeup just before going to sleep and ensure some time gap between the two activities. This is because there is a threat of developing bacterial build-up during sleep from the residual makeup left around the eye.

9. Get Plenty of Sleep

Just like your body needs rest to boost energy for another day, your eyes also need to recharge. So during sleep, your eyes remain shut for a longer period. This gives it plenty of relaxation time to revitalise and rejuvenate. Other benefits are shared below.

Benefits of Getting Plenty of Sleep

• Sleeping enables your eyes to gather the required moisture and lubricant they lost while staring at screens or other objects. As a result, it avoids the problem of dry eyes.
• During sleep, your eyes are also continuously clearing out irritants like dirt, dust and allergens accumulated in the eyes. So, every morning you start with fresh and clean eyes.

Other Tips on Getting Plenty of Sleep

While sleeping, also remove your contact lenses (if you wear one). This is because contact lenses block the flow of air, thus depriving the eyes of oxygen. So, while you sleep, your eyes can regain the oxygen amount.

10. Check on the Room Lighting and Screen Distance

One of the essential tips on how to maintain eye health that we often miss out on is keeping the screen at one arm's distance. Also, it should be 20 degrees below eye level. If not due to continuous staring, it can strain your eyes. Also, ensure you are not sitting in a room with either diffused or harsh lighting.

Benefits of Monitoring Room Light and Screen Distance

• You also increase sleep quality by avoiding straining your eyes from the screen.
• You are decreasing the chances of developing eye problems that damage your vision.

Other Tips on Monitoring Room Light and Screen Distance

Focused light creates glare on the screen, further increasing the stress on the eyes. So, check that you do not sit with a window open at your back. Lastly, maintain a brightness that compliments your eyes.

11. Keep the Surroundings Clean

If there is dust and dirt in your surroundings, your eyes may get exposed. So try your best to keep your environment clean and well-maintained. For example, change the towels and linens regularly and keep the workstation de-cluttered.

Benefits of Keeping the Surroundings Clean

• It prevents foreign objects from entering eyes that can create pain, discomfort, and redness.
• It protects your eyes from loosing it’s sight as there are instances in which foreign objects with a sharp or pointed structure causes blindness after entering eyes. However, cleaning the environment reduces the chances of getting it.

Other Tips on Keeping the Surroundings Clean

In home renovation cases, it is impossible to keep the surroundings clean, so wear glasses or a similar thing to protect the eyes. Also, when using dangerous objects like a lawn mower, toxic chemicals and saws, always wear protective eyewear.

12. Drink Enough Fluid

Drinking enough fluid throughout the day is essential for maintaining the overall well-being of the body and, most importantly, your eyes. It helps prevent it from getting irritated or dry. Other benefits of drinking enough fluid in the form of water, juice, and others are mentioned below.

Benefits of Drinking Enough Fluid

• By drinking enough fluid, you are ruling out the problem of dehydration which includes blurred vision, red eyes, burning sensation, headaches, etc.
• Proper fluid intake also increases the intensity of focusing on a word or figure. It improves clarity and vision.

Other Tips on Drinking Enough Fluid

One thing to know here is drinking a lot of carbonated drinks, coffee, or any other beverage does not compensate for the water intake. So, if you are drinking these items only, your eyes are probably not hydrated.

13. Perform Eye Exercise Daily

This is a beneficial yet easy tip on how to make your eye healthy. Start your day by practising simple eye exercises like looking at a distant object for 15 seconds, then switching the glare to a nearer object. Then, look at it for another 15 seconds and repeat this cycle 4 to 5 times.

Benefits of Performing Eye Exercise Daily

• Performing eye exercises makes sure both your eyes work in sync. This further avoids the problem of skipping lines while reading, eye strain, headache, closing eyes, etc.
• Exercises suggested in vision therapy address problems like lazy eye, an eye turn, eye teaming, and eye tracking.

Other Tips on Performing Eye Exercise Daily

If there is a specific problem with the eye, then always take the doctor's advice on the exercises to perform for an improved result. The health care professional will suggest an exercise targeting specific eye muscles and curing the problem.

14. Go on Regular Eye Check-ups

Last but the most important tip is to visit your ophthalmologist or optometrist regularly. They run different tests to determine how healthy your eyes are and how perfect your vision is. So, if there is a need for medicine or a lens, they can suggest it at the right time.

Benefits of Going on Regular Eye Check-ups

• Certain eye problems like Myopia in kids can be threatening if not controlled in the early stage. However, regular eye-check ensures safety from Myopia.
• Regular eye check-up detects severe eye conditions from before, like glaucoma, cataract, age-related macular degeneration etc.
• Besides eye diseases, regular check-ups help detect other conditions like high cholesterol, diabetes, and cancer.

Other Tips on Regular Eye Check-ups

When going for an eye check-up, always carry your lens or glasses with you so the doctor can review them. The doctor will suggest if you require an increase or decrease in power.