How to improve your eyesight
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Our eyes are our windows to the world and play a crucial role in our daily lives. They allow us to enjoy the beauty of nature, read our favourite books and connect with those we love. As we age, taking care of our eye health becomes even more essential. Poor vision can impact our independence and quality of life, making it difficult to perform daily tasks and enjoy our favourite activities. In this blog, we will answer whether vision can improve with age and provide tips on maintaining good eye health.
Understanding eye health and ageing
To know if eyesight can improve with age, it is essential to first know how our vision works and how it changes as we age. Our eyes work the same way as a camera: the cornea and lens focus light on the retina, which sends signals to the brain in the form of an image.
Between birth and age 7:
Like the brain, the formation of the eyes evolves with young age. So the retina is not completely formed at birth. Peripheral vision will increase until around the end of our seven years (sometimes up to 10 years in certain ethnic groups). This is why we must ask our British children to look left and right before crossing a road.
Between 7 years old and 16 years old:
Upon entering school, some students have difficulty reading the information written on the boards by their teachers.
So when the first school results are below parents' expectations, they must immediately consider consulting an optician for their child.
In a very large majority of cases, there is a vision problem not detected by their child. Whether it is a problem of myopia, astigmatism or presbyopia, the optician will prescribe and sell corrective glasses or contact lenses to correct vision problems and bring everything back to close to 10 out of 10 for each eye.
Between 16 years old and 40 years old:
Usually in this period, unless there is an accident, drug use, traumatic events (loss of a friend or relative, war, etc.), or visual illness, no noticeable changes are noted in their vision by people. For those who already have glasses, these will be adjustments following the evolution of their myopia, presbyopia or astigmatism.
Over 40 years old: However, the lens becomes less flexible after 40 years old age, making it more difficult to focus on close objects. This is called presbyopia.
You may also experience other vision changes, such as:
- Reduced sensitivity to contrast and colour;
- Increased sensitivity to glare;
- Difficulty adapting to changes in lighting conditions
Can my eyesight improve over 40 years old? It’s a complex question, yes and no we would say. For the most people (99 %), in general, vision does not improve with age over 40 years old.
Although this phenomenon is part of ageing, there are practices you can adapt to maintain your current vision or improve your visual perception.
It is worth stating that your visual perception differs from your vision. Interestingly, potential improvements in visual performance using behavioural training have been shown to be possible.
On this subject, here are some visual exercises to try:
1) Exercise to improve your three-dimensional vision, which is easy to do: Sitting, tie a rope to one of your big toes which will go from your feet to your nose. Then hang a small object on this rope that you hold near your nose. Focus both eyes on the object as it descends toward your feet. You can also repeat the exercise by bringing the object closer to your eyes, raising your feet higher than your head.
2) Eye blinks visual exercise: When faced with our screens, we tend to blink less often than usual and without completely closing our eyelids. Try blinking intentionally by keeping your eyes closed for half a second before opening them again. Repeat this simple and practical exercise about 20 times, this will rehydrate yours eyes.
3) Eye rolls, visual exercise to do. Sit with your back straight and without moving your head: slowly look to the right, then to the ceiling, to the left and down. Repeat this eye movement 10 times clockwise, and then vice versa.
4) Fix your gaze visual exercise: Stand in front of a closed window, facing outside. Stick a post-it on the window in front of you and, for a minute, alternate your gaze between that note and something outside. It doesn't matter what you choose: a tree trunk, a hedge, a fence, or a birdhouse. The purpose of this exercise is to help improve your eye strength and serves to alleviate discomfort caused by using the computer or your cell phone.5) Palms on the eyes visual relaxing exercise: Gently place the palms of your hand on your eyes, without putting pressure on the eyeball. The fingers of each hand clenched and joined on the forehead, as in the image on the right. Try to block out the light as much as possible, close your eyes and breathe deeply for a minute. Like eye yoga, this exercise is very relaxing for your peepers but also for your mind.
6) Field of vision exercise: Place a screen in front of you, such as a laptop or tablet. Without taking your eyes off the screen, try to locate and touch all the surrounding objects. Then interact with the screen by keeping objects around you in your field of vision.
7. Eye massage: Of course, an eye massage is the best way to relax and keep your eyes in good shape. Using your fingertips, gently press your eyelids and massage gently for a few seconds, circularly. Repeat this massage 5 times, preferably without wearing your lenses.
As you can see, these eye gymnastics are super easy to include in your daily routine and above all: easy as anything to perform.
8) Physical exercises, and not just vision or eye exercises, allow you to regenerate the optic nerve and eye naturally. Starting with walking. Accessible to almost everyone, it offers many benefits, including reducing eye pressure and improving blood flow to the optic nerve and the retina.
Remember, eye drops are great for relieving dry eyes, we sell some.
But above all, if the discomfort becomes recurring or really painful, see an ophthalmologist as soon as possible for an eye test. It is your ophthalmologist who will be able to give you advice and prescribe the treatment best suited to your health.
Others things about eyes:
Academic research highlights the role of lutein and zeaxanthin (found in dark leafy vegetables) in delaying the progression of eye diseases like cataracts and macular degeneration. We already speak in the blog "How to prevent Age-macular degeneration (AMD)" about products that can help, so go read it too.
Several research studies highlight the idea that: Once we experience problems with our vision, they are difficult to reverse. However, there are things we can do to adapt to the situation, like behavioural training, or maintain the eye health we have left, like eating leafy greens.
Help us:
On Jem-wellness.com, whose niche is health and well-being, you got a lot of products in the Health Care catalogue that will help too, like our 4D Electric Smart Eye Massager Vibration Heated. They are not expensive and very easy and good to use.
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