The Important Thing About Change…and your vision.
If there is one thing in life that we can always count on it is the experience of change we’re all liable to visit at one time or another. Life is all about change. And, depending on your disposition, experience and belief system, you’ll either experience change with some degree of apprehension or pure delight. Either way, we all agree, change will happen.Take it from us! Change is inevitable. We feel akin to experts in this matter. Have you noticed our recent location change, team dynamics change, and even our “look” has changed? Exactly. We’re pros at this…or not.
Nevertheless, the question remains: “What is the best way to navigate one of life’s more challenging changes we may all experience at some point or another? What is that change you may ask? How about the change in our vision. This can be a very scary experience for some and for others, it can go unnoticed resulting in new experiences we would rather not have.
To help you navigate an otherwise intimidating landscape, here are a few tips to keep you balanced, clear and happy — if and when a change in vision becomes your experience.
SIGNS YOUR VISION MIGHT HAVE CHANGED:
- Losing Focus: The most common age-related vision change — presbyopia — happens to almost everyone beginning between the ages of 40 and 50. A natural result of aging, the lens begins to lose elasticity, making it harder to focus vision up close for such activities as reading. But presbyopia can be corrected easily with reading glasses or glasses with bifocal, trifocal or progressive (“no-line”) lenses.
- Declining Sensitivity: The lens of the eye also becomes increasingly dense and more yellow with age. These changes may affect color perception and contrast sensitivity. For instance, the color blue may appear darker and harder to distinguish from black. And it may become difficult to tell where an object ends and its background begins, making it difficult to see curbs or steps, for example.
- Needing More Light: As the eye ages, the pupil gets smaller, resulting in the need for more light to see well, along with more time to adjust to changing levels of illumination (going from daylight into a dark theater or dimly lit restaurant, for example).
The good news is if you experience any of the following symptoms rest assured it’s normal. The most important thing to remember is a change in vision does not mean nor does it indicate an end result of a loss of sight. A great way of intentionally working towards keeping your sight and promoting optimal eye health is:
- Schedule And Keep Routine Eye Appointments. Just like most of our healthcare concerns, our precious sense of sight is equally as important as visiting our family doctor, dentist or OB GYN.
- Exercise Daily and Monitor Blood Pressure. For many of us a daily routine or even weekly habit for exercise does the body good. One early sign of vision change is our blood pressure and a great way of maintaining optimal health is to exercise regularly.
- Guard Your Eyes From The Sun. Yes, believe it or not, it’s normally not a good idea to gaze directly at the sun and given the effects of UV rays, our eyes are sensitive creatures and require our attention to detail. That detail can be as simple as grabbing those shades on the way out the door.
- Protect Your Eyes. In the event of any injury, whether you deem it big or not, be sure to wear protective eye gear when you are at higher risk for eye injury. So, if you’re an active sports player or you’ve experienced a cornea scratch or abrasion, protect your eyes from further injury. It’s always better to be safe, than sorry.
- Consult Your Doctor When Taking Supplements. As healthy as we all want to be, we also want to be smart. When taking supplements, be sure to consult your family doctor and to know of any and all side-effects that may occur to your body system
In the end, no matter the change, it’s important we exercise caution, wisdom and care when protecting our vision. And remember, when in doubt, consult your Optometrist or Ophthalmologist!
