Health Conditions Archives - Page 22 of 39 - Natural Eye Care Blog: News & Research on Vision

Solutions for Dark Circles Under the Eyes and Puffy Eyes

Puffy eyes can usually be helped - no sunglasses needed Do you dread looking in the bathroom mirror when you first wake up? Scared of seeing baggy, puffy eyes or horrible dark circles under your eyes?

Well, flick on the bathroom light and gaze at your reflection! There are natural solutions to these eye problems. You don’t have to walk around looking like you stayed up all night or got into a fight.

The skin around your eyes is very thin and sensitive. This thin eye skin helps your eyes move easily. Unfortunately, this thin skin easily reveals color changes and swelling.

Instead of skulking around in dark glasses, look into natural eye care that can help with dark circles under the eyes and puffy eyes. Continue reading “Solutions for Dark Circles Under the Eyes and Puffy Eyes”

Eye Contact Avoided by Bipolar Children

A recent study showed that bipolar children spend less time making eye contact with people – looking at their eyes – versus typical children. Instead of looking at the eyes, bipolar children and children with severe mood dysregulation in the study spent less time looking at the eyes when observing faces. Instead, they spent more time with their eyes on the mouth and nose.

U.S. National Institute of Mental Health investigators suggested the eye contact habits of bipolar children as a possible explanation why these children have trouble determining how other people feel.

This study has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, so it should be considered preliminary. If accepted by the psychiatric community, this eye contact research may help develop treatment plans that education bipolar children guess the emotional state of people by looking more often at the eyes. In turn, they may process emotional information more accurately, which could help them regulate their feelings when interacting with others.

Continue reading “Eye Contact Avoided by Bipolar Children”

Computer Vision Syndrome: Electronics Take Their Toll on Eye Health

Computer eye syndrome Do your eyes spend more than 4 hours a day looking at the screen of an electronic device? If so, you are at risk for computer vision syndrome. Computer vision syndrome symptoms include eye strain, fatigue, dry eyes and headaches from staring at a screen too long.

Are You at Risk?

To find out if you are at risk, keep a journal for a week of how long you spend watching TV, gazing at a smartphone, surfing the Internet, working on the computer, playing video games, and reading on a tablet device. The typical American youth is getting 7.5 hours of “screen time” a day – and since many adults use computers at work, they may get much more time.

Continue reading “Computer Vision Syndrome: Electronics Take Their Toll on Eye Health”

Statin Drugs and Muscle Injuries

blood test for high cholesterol statin drugs Patients taking statin drugs to lower cholesterol might be more likely to get muscle injuries, especially elderly patients.(1) Side effects and adverse reactions, according to other research, may include increased stroke risk, higher risk of Type II Diabetes, low iron, pancreatic dysfunction, sexual dysfunction, suppressed immune system, muscle pain, and more.

Be aware that increased incidence of cataracts may also be linked with statin drugs. A study(2) suggests that statin drugs are associated with an increased risk of cataracts in both men and women. In the study, cataracts risk went up within 12 months of starting statin drugs, continued while taking the drug, and dropped back to normal Continue reading “Statin Drugs and Muscle Injuries”

Strengthen Your Muscles from Your Eyes to Your Toes

exercise for the elderly including the eyes When you are in your 30’s, your skeletal muscle mass will peak. After that, they will reduce slightly in number and size every year. By the time you are in your 50’s, 15% of muscle mass may be lost, and by your 80’s, as much as 30% of muscle mass may be lost.

Obviously, strength training is crucial to strengthen your muscles and increase their size. Being strong and fit helps maintain good health and energy, reduces osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease, burns calories for weight management, improves sleep, cuts cancer risk, and much more!

Everyone should make exercise a priority throughout their lives. However, up to 75% of older Americans do not get enough exercise.(1)

It is generally recommended that older adults should do strength training two or three times per week, performing 10-15 repetitions of approximately 8 to 10 different exercises.(1)

Recent research Continue reading “Strengthen Your Muscles from Your Eyes to Your Toes”

Drink Green Tea to Reduce Body Fat

Weight loss scale Did you over-indulge in too many high-calorie foods over the holidays? Put on a few extra pounds? Two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, and a few extra pounds add up to health risks. However, drinking green tea may help fight body fat and also lower cholesterol levels.

Green tea is lower in caffeine than coffee, so it makes a great coffee substitute. A high intake of caffeine can cause nervousness, dependence, and sleep problems.

