Greetings fellow colleagues 🤗
Hello beautiful community! Another week and yet another great topic promoted by the MED-HIVE community. This time, we are challenged to think of the actions we already take towards taking care of our vision and sight. You can see more information about the prompt here 👇
👀 MED-HIVE HEALTH WEEKLY DISCUSSIONS - VISION AND EYE HEALTH #2 👀
Funny thing is, the first thought that pooped into my head was the bad stuff I'm doing. I realize that I can more easily identify the things I'm doing wrong that can potentially hurt my sight.
Therefore I'll take advantage of this post to talk about not only the things I already do for better vision health, but I'll also discuss some actions I could take to improve my unhealthy habits.
Dear reader, care to join me? 🤗
Simple steps that go a long way 👌
First, in the name of full transparency, I must disclaim that I have almost no scientific knowledge about vision and eye health per si, so for today, I'll be a non-med member of this community.
This is super exciting because I'm sure I'll learn a lot from this prompt from the experts and from reading what everyone thinks about this. More importantly, I hope we all learn and start to take better care of our sight.
So, here we go!
Glasses 👓
So, I use glasses because I have slight myopia on my left eye and a bit of astigmatism on my right eye (note to self - fun right?) . From the little I know and from what the Dr. explained to me at the time, myopia refers to the difficulty to see at a distance and astigmatism refers to the struggle to see up close. (note to self - yes, even my eyes have conflict between them, not just my mind. )
At the time, I bought a pair of glasses that contains some sort of a blue filter in its lenses and from what was explained to me, it helps with the tiredness of our vision when we stare at screens for a long time. So, I try to use them every time I'm on the computer, watching TV or sometimes when using my phone (note to self-improvement needed!)
Changes on my screen's phone configurations 📱
I've taken this action a while ago with the original goal of improving my sleep. However, I believe it can also fall into taking care of my eyes. I have placed a sleep mode configuration that changes the colours on my screen to black and white.
From midnight until 7 am, this configuration takes place automatically. I also try to disconnect from my phone after dinner but sometimes, when circumstances dictate that I have to use it, at least it won't interfere with my eyes with a bright light in the middle of the dark.
Source
(note to self - Shit, I can't think of anything else!!) Maybe let's move on to the next section, shall we? 😅
What I need to improve
Ok... So we established that I don't do much for my eye's benefit and I know there are several things I do wrong... Let's list them! (note to self - oh, that's a bad idea... )
Stop rubbing my eyes
I noticed this week as I was thinking about what to write for this prompt that I rub my eyes quite frequently 😰... Thankfully, I usually with my hands clean since I work in health care and I disinfect/wash my hands very frequently.
However, I suspect it's a bad habit therefore I'll try to do this less often from now on.
Using sunglasses
Ok, I'm really bad at this also. I don't usually wear sunglasses, I don't like to put them on and I frequently lose them because I forget. Or they get scratched because I'm too lazy to remember to always put them on their case.
So from now on, I'll try to use sunglasses more often, at least on the sunnier days to protect my eyes against the sunlight. (note to self - ok, put it on the shopping list. Buy 1 pair of sunglasses)
Ensuring proper illumination
One thing I also know that can be helpful is not to read or strain your vision in a dark environment. The truth is that I have a habit of being on the computer or watching TV at night, with the lights off or only a small lamp with a cold light on at my desk.
I tend to suffer from migraines and headaches and I'm starting to think this might be influencing the recurrence of those 🤔.
Maybe there's a med member out there that can enlighten us and explain if there's a link between headaches and too much screen time with low lights... 🤷♀️
So that's another thing I can do to ensure a better health of my eyes and sight. I'll start to look for ways to improve the light in my living room 😊.
Source
I have a feeling that there is more to be improved and I'm sure I'll find new things I could do better, as I read the entries for this week's prompt and learn from other members' perspectives. But, I think for today this is enough 😂
Final considerations 🙌
That's it from me today! I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on this matter 😁. Maybe, you even got to your own conclusions on how to take better care of your vision health and that would mean I achieved my primary goal with this post! 😊
So tell me, dear reader... Any action you can think of for the benefit of your sight? Feel free to share it with me in the comment section, I would love to read them 🤩.
See you soon! 👋
My previous health-related posts:
A guide for breathing | The importance of our diaphragm muscle
A 20-minute Pilates Class | Targeting Shoulder&Upper back | Mobility&Posture workout
MED-HIVE prompt week 2 | Non-Communicable Diseases | Physical Activity - Benefits & Recommendations
MED-HIVE July Prompt | The role of physical activity on sleep health
MED-HIVE September Prompt | My history with recurrent torticollis and neck pain