Did you know that your poor vision can have adverse effects on your mental well-being?
Weak eyes won’t only affect your daily activities, they will equally harm your psychological health. Since deteriorating mental soundness is a major health concern nowadays, it is important to know what triggers it in the first place.
While we all know the workings of stress and inadequate sleep in clinical depression, not many people know that your poor eye health can also disrupt your mental state.
Vision and mental health
The changes in our vision are not subjective to age. Our bad lifestyle and unhealthy eating habits can also impair our vision which in turn can mess up our peace of mind. Top four common causes of vision impairment are:
- Glaucoma
- Cataracts
- Age-related macular degeneration
- Diabetic retinopathy
People who have these conditions are more likely to experience severe vision loss. All of these conditions are linked with stress and emotional problems, be them financial issues or problems in your personal life.
Mental conditions due to poor vision
Depression
Poor visual acuity is still one of the most common factors behind depressive symptoms among younger adults. Also, people who are waiting for cataract treatment are more likely to fall victim to depression.
Social withdrawal
Low eyesight takes away your ability to indulge in your favourite activities. When this happens, the person starts to feel inadequate and may not want to be around people. They will seek ways to avoid social gatherings and hanging out with friends and family.
Delayed cognitive functions
Our brain combines what our eyes see with our working memory to make sense of our surroundings. But, when our eyesight is deteriorated, our brain struggles to form visual perception and as a result, one may also have to deal with delay in reaction times.
Anxiety
Since our low vision makes us feel isolated and detached from the world, it is common for us to go through episodes of anxiety. In case of progressive vision loss, the patient might even start to hallucinate and imagine things that aren’t even real.
What to do about it?
Since our poor eye health can lead to these psychological disorders, it is best that we do everything we can to protect our vision. Even if you already have a vision problem, you can use corrective glasses such as readers or varifocals to prevent your eyesight from deteriorating further.
Here are some ways to make sure your eyesight is more than just ‘OK’.
Limit digital consumption
If you have a habit of consuming more than 6 hours of screen time in a day, you better watch your screen habits.
Our digital devices are infamous for throwing blue waves that go inside our retina and cause damage. Moreover, spending long hours on electronic devices can prompt the symptoms of digital eye strain. You can wear blue light glasses to shield your eyes and dodge the damaging blue light rays. They will bring relief to your eyes while you indulge them in uncountable hours of screen time.
If you are a professional gamer, you probably spend your time honing your gaming skills. With all that blue light exposure, not only your eyesight, your performance will get affected as well. You can wear gaming glasses that will block blue light and are meant for a comfortable gaming routine.
Exercise your eyes
Just like you need to exercise your muscles to stay fit, your eyes need some workout too. Moving your eyes is necessary to keep their flexibility alive. Moreover, when you exercise them after putting them through a lot of work, a little exercise will feel them relaxed and re-energised for the day ahead.
Quit smoking
Smoking can cause high levels of inflammation in your body and eyes. It will put a lot of extra pressure on your eyes and your optic nerves might need to pay the price. If you want to enjoy a healthy vision even in the golden years of your life, quit smoking today.
However, some vision changes are normal to surface as you age. For instance, presbyopia is the loss of near vision that is bound to happen in people over 40. However, there are reading glasses that will compensate for your close up vision.
Eat a healthy diet
Our eyes take the nutrition from what we eat. So, if you are treating yourself with processed foods and fatty meals, you are not feeding your eyes well.
To lock a better optic health and sharp vision, you can take the help of green leafy vegetables and fishes such as salmon, mackerel and sardines.