A recent, small study on green tea in Japan showed that taking green tea extract was associated with losing body fat and weight. The more green tea extract the study participants took, the bigger the effect. The subjects also had lower LDL cholesterol and lower blood pressure (to counteract hypertension). Continue reading “Drink Green Tea to Reduce Body Fat”

Baby Boomer Natural Eye Care in the 21st Century

As the “Baby Boomer” generation in the United States approaches their 60’s and beyond, the incidence of eye disease in this aging population will rise. Eye problems become more prevalent as an individual ages. What are the most common eye diseases in older people? How can eye geriatric eye disease be prevented and addressed naturally? And what does Baby Boomer natural eye care look like?

Macular Degeneration

A major reason for visual impairment and blindness in adults aged 50+ is Macular Degeneration, also known as ARMD (Aged-Related Macular Degeneration). Vision in the center of the visual field is impaired, but peripheral vision remains. People with macular degeneration have difficulty writing, driving, recognizing faces and reading. Symptoms include:

Colors look dim
Words appear blurred or difficult to read
Straight lines look wavy
Dark or blank areas block the center of your vision
Distinct shapes are blurry
Fog in the center of your vision

Anyone with any of these symptoms should Continue reading “Baby Boomer Natural Eye Care in the 21st Century”

Blueberry Consumption Reduces Growth and Spread of Triple Negative Breast Cancer in Mice

In animal studies at the Beckman Research Institute, feeding blueberry powder to lab mice markedly reduced the growth and spread of very aggressive triple negative breast cancer cells.

This form of breast cancer applies to 10 – 15% of all breast cancer incidences. Normally, the best treatments for breast cancer target estrogen receptors, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and progesterone receptors. But, triple negative breast cancer doesn’t have these receptors and is thus very resistant to traditional chemo-therapy and is more likely to return.

In the first study, mice were fed either a control diet (no blueberries), a diet with 5% freeze-dried blueberry powder, or 10% blueberries. The 5% diet is approximately the same as a human eating 2 cups of fresh blueberries per day. The amount of blueberries in this study did not make much difference, but the size of breast tumors that developed were significantly (60%-75%) smaller in the blueberry groups than the control group.

The second study looked at metastasis, the spread of breast cancer. Mice who had a 5% blueberry diet had 70% fewer liver cancer tumors and 25% fewer lymph node tumors when compared to the mice who ate a regular diet.

Although these results can’t be directly applied to women, this may be one step nearer finding an effective and safe diet strategy to limit triple negative breast cancer.

Editor’s Note: Numerous peer review studies have been done showing the benefit of blueberry (wild bilberry) in helping preserve vision for a wide range of eye conditions including macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, cataracts and glaucoma. Our Advanced Eye and Vision Support (whole food) Formula contains both European Bilberry and South American Non-hybrid Blueberry along with a wide range of essential antioxidants for overall eye health.

Liver Meridian Congestion May Cause Eye Floaters

Eye floaters are clumps of protein that may look like dots, squiggles, strands or any of a hundred other shapes. Though annoying, floaters are harmless, and there are ways to prevent them through proper diet. They commonly result from the natural aging process where the vitreous gel (that keeps the shape of the back of the eyes) starts to liquefy, resulting in gel pulling on the retina (people who are nearsighted are also at a greater risk of eye floaters). This results in protein debris being released into the vitreous gel that are referred to as “floaters”.

From a Chinese medical perspective, the body recognizes the eye floaters as debris, and there is an energetic process within the eyes that slowly works on breaking down the floaters. The best way to support this process is by strengthening the Liver (meridian) which in Chinese medicine opens to the eyes, and is the primary flow of energy responsible for healthy vision. A common Liver tonic used in Chinese medicine is called “Rambling Power” or “Xiao Yao San”).

The Revision formula is based on this formula with additional eye nutrients added.

Depression Can Increase Likelihood of Developing Diabetic Retinopathy

Depression & Diabetic Retinopathy — Image via nimh.nih.gov

The brain and the body are in constant relationship. This truth is further supported by the recent study published in General Hospital Psychiatry that describes how people who suffer from both depression and diabetes are more likely to end up with diabetic retinopathy.

In a study that controlled such factors as obesity, smoking, and activity, diabetic retinopathy was linked to occurrences of depression. Over the five year trial, almost one quarter of patients with depression developed the eye disease compared to less than 20% of those who did not have depression. Researchers extrapolate that depression increases one’s risk of developing retinopathy by 15%.

According to study co-author Wayne Katon, M.D., “Our findings suggested that psychobiologic changes associated with depression such as increased cortisol levels and activity of blood-clotting factors may be linked to the development of retinopathy.”

Learn about self-help ideas for those concerned about diabetic retinopathy and diabetes.

Source:www.medicalnewstoday.com, July 29, 2011