MISSION, KS — May 2, 2025 — (NOTICIAS NEWSWIRE) — Your quality of life and overall well-being depend on developing habits that range from eating a healthy diet and drinking plenty of water to protecting your skin from sun damage. These and other practices are also essential to your eye health.

To remind people of the importance of routine vision care, the National Eye Institute established Healthy Vision Month and launched the “Healthy Lives, Healthy Eyes” campaign, highlighting the connection between general health and eye health. Protecting your overall health can go a long way toward keeping your eyes healthy. This awareness campaign emphasizes the role vision care plays in daily life, promoting proactive eye care to help protect your vision.

Nearly 80 million Americans have diseases that cause vision loss, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Regular eye exams are the single best thing you can do for your eye health. Because many eye diseases don’t immediately show symptoms, these exams make it possible for a doctor to find early signs of vision problems. During a dilated eye exam, a doctor puts drops in your eyes to widen the pupil and check for eye diseases. This simple, painless procedure helps detect common eye diseases like diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration.

Along with routine visits to an eye doctor, consider these healthy lifestyle habits suggested by the National Eye Institute to protect your vision:

Eat healthy. Add plenty of dark, leafy greens like spinach, kale and collard greens to your menu. Eating fish that are high in omega-3 fatty acids – like salmon, tuna and halibut – is good for your eyes, too.

Get active. Regular physical activity helps you stay healthy and lowers your risk of health conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure that can cause eye or vision problems. Diabetes can damage the blood vessels in the retina, leading to vision loss, blindness or other eye diseases. High blood pressure is a known risk factor in the onset or progression of several eye diseases.

Know your family’s eye health history. Some eye diseases can run in families. Ask your loved ones if they’ve faced eye problems or health challenges that could impact vision. If they have, share what you’ve learned with your eye doctor.

Manage digital eye strain. According to the American Optometric Association, looking at screens for just two continuous hours is enough to cause digital eye strain, which includes symptoms like dry eyes, itching, a feeling like something is stuck in the eye, watering, blurry vision and headaches. To help reduce digital eye strain, follow the 20-20-20 rule: Every 20 minutes, take a 20-second break to look at something 20 feet away.

Quit smoking. Kicking the smoking habit is good for every part of your body – including your eyes. Quitting can help lower your risk for eye diseases like macular degeneration and cataracts.

When you take care of your eye health, you’re also taking care of your whole body. Protecting your eye health now can help you see a brighter future tomorrow. Visit nei.nih.gov/hvm to find short videos, articles and other resources to help make eye health a priority.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
Source: National Eye Institute
Family Features