When it comes to the glorious British summertime, which does not come around as much as it should, we tend to extract every second of value out of those precious daylight hours, and sun-starved Brits often throw caution to the wind in an effort to soak up those rays. Our collective over-excitement when the sun makes an appearance is also having a detrimental impact on our health; alongside dehydration and skin damage, research from the Royal National Institute for Blind People has shown that eye damage is one of the number one health problems which arise regularly every summer.
People regularly fail to take proper care of their eye health during the summer, when bright sunlight for long stretches of the day can take a heavy toll on our eyes. Furthermore, this is often compounded for those working in an office environment, who will also be staring at their computer screens when they're not out in the sun. Here are some top tips for maintaining your eye health all summer long.
Pick Up Good Habits
During the summer months, protecting your general health is about so much more than just changing what you eat or how you excercise. There's plenty of simple tips and tricks which you can easily build into your workflow in order to take the strain off your precious mind and body. It's now known that your average office worker will spend a grand total of 11 hours a day staring at screens, leading to an effect on various aspects of your health - from mental, diet, and eye health in particular.
Long days in the office can be counteractacted by building in regular breaks away from the screen, health experts recommend a 10-minute break every half an hour. as well as fighting your instincts to drink in the sunny views and close the blinds to reduce glare on your screen. This is believed to be a leading cause of dry eyeball and cornea damage.
Protect Yourself
Continuing on the theme of eye health, proper protection is key. If you're planning on spending plenty of time in the sun, make sure you have strong, UV-repellant sunglasses, and wear a visor or sun hat which affords appropriate shade cover for your face. When you're in the office, you should always be wearing high-quality contact lenses if needed, with a huge range for every prescription being sold on Vision Direct. You should also make sure that you're avoiding cheap sunglasses and checking that the ones you're wearing are right for you if they're prescription ones, so check with an optician beforehand.
Get Checked
One of the most important ways to maintain eye health is to get regularly seen by a professional. Summer is the best time to schedule in a visit with the optician to make sure your prescription is up to date, and to head to an optometrist to ensure that you're currently taking the right levels of precaution. You only ever get one pair of eyes, so make sure you're taking as much care of them as you would any other part of your body!
