Between the things Mom tells her kids to keep them from picking up unfortunate habits and the misconceptions commonly held by society, it can be difficult to know the truth about what’s helping and hurting your eyes. Have you ever been told that eating carrots can improve your eyesight? Have you ever heard that reading in dim light worsens vision problems? These are just a couple of myths regarding vision. Keep reading to accurately distinguish between what is true about vision and what is not.
Do You Believe These Vision Myths?
Common Mythical Causes of Worsened Eyesight
Squinting
Has anyone ever told you to stop squinting because it will make your eyesight worse? There’s no need to keep worrying yourself. What you’re doing when you squint your eyes is creating smaller openings in which light can get in, shrinking the pupils and allowing you to focus more clearly on whatever it is you’re focusing on. While constant squinting can indicate that a person may need eyeglasses and may cause headaches because of muscle tension, it won’t damage your eyesight.
Reading in Dim Light
Dim lighting may make it more difficult for your eyes to focus and cause them to get more tired more quickly, but reading in dim light won’t make your eyesight any worse than it is. If you notice that reading with a booklight or another dim light source causes eye fatigue or headaches, try to avoid creating a glare on the page, which makes it more difficult for your eyes to focus.
Sitting Too Close to a TV or Computer Screen
Although you should pay attention to children sitting too close to television or computer screens as this can indicate a need for corrective eyeglasses, doing so yourself isn’t going to worsen your eyesight. Strain and dryness caused by staring at a television or computer screen can cause temporary vision problems and discomfort, but doing so won’t permanently affect your eyesight. To give your eyes a break, remember to blink and stare occasionally into the distance.
Wearing Corrective Lenses Too Much/Not Enough
For those of us with corrective eyeglasses, it can be difficult to distinguish between the myths and the facts when it comes to the best wearing habits. Some people claim that wearing your eyeglasses too much will cause your eyesight to deteriorate whereas others claim the opposite, that not wearing your corrective eyeglasses will cause your eyesight to worsen more quickly. Neither of these claims are true. While your eyesight is likely to worsen with age, wearing or not wearing your glasses won’t make a difference one way or the other. We recommend wearing your glasses on a regular basis to avoid uncomfortable eye strain.
Common Mythical Causes of Improved Eyesight
Wearing Prescribed Corrective Lenses Without Fail
Similar to the above myth, many people believe that wearing their corrective eyeglasses without fail will improve their vision. While you should notice consistently clear vision while wearing your eyeglasses, the lenses themselves won’t have any sort of effect on your eyes’ prescriptions. It is simply not possible to correct poor vision by consistently wearing corrective lenses.
Eating Carrots
We’re not telling anyone to stop eating carrots, but people with poor eyesight should not expect to see improvements just from eating this vitamin A-rich snack. While vitamin A is important to proper eye health, eating an excessive amount of it won’t reverse the vision deterioration already present.
Don’t stress yourself out over these vision myths. Just keep wearing your eyeglasses and seeing your optometrist for regular exams! Need eyeglasses in the Langley, BC, area? The vision professionals at Vision Care Centre can help.
Recent Comments