In general, the only way to improve your eyesight is to address any underlying vision issues. However, you can take certain actions to maintain your overall eye health and keep your eyesight in tip-top condition. These actions could help prevent some future issues with your sight, too.
In this guide, we’ll go over when to see a doctor about improving your vision. We’ll also give you tips on how to improve your eye health with the help of some healthy habits.
How To Improve Vision
Whether your visual acuity is less than optimal or an eye disease or condition is impacting your eyesight, vision improvement generally involves the intervention of an eye care provider.
Correct Visual Acuity
Visual acuity is a measurement of the sharpness of your vision at a certain distance. It’s expressed as a fraction, such as 20/20.
Problems with visual acuity often stem from these common refractive errors:
In most cases, issues with visual acuity are corrected with eyeglasses, contact lenses, or eye surgery.
Address Underlying Eye Conditions
Sometimes, an underlying eye condition can cause symptoms that affect your vision. In such cases, addressing the root problem is usually necessary to improve vision. For example, if eye strain is causing your vision to become temporarily blurry, your eye doctor can recommend treatment to alleviate or reduce the eye strain.
Remember, in serious cases, an unaddressed condition could lead to permanent vision loss. So, whenever your vision is causing problems, it’s important to seek care from an optometrist or ophthalmologist.
Having a healthy lifestyle can go a long way in maintaining the condition of your eyes. And taking action to protect your eyes can help you steer clear of eye injuries that can impact vision.
1. Get an Annual Eye Exam
The best way to preserve the health of your eyes is to get a comprehensive eye exam each year. Your eye doctor can assess your vision and eye health. They will recommend the best treatment for any conditions or vision problems you’re experiencing—and can answer any questions you have.
2. Eat a Nutritious Diet
Eating a nutritious diet will give your eyes the building blocks to function at their best. For example, foods that contain the nutrients and antioxidants below can help maintain overall eye health.
- Vitamin A: This vitamin supports our body’s supply of rhodopsin, a pigment that aids our vision at night and in low light. Apricots, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, and carrots are good sources of vitamin A.
- Lutein and Zeaxanthin: Green vegetables and leafy greens like broccoli, collards, kale, romaine lettuce, spinach, and turnip greens are high in lutein and zeaxanthin. These antioxidants may help prevent age-related macular degeneration (AMD), one of the leading causes of vision loss in people who are 50 years of age and older.
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Diets containing foods rich in omega-3s might also help stave off AMD. Plus, omega-3s may improve symptoms of dry eyes by aiding in the production of natural tears, so they may also be good for people with dry eyes. Cold-water fish like halibut, salmon, sardines, tuna, and trout are good sources of omega-3s.
In addition, you may wish to ask your doctor if you should consider a dietary supplement.
3. Protect Eyes from Blue Light
Many digital devices and some fluorescent and LED lights give off short-wavelength blue rays, commonly known as blue light. Although more research is still needed to understand the effects of blue light on humans, initial research has found too much blue light may contribute to eye strain and related symptoms, such as blurry vision, dry eyes, eye fatigue, and headaches. Blue light glasses filter a higher percentage of blue light than standard lenses.
4. Wear Protective Eyewear
Eye injuries can happen to anyone. But you can reduce your chances of getting one—and its possible impact on your vision. Wear protective eyewear like safety glasses or goggles in hazardous situations, such as working with chemicals or amid flying bits of debris.
5. Shield Eyes from the Sun
The sun emits ultraviolet (UV) light that can damage your eyes. Prolonged exposure to the sun could cause potentially serious eye conditions such as AMD, cataracts (clouding of the eye’s lens), and photokeratitis.
Don’t worry: You can take steps to help protect your eyes from the harmful effects of the sun. For instance, wear sunglasses with UV-A and UV-B protection. (Our eyeglass and sunglass lenses will protect you from both!) Wear a hat or visor that protects the eye area from the sun, and always avoid looking directly at the sun.
6. Don’t Smoke
If you smoke, quit. If you don’t smoke, don’t start! Smoking increases your eyes’ exposure to toxic chemicals that could lead to cataracts or macular degeneration. In fact, smokers are twice as likely as non-smokers to develop AMD and two to three times more likely to get cataracts.
7. Get Exercise
It’s thought that exercise can help promote healthy eyes and prevent certain eye problems. For instance, one recent study found that an increase in exercise intensity may contribute to a decreased risk of glaucoma, an eye condition that damages the optic nerve.
Keep an Eye on Your Health
Generally speaking, the best things you can do for your vision are to adopt a healthy lifestyle, protect your eyes from potentially harmful activities, and get regular eye exams. (We can always help with that last one.)
