Don’t read in the dark, don’t sit close to the TV, put on sunglasses, or your vision will deteriorate! Remember all these instructions from our mothers? The editorial staff of Woman’s Day and the specialists of the Lensmaster brand have debunked and confirmed 10 myths about vision that frightened us in childhood.
“Of all the human senses, the eye has always been recognized as the best gift and the most wonderful product of the creative power of nature,” wrote the German physician Hermann von Helmholtz. With age, we begin to appreciate this gift especially strongly: the deterioration of vision, which often accompanies the years, makes us wonder if we are doing everything right. Are we protecting our eyes enough? And here numerous myths about vision come to the fore.
Believe them or not? Should I follow “good advice” or question it? Conventional truths about vision are sometimes not XNUMX% accurate. And at first glance, dubious recommendations are the most scientifically grounded. Let’s see how true the most common myths about vision are.
Myth 1
If you sit close to the TV, your vision will deteriorate.
Eyes can get tired from sitting close to the TV for long periods of time if the room is poorly lit or if the screen is not clear. This myth can only be considered partially true for one case: if you have an old TV with a cathode ray tube (with a volumetric picture tube) at home.
The image flickers on it due to the peculiarities of the image transmission, and this can really have a negative effect on the eyes, fatiguing them. LCD monitors are built on a different principle of image transmission, and there is no annoying flicker on them, but all LCD monitors, monitors of computers, laptops, smartphones and other digital devices are a source of artificial blue rays. Blue rays impair the quality of vision, reducing visual acuity, increasing the risk of developing macular degeneration, leading to blindness.
This disease is incurable. With prolonged work at a computer or with constant use of digital devices during the day, users develop a symptom of visual fatigue. Modern man is exposed to blue light almost continuously throughout the day.
During the day – working at a computer and using mobile digital devices, in the evening – sitting at a TV screen or, again, a computer, laptop, etc. Almost 70% of users experience symptoms of digital visual fatigue. Increasingly, they begin to complain of eye strain, dry eyes, blurred images, headaches and other negative symptoms. Children and adolescents are especially affected by excessive exposure to artificial blue rays, many of whom spend 10 hours a day using various digital devices.
Exposure to blue rays on the retina is cumulative, and it is believed that constant exposure to high-energy blue rays during life may increase the risk of AMD, which is the most common cause of vision loss in adulthood, in old age. Blue light suppresses melatonin secretion by the pineal gland (all visible light suppresses melatonin secretion, but high-energy blue rays to a greater extent), and melatonin controls our circadian rhythms (sleep and wake cycles). Sleep disturbance has become a real problem for many millions of adults and even children.
Myth 2
Reading in the dark leads to myopia
Insufficient lighting and glare cause eye strain and impairment of vision. Frequent eye fatigue and stress lead to the development of myopia. This is true!
Myth 3
Constant wearing of glasses impairs vision
If the glasses are selected correctly, then they do not impair vision, but, on the contrary, can slow down the process of its weakening. This has been shown by numerous studies in which children and adolescents took part. In adulthood, the illusion is created that wearing glasses leads to a weakening of visual acuity, however, experts believe that this is due to a more rapid clouding, loss of transparency of the lens in older people in general.
Myth 4
With the help of gymnastics for the eyes, you can restore visual acuity
Unfortunately, with myopia and hyperopia, eye gymnastics will not help improve visual acuity. It turns out to be most effective if you have so-called “false myopia”, or accommodation spasm. In this case, the work of the circular muscle of the eye is disrupted, which changes the curvature of the lens, and visual acuity can really fall. Accommodation spasm is often observed in adolescents and young people. Doing special eye exercises helps relieve spasms and does improve visual acuity, but temporarily, it is necessary to wear the correct glasses with the necessary optical power.
Myth 5
Sunglasses provide XNUMX% eye protection from the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays
What is the danger of ultraviolet radiation from the sun for the eyes? If you do not take cases of being in a very bright sun (for example, in snowy mountains without sunglasses), when you can get a burn of the retina, cornea, solar radiation leads to a change in the transparency of the lens, the development of early age-related changes, and can cause headaches. And this inevitably affects vision. Protection from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation is provided not only by glasses, which have a UV 400 mark, but also by contact lenses.
Myth 6
Eating lots of carrots or blueberries can help improve vision
Indeed, carrots contain a lot of vitamin A, and blueberries – vitamins B, PP and C, which are good for the eyes. Partially true. But in order to maintain good vision, you need to eat not a lot of these products, but a lot. For example, in order for a person to receive the daily intake of vitamin A along with a carrot, he must eat it at least 5-6 kg per day. And the retina needs not only vitamin A, which everyone knows about, but also substances such as lutein. Lutein reduces the effect of the aggressive, blue-violet part of the light spectrum on the retina and protects the eyes from free radicals that form in the light. This protects the retina from damage both age-related and associated with external factors. The risk of damage to the retina decreases as the density of lutein in this organ increases. Eating them in food helps to provide normal nutrition to the retina, but does not improve vision if its acuity is already reduced.
Myth 7
If your computer has an LCD monitor, you will not experience eye fatigue
When using a computer, the syndrome of visual fatigue develops, which leads to visual impairment, as a result, to dry eyes due to rare blinking, pain in the spine, poor posture, pain in the hand when the hands are forced to unusual position, the development of blood circulation disorders and metabolic disorders in the body.
Myth 8
Studying at school inevitably leads to the fact that the child’s eyesight deteriorates
Of course not. It all depends on the observance of the rules to ensure eye health. If you alternate periods of load and rest, then even excellent students can preserve their vision!
Myth 9
If you do not wash off the makeup from your eyes at night, your vision will deteriorate.
Of course, it is necessary to wash off the cosmetics. But not so that vision does not suffer, but in order to preserve the youthfulness of the eyelid skin as long as possible and avoid an allergic reaction to the components of cosmetics.
Myth 10
Age-related visual impairment is inevitable
Age-related changes are inevitable. They are caused by age-related changes in the whole organism. And neglect of a healthy lifestyle, proper nutrition, good sleep, frequent stress, and the passion for using digital devices leads to early aging of the body. By 2040, according to WHO forecasts, more than 200 million patients with macular degeneration are expected, compared with 2013 an increase of 100 million.
The number of people suffering from serious vision problems is increasing by 45 thousand people a year.