The environment you live in has a significant impact on the health of your eyes and the condition of your vision. If you're looking for ways to improve your eye health, perhaps your first step should be to take a critical look around your home.
The following are four things you can do around the house that will create a living environment that's more conducive to healthy eyes and good vision:
Get some houseplants
Indoor air pollution is a significant problem in many homes. There are many different substances that you may use around your home– like chemical cleaners, paint, and perfumes– that can release harmful contaminants into the air.
These contaminants will eventually find their ways into your eyes and could cause irritation and dryness that detract from overall eye health.
Putting houseplants around your home is an easy, pleasant, and inexpensive way to purify the air of your home and protect your eyes from these contaminants. Plants are natural air filters that remove carbon dioxide and other contaminants from the air while releasing oxygen.
Stop rubbing your eyes
When your eyes become irritated, you may be tempted to rub them with your fingers or hands. However, this tends to do more harm than good.
Rubbing your eyes can be harmful in numerous ways. First, it subjects your eyes to bacteria because bacteria on your hands can easily get into your eyes and cause infections. Also, rubbing puts pressure on the eyes that could aggravate eye conditions like progressive myopia.
Avoid eye irritation that causes you to rub your eyes by keeping allergens out of your home. Be careful to ventilate properly if you have pets, or keep your pets outside if possible. Also, get rid of bedding or shaggy carpeting that tends to irritate the eyes by releasing dust or fiber particles into the air.
Put an anti-glare screen over your computer monitor
If you have to spend a lot of time in front of the computer, an anti-glare screen covering your monitor can help prevent your work hours from taking their toll on your eye health.
Anti-glare screens prevent eye strain and irritation that can result from a long day in front of the harsh artificial light of a computer monitor.
Get shades and curtains to keep the sun out
Sunlight can be just as harmful to your eyes as it is to your skin. UV radiation in sunlight can raise an individual's chances of developing ocular melanoma and cataracts.
You should be especially careful about exposure to sunlight indoors if your home has a room with a skylight. Avoid going in a room with an uncovered skylight during the sunniest hours of the day to protect your eyes from harsh UV radiation.
For more tips to care for your eyes properly, talk with an eye care provider like Charles Richards A OD.
Share7 July 2016
Hi, I'm Deena, and as I neared middle age, I noticed that my eyesight wasn't as good as it used to be. I first started out needing reading glasses to read the small print in magazines, and then a few months later, I had to put them on to see the computer screen clearly. I knew by then that my eyes were getting worse and that I needed to do something quickly. I made an appointment with the optometrist and the doctor gave me an eye exam. Even though my sight wasn't as bad as I had feared, I still needed prescription glasses. I love my new glasses because I can actually see now. I have put together a lot of information about eye problems, eye tests and even various types of eye wear so that others don't wait as long as I did to see the eye doctor.