‘KEEPING YOUR EYES HEALTHY’

Do you suffer from sore irritable eyes? Are your eyes often red and swollen and do you suffer from dark rings and puffiness around your eyes? Are they worse this time of year during high heating and low humidity? If so, there are a number of ways you can treat sore eyes before resorting to expensive prescription eye drops.

Very few people realize that there are a number of specific exercises and regular steps you can take to keep your eyes healthy and working properly. With a regular regime of self-administered eye related treatments you can reduce dryness, soreness and swelling and maintain the proper function of your eyes.

Easy And Inexpensive Eye Care Tips

One of the best ways for you to keep eyes functioning properly is to ensure that you have a diet that is rich in beta-carotene. Fruits and vegetables that are beta-carotene rich include carrots, spinach, papaya and mangoes.

Although this past month has been usually dark, when the sun comes out the glare against the snow can be worse than in spring and summer. Therefore, winter or summer be it a sunny day you should, wherever possible, wear UV protection enhanced sunglasses. If you are headed for a warm beach to escape the last of winter you should also cover your eyes with a towel or hat so as to avoid the sun's piercing rays.

A refreshing treat for dry tired eyes are small slices of cucumber on your eyes for twenty minutes before retiring. This helps to reduce puffiness and bags from under the eyes and also relieves soreness, following the application use plain sterile saline eye drops.

Computers are great for getting work done quickly, but studies show the blink reflex is drastically reduced with computer use causing more dryness and tiredness. Remember to look away from your screen frequently and blink.

Face and eye makeup can cause dryness and itching of the eyes due to an accumulative allergy. If you have changed your glasses, your diet, lessened computer time and still find your eyes are uncomfortably dry start by letting go of mascara. Or buy a more natural brand.

Herbs that are particularly good for the eyes are Eyebright, Bilberry, Fenugreek and Rue. Mineral and vitamins would include pro-vitamin A, a balanced B vitamin, C and the mineral selenium.

Exercise the muscles of your eyes by covering one eye and focus on a distant item then up close and repeat with the opposite eye. Look around the clock- figuratively speaking. Cover one eye then slowly look up, then one o’clock, two and around and repeat three times. Then with the same eye look counter clock wise around three times and repeat with the opposite eye. These exercises are very relaxing to the eye muscles and help the eye to focus more naturally and completely.

So by eating beta-carotene rich foods, using natural products and simple daily exercises your eyes can improve in a relatively short period. Remember that your eyes are very important to your overall health so if you notice any unusual symptoms like a discharge from the eye or repeated redness and soreness please consult with your doctor as you may be suffering from a more serious problem. Till next time, Rebecca

2/7/08