Improve Your Eyesight

Fearing Cataracts – Are They Dangerous

2011-01-19T22:21:00.000-08:00

The eyes come with their fair share of problems and health concerns. One of the major ailments is cataracts. This happens with age; as the eye gets old the lens becomes weaker. Cataracts cause a cloudy spot on the lens or cornea and vision becomes blurry. The lens of the eye has become denser and loses the transparency it once had.

The first solution the eye doctor will give is surgery. Surgery is the only way to fix the problem; or so you have been told. They will wait until the cataract is big enough to remove with surgery. The whole left in the eye will be replaced with a plastic lens so you can see once again. This process is expensive and may only work for a short while before coming back in another area of the eye or the other eye.

The number one cause of cataracts is stress. Most people who get cataracts have gone through some seriously stressful situations or life a high stress life. They never take the time to relax and are always on the go. Another cause is a poor diet, high in cholesterol and carbohydrates and low in vitamins and fruits or vegetables.

You can reduce the risk of cataracts today by learning to relax the eyes and eating a more healthy diet. Choose foods that are high in Vitamins A-E and increase the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat. Try to live a healthy lifestyle which includes regular exercise, no smoking, and little to no alcohol consumption.

Exercise is a great way to reduce stress and mental strain. Find the time to exercise at least every 5-6 days; even a brisk walk around the block is better than nothing. Take some time for yourself and relax. Lie out in the sun after work and close your eyes for 10-15 minutes as often as possible. Move things off the ‘to do’ list that can wait and don’t require immediate attention. Learn to say ‘no’ and try not to take on more than you can handle.

Avoiding stress and strain in your life can help improve your eyesight naturally. Cataracts are caused from too much strain and living a stressful live, so do your eyes a favor and relax.

What Are Your Eyes Saying?

2011-01-15T02:44:00.000-08:00

Eye problems plague society today and have for many years. Many of these problems and ailments can be avoided if we would stop and listen to our eyes. They are the best factors in deciding if we are overworking them. If your eyes are straining and tense, your eyes are being damaged. You wouldn’t continue straining your arm muscles for long periods of time, you would stop when it hurt and take a break. The eyes should be treated the same way.

The eyes are full of small muscles that are responsible for shortening or lengthening the lens so we can see clearly. Take a look at your eyes right now. Are they straining to read the words on the page? Are the eyes flowing over the words are staring hard at each word? Are you smiling, frowning, or concentrating too hard? If you said yes to any of those, your eye muscles need to relax as soon as possible.

Thoughts can actually affect our vision. When you are thinking pleasant, happy thoughts the eyes are more relaxed. Relaxed eyes have better focus and allow the eyes to make smooth movements. Negative thoughts cause the eyes to strain. Strained eyes tend to stare and the movements of the eye are jerky causing the eyes to hurt.

The eyes don’t lie. If your eyes hurt or you feel tense behind the eyes, they are simply trying to tell you to relax. Feel a headache coming on near the eyes or behind them? You are straining your eyes too much and need to relax.

The good news is that it only takes about 15-20 minutes to relax the eyes. Relaxed eyes can focus better and help with comprehension of the things you are reading or looking at. Simply close your eyes and concentrate on the darkness. Forget about the negative stressors going on around you, and think about positive, pleasant things. Picture yourself relaxing on the beach, the waves lapping at your feet, a cold drink in your hand. Keep your thoughts focused on as many pleasant things as you can for the entire 15 minutes. When you open your eyes, you should feel more relaxed and the eyes more focused.

Listening to what the eyes are saying and relax them when they are tired. Taking time out to relax, will help your vision for years to come.

Relaxation for the Eyes

2011-01-12T22:41:00.000-08:00

The eyes are chalk full of tiny muscles. The muscles main job is to change the shape of the eyes. The eyes change shape so they can focus and move up, down, and side to side. As with any muscle in the body, without proper exercise and training the muscles can weaken as we age. Most people are forced into artificial lenses because the muscles are too weak to change the shape of the eyes.

The lens of the eye hardens with age forcing the muscles to work harder. The eye muscles can be trained to work no matter how hard the lens get. It is the muscles around the eye that control the shape of the eyeballs. Once you learn how to exercise and train these muscles it is easy to put them to good use and avoid the need to ever need glasses.

