today we're going to review the top nine
bad habits that are hurting your eyes
how many are you guilty of number one is
that of excessive screen use if you're
somebody who spends a lot of time in
front of a computer screen or staring at
your smartphone you likely are not
blinking your eyes enough in fact
research shows that we blink our eyes
about two to three times less when we're
focused on a task on a computer screen
versus just normal conversation and this
leads to dry red and irritated eyes and
have your eyes ever felt tired or just
you had a hard time focusing at the end
of the day from being on the computer
that's called digital eye strain or eye
fatigue which is literally because your
eye muscles have been essentially
lifting weights to focus on a single set
distance in front of you for hours and
hours it's essentially like lifting a
weight halfway and holding it there for
eight plus hours your muscles can do it
but eventually they will get tired
number two is that of not wearing
sunglasses or wide brim hats when
outside in the sun and yes this is
important you even on cloudy and
overcast days just like getting sunburn
on your skin the powerful UV rays from
the Sun can also cause sunburn to the
eye which we call photokeratitis and
over time this can cause yellow and pink
gross on the eye which we call a
pinguecula and a pterygium sunlight also
accelerates the development of cataracts
inside the eye as well as development of
crow's feet under eye bags and even skin
cancers of the eyelid also blue light
from the sun may increase the risk of
blinding eye diseases like macular
degeneration however that's only blue
light from the sun and not blue light
from the computer screen because the sun
is about a million times more powerful
as a light source versus your computer
screen however this is still largely
debated between professionals and in the
research so more research is needed
however most professionals will say it's
better safe than sorry but still ask
your eye doctor if they're concerned
about blue light and your eyes number
three spending too much time in indoors
as sunlight exposure is healthy for us
in some degree and helps us generate
vitamin D and research has shown that
outdoor time does influence the growth
rate of our eyes in some degree in fact
young children who spend more time
indoors doing near activities rather
than Outdoors maybe at a higher risk of
developing higher amounts of
nearsightedness which also carries a
higher risk of eye diseases like
glaucoma macular degeneration and
retinal detachments so if the weather's
nice get outside number four is that of
skipping your salad green leafy
vegetables are some of the best sources
of lutein and zeaxanthine which are
carotenoids that are found in higher
concentrations within the retina of the
eyeball more than anywhere else in your
entire body these work as Nature's
natural blue light blockers helping
prevent retinal damage from high energy
light sources and helping with retinal
metabolism so yeah eat your salad number
five instead of rubbing the eyes rubbing
on the eyeball can cause increased
pressure and cause micro damage to the
cornea which then the eyeball has to
rebuild and in that process can lead to
worsening astigmatism which eye doctors
call keratoconus a progressive Cardinal
disease that leads to reduced Vision
debilitating glare and often requires
surgery also if your eyes happen to feel
Itchy and Scratchy from things like eye
allergies rubbing of the eyes tends to
only make things feel even worse so
instead try using a cold compress and
holding it there for a little bit
seriously it helps number six is that of
using get the red out eye drops these
are famous for helping the eyes look a
little bit whiter however they suffer
from something called
tachyphilaxis where the effectiveness of
those drops tend to wear off and not
work as well the more that you use them
and they suffer from rebound redness
where once the drop does wear off your
blood vessels on the outside of the eye
dilate to even a bigger size than where
they started making your eyes look even
redder and worse than before you even
use the drops instead eye doctors prefer
that you just use lubricating artificial
tear eye drops to soothe the redness or
if you absolutely need to you can look
out for lumify that has kind of the
purple cap here which has been approved
as a newer eye drop to help with getting
the redness out that doesn't suffer from
the loss of Effectiveness or the rebound
redness however it's best probably to
not use it too much number seven is that
of not cleaning your eyelids especially
for people who have either fake
eyelashes or eyelash extensions your
eyelashes are there to prevent dust oils
and sweat from getting into your eyes
and over time if it's left there it
builds up this nasty crud layer on the
lashes and under the microscope in the
eye clinic your doctor can see this crud
and even microorganisms living in it and
all this buildup can lead to low-grade
inflammation causing redness itchiness
dry eye and even infections so yeah try
to clean your eyelashes on a regular
regular basis number eight is that of
sleeping showering or swimming in
contact lenses unless otherwise
specifically instructed to do so by your
doctor all of these activities
dramatically increase the risk of some
serious eye infections in fact two of
the worst infections you can get come
from pseudomonas eruginosa and
acanthamoeba and people almost
exclusively get these infections from
sleeping or swimming in their contact
lenses and I'm not going to show you
what those infections look like because
it looks really gruesome you can look
those up on your own but just take my
word for it just just don't do it don't
sleep swim in your contact lenses okay
like please I don't like I don't like
taking care of that stuff and number
nine is not seeing your eye doctor for a
yearly eye exam even if you're somebody
who thinks you see perfectly fine or
you've had LASIK or you've just never
required eyeglasses you should still be
seeing your eye doctor every year for
just a health checkup of the eyes
because eye doctors we can catch
potentially blind eye diseases many
years in advance and we often catch
systemic diseases that other types of
doctors often miss things like diabetes
thyroid disease anemia brain diseases
and tumors eye Cancers and many
autoimmune diseases as well so I know we
covered a lot in this video but please
let me know in the comment section how
many of these bad habits you are guilty
of I know for myself the biggest thing
is I need to take a break from the
screens and get outside a little bit
more and if you'd like some more guiding
tips on how to reduce eye strain while
on the computer check out my other tip
video coming up over here otherwise keep
an eye on it and we'll see in that next
one
thank you
[Music]