Category: Eye Conditions

Exercise Supports Eye Health – A New Perspective on Stretching

woman exercising
Image courtesy of healthysd.gov

At Natural Eye Care, we know that exercise is a vital part of keeping both the eyes and the entire body healthy.  Exercise is a key part of our prevention protocol and essential to anyone who wants to preserve their sight and avoid developing such diseases as glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, or cataracts.

A story aired on NPR talks about how that old pre-exercise stretching routine you have been doing for years may not be effective when it comes to warding off injuries.

A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that “competitive runners are less efficient after static stretching.”

According to a coach interviewed in the same story, consider an alternative to the “bend and hold” style of stretching – a repetitive set of 2 to 3 second stretches called “active isolated stretching.”

 

Diabetes Related Hospitalizations On the Rise For Young Women

person on bathroom scale
Image courtesy of genome.gov

Over a fourteen year period (1993-2006) diabetes related hospitalizations increased by 66%.  This study, published in the Journal of Women’s Health, shows an even more marked increase for people in their 30s.  Diabetes related hospitalizations for both men and women nearly doubled, but women were 1.3 time more likely to be admitted than their male counterparts.

According to study authors, this discrepancy could be due to women receiving less preventative care for their diabetes.  Pregnancy can be a factor on the development and progression of diabetes, but this study shows that impending motherhood is not the main culprit.  Researchers blame these figures on high obesity rates in the age 20-39 female segment of the population and less aggressive medical management of women’s cases of diabetes.

Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/204245.php

For more information about how to control and prevent diabetes naturally, visit our website.

Also, learn more about how to prevent the related condition, diabetic retinopathy.

Twice As Many Americans Treated For Retinal Disease Over 10 Years

An analysis of Medicare records over a period stretching from 1997 to 2007 showed that within the decade the number of older Americans receiving treatments for retinal diseases doubled.  The treatments were for retinal conditions like age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy.

This study specifically focused on the sort of treatment that patients received.
Source: Yahoo News

At Natural Eye Care, we advocate a natural approach to vision health.  For information on how to prevent eye disease through a combination of diet, lifestyle, nutritional supplementation, and exercise, please visit our website.

Careful With Your Eyes, Guys: Males Likelier to Suffer Eye Injuries

man on ladder
Image courtesy of columbiabasin.jobcorps.gov

A survey by the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Ocular Trauma finds that men are three times as likely to suffer from eye injuries than women are.

Each year, 2.5 million American experience injuries of the eye.  Almost 75% of those injuries happen to men and over half of all of the injuries occur at home.

Highlighted of the findings from the annual Eye Injury Snapshot include:

– One quarter of the eye injuries that happened at home were associated with play or sports
– Another 25 percent were due to home repair or power tools.

Source: aao.org

Diabetic Retinopathy Patients Susceptible to Dry Eye

Diabetic retinopathy, which can lead to progressively blurred vision, is a real concern for diabetes patients.  In truth, only 6% of those with diabetes will lose their vision entirely because blindness in diabetics is largely treatable.  Changes in diet and lifestyle can help control both diabetes and diabetic retinopathy.

Those with diabetic retinopathy are much more susceptible to dry eye symptoms.  Diabetics have decreased tear break-up time, which indicates poor tear film stability.  A review of a number of studies on diabetic retinopathy and its effects published in the Expert Review of Ophthalmology states that “patients whose dry eye symptoms worsened tended to be those whose serum glucose was poorly controlled.”  Get more information on how to treat dry eye syndrome naturally.

 

Source: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/729120

Dry Eyes At the Office?

 

eye frops
Image courtesy of nei.nih.gov

Dry Eye Syndrome is the most common eye complaint that we hear about from our patients and clients.

A study out of Denmark surveys the causes of eye discomfort in office settings.

According to the study authors: “Ocular discomfort,” characterized by burning, dry and itching eyes is associated with the presence of aerosols and combustion products and other sensory irritating indoor pollutants.  Other factors that contribute to dry eye include prolonged periods of detailed visual tasking.  The general climate in an office – if it has low humidity, high temperature, or is drafty – will also contribute to dry eye symptoms.