Almost all eye problems are due to mental strain and excess stress on the eyes. Learning how to relax the eye and the eye muscles is the best thing to ensure you will never need artificial lenses. Relaxing your eyes sounds difficult, but it is much easier than you think. We cause our eyes unneeded strain by looking at things that annoy or irritate us. Take some time out to focus your sights on pleasant things. Put photographs on or around the desk at work of things that bring joy and happiness. Look at these pictures when you are feeling especially frustrated or stress and concentrate on relaxing and calming down.

Practice relaxation the eyes at night while lying in bed. In the darkness, close your eyes and cover them with a sheet or blanket. Let your mind think about pleasant things such as people, places, or things that bring you joy. Thinking pleasant thoughts helps relax the eyes which make them softer. The softer the eyes are the more easily they fit into their sockets. When the eyes are relaxed, they don’t stare or strain.

Practice relaxation techniques until they become more natural. Take the time during the work day to relax the eyes for at least 10-15 minutes. You will find you are more energized and can focus more clearly on your work.

Computers and Eyesight

2011-01-12T22:39:00.001-08:00

More and more jobs require the use of computers. With the information age being available on the computer, more and more people are spending endless hours in front of the screen. After a long day in front of the computer, it is common to start feeling tired, irritable, or pain in the eyes or head. Staring at computers and forgetting to relax and give the eyes a break can cause permanent damage and eye problems.

No one is expected to live a life without computers; we all need them and are use to them being a part of our daily lives. However, it is important to listen to our bodies and relax or take a break when necessary.

Listen to your body; it knows better than you do when it’s time for a break. Do not work until your eyes burn; you missed all the previous signs. Take short breaks every hour of work. This means get at least once every hour and walk around. However, taking breaks isn’t enough. Look away from the screen every 15-20 minutes for a minute or two. Look at things close and far away to allow the eyes to adjust and move around. The goal is to avoid the strain in the first place.

Blink as often as you can to keep the eyes lubricated. Take a few minutes to roll the eyeballs around; you can do this with your eyes open or closed to avoid looking silly. Open and close your eyes often to give them a short break. Yawn if you have too. Yawning stretches out the jaw muscles and keeps them from becoming tense causing headaches and eyes strain.

Move around as much as possible. You should always be in a comfortable position so adjust your body or chair as often as needed. Move the keyboard or monitor so you aren’t stretching your neck or looking at things at a strange angle. Try to avoid glare on the monitor, move it around as the sun moves or get a screen protector.

Keep the work area bright and well lit. Bright lights lighten up the mood and keep you feeling positive. Dim lights only bring down your mood and cause you to feel sluggish. Making minor changes in the work space and taking breaks often can keep long hours in front of the computer from permanently damaging the eyes.

Glasses, Vision & The Mind

2011-01-12T22:19:00.000-08:00

Vision plays a large part in the memory’s process. The better an image is processed the easier it is to recall later. The more relaxed the eyes are, the better they can absorb an image. Too much stress and strain on the eyes are the main causes of most eye problems and ailments.

The brain and the eyes work closely as a team. The eyes have to first capture an image and focus on the shape, size, and colors. The mind needs to interpret that information which is seen and then store it for recall later. Images that we see daily take mere seconds to interpret and remember. New images take a little bit longer. The more focused the eyes are on an image the more strong the memory will become. When looking at new object, pay attention to the lines around it, the borders, colors, size, shape, and anything else that will make recall easier later. Of course, the more relaxed the eyes are the quicker the mind can process and memorize new objects.

Concentrating too hard or focusing on images that doesn’t interest us causes unneeded strain and it will be difficult to remember them later. In order to maximize the memory, the image must first be viewed in a calm and relaxed manner. Below is a short exercise to try in order to get the mind and eyes to relax and work together properly.

First find a comfortable position, this could be sitting in your favorite chair or lying on the floor. Whichever your preference, make sure the spine is straight and the hands are relaxed at your side. Next, close your eyes and picture the number 5 down to 0 in your mind. Exhaling, really see the 5 in your mind. Let the eyes follow the black lines of the 5 and really picture the number. Relax and exhale completely by letting all the air out of your lungs until you naturally take the next breath.

Allow the lungs to fill completely with air and then picture the number 4. Again, picture the number completely while you exhale. Really see the lines, the black color, the shape; don’t stop picturing the number until all the air has left your lungs and the next breath comes naturally. Do this all the way down to 0.

In time you should be able to visualize images in the mind more clearly and feel more relaxed in the processed.