Many people do yoga, follow a healthy diet, and maybe even get acupuncture, but how many people watch their eye health? Even if you don't feel like you have vision problems, everyone still needs to get a comprehensive eye exam regularly. Your eye health is an integral part of your overall health. 

Nearly 2.5 billion people in the world need glasses, and 1.1 billion of those people can't fill that need either due to the affordability or access to care where they live. 

Lots of people don't understand the importance of an eye specialist, or what a comprehensive eye exam actually does. Regular eye exams are about prevention and care throughout your lifetime. Even if nothing hurts, it doesn't mean there's not something going on.

Your eyes are the only organ in the body where doctors can detect damage to blood vessels, swelling, and inflammation without performing an invasive procedure. 

During eye exams, specialists are looking at the retina (the back of your eye) where they can see damage to blood vessels that could indicate systemic disorders such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, diabetes, potential tumors, and other conditions. 

Of course, eye exams are essential like annual physical examinations, but there are some other things you need to do to keep your eyes healthy. First, you should avoid habits that can ruin your eye health and lead to vision loss. Let’s look at them: 

1. Wearing sunglasses that don’t protect your eyes 

Lots of sunglasses don't have the UVA/UVB blockers that are necessary to reduce damage caused by the sun. Choose sunglasses that protect your eyes from both UVA and UVB rays.

2. Skipping eye exams 

You already know the importance of the annual eye exams. It’s also important to understand that as we get older, like everything else in our bodies, our eyes age. Many of vision's aging processes like cataracts or dry eyes can be diagnosed and treated without affecting vision and quality of life over time.

3. Not getting enough essential nutrients for eye health 

Your eyes also need proper nourishment. So, anything you put in your body can either improve or harm eye health (smoking is an obvious example). A diet that raises your risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes can damage your eyes as well.

To keep your eyes healthy, eat more foods rich in vitamins A, C, E, and B12. These nutrients help fight free radicals and protect the retina. Lutein in leafy greens protects the retina as well. and anti-inflammatory products such as clean fish oil has also been proven to alleviate dry eye in some people.

4. Staring at screens 

When we blink, our eyelids spread tears over our eyes which helps keep them moisturized. However, when we're staring at something, we lower our blink rate, which makes the eyes get dry and fatigued over time. To prevent dry eye syndrome, you need to look off about 20 feet in the distance for 20 seconds every 20 minutes to give your eyes a healthy break.

5. Overusing contacts 

There are lots of bacteria living in your eyes, and since lenses are developed to be worn for a certain amount of time, ignoring this can raise your chance of infection.

You should change your lens case every three months or when your bottle of the solution runs out. Make sure you're rinsing your case well and not just topping off the solution. Remove the solution in the morning, rinse the case out with a solution, and let it air dry in a medicine cabinet.