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20833234

Self help and prevention tips for dry eye are available at our website.

Computer eye strain is also a common problem when you spend the day at a desk.

New Technology to Diagnose “Lazy Eye” in Children

Amblyopia or “lazy eye” can lead to vision loss in a person’s weaker eye if it goes untreated.  Luckily, if amblyopia is diagnosed and worked on before age seven, more than three quarters of children can achieve at least 23/30 vision.

Because there are concerns that caregivers can miss the signs of amblyopia, experts are looking into a better way to diagnose the problem.

A program in Iowa sponsored by he University of Iowa and the Iowa Lions Clubs worked together over the last decade to screen almost 150,000 children using technology called the PhotoScreener.  According to the source of this story, MedicalNewsToday.com, this device “records the pattern of light reflected through each of the child’s pupils as the child’s eyes are photographed.”

The PhotoScreener is also helpful in finding such conditions as  unequal visual acuity between the two eyes (anisometropia), high nearsightedness, high farsightedness, astigmatism, and strabismus.

For more on ways that Vision Therapy can help amblyopia and other eye convergence problems, please visit our website.

Prevent Computer Eyestrain with Ergonomics, Eye Exercises, Diet and Supplements

To prevent computer eyestrain it is important to analyze your habits – your time in front of the screen, your light source, your posture.  See more about how to set up your desk to avoid computer eyestrain at our website.

In addition to good ergonomics, you can also try eye exercises and think about your diet.

A study published in Applied Ergonomics reveals that eyestrain may be eased by taking a daily supplement containing blackcurrant fruit extract, lutein, and zeaxanthin.  These antioxidants are powerful aids to eye health.

Prevention is always the best medicine.  That means eating right and changing any lifestyle habits that may be detrimental to your health. Learn more about how to prevent computer eye strain today.

Regeneration of Human Cells Could Reverse Macular Degeneration and Retinitis Pigmentosa

Image by tico24

Shakespeare’s fictional witches made a potion with eye of newt, but now some very real researchers are looking to the regenerative powers of newt to save human sight.

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have been awarded a National Institutes of Health grant to study regenerative potential of retinal cells with hopes of finding treatments for macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

Inspired by goldfish and newts who have the ability to regenerate a lost limb or eye, researchers are hoping to make it possible for humans to do the same thing for retinal cells.  The team at UCSD is specifically looking at Muller cells, which fish use to regenerate nerve cells after eye injuries and which are also present in the nervous system of humans.  The human genome is close enough to those of others in the animal kingdom to find these cell commonalities.  It is hoped that these Muller cells can be turned into photoreceptors in the eye.  When photoreceptors die off, people lose visual function to diseases like macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-09/uoc–urn092810.php

Scientists at UC Irvine have created an early stage retina from human embryonic stem cells.  It is the first three-dimensional tissue structure to be made from stem cells and bring us closer to the development of transplant-ready retinas to treat eye disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration that affect millions.  Researchers managed to employ a technique that allowed them to create the multiple cell types necessary for the retina.

Source: Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 4-24-10.

 

Video Gamers Have Better Hand-Eye Coordination But Risk Computer Eyestrain

gamersDoes video game playing offer health benefits or health risks?  As with many things, the answer is “it depends…”

Researchers at the Centre for Vision Research at York University in Toronto have discovered that young men who spend a lot of time playing video games do better at performing other complex visuomotor tasks.  Using functional MRI technology, scientists found that the brains of gamers had actually been “rewired.”  They used a different part of their brain than their non-gaming counterparts when performing complex task involving hand-eye coordination.

According to the source of this story, Medical News Today,” Such findings can hold important implications for research into neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, where people with the disease find it increasingly difficult to complete even the simplest hand-eye coordination tasks.”

On the other hand, studies have shown that people who spend a great deal of time in front of computer screens are susceptible to computer eyestrain which can lead to glaucoma.  For hints on how to avoid computer eyestrain, please visit our website.