When there are so many polarizing messages spread about health and wellbeing, it can
be hard to know what to follow. One often forgotten yet critical element of our health is
that of our eyes.
Recently, a friend came to me and described how she was strictly wearing glasses as
she had developed an inflammatory reaction triggered by overwear of her contact
lenses. Because the cornea gets oxygen delivered directly from the air, contact lenses
worn so long that they become contaminated can damage the outermost layer of the
eye.
As students, we often find ways to trigger our stress and immune systems. This is
especially true during the semester, where large assignments mandate long periods of
staring directly at screens. One valuable tip for heavy screen users is to take breaks
during screen time. The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends a break to
stretch and move around every 20 minutes or so–but recognize that anything is better
than nothing, and increasing your implementation of restorative pauses when you can
will always be beneficial.
In addition, it’s important to keep your contacts clean, and to not wear them longer than
their recommended duration. For example, my eye doctor recommends I don’t wear my
contacts longer than 12 hours a day, and to try to maintain a day or two per week where
I wear glasses instead of contacts. I’ve made it a goal for this to comprise most of my
Sundays, along with the other weekend reset tasks.
Not sharing makeup, wearing sunglasses to shield from UV rays, and not smoking are
all protective against damaging exposures to your eyes. Blue light glasses, which are
designed to filter out a portion of the blue light emitted by screens or other devices,
have had mixed results in clinical trials, but some evidence suggests they can relieve
eye strain and allow better sleep.
A common complaint for contact wearers (including myself, fairly) is that they can’t find
a pair of glasses that suits them. Check out this article for some cute glasses that won’t
break the bank. But just about everyone I know who wears glasses has a different style,
which goes to show how varied both glasses and the faces who wear them are. Glasses
are a great accessory and can complete an outfit–check out this article if you want to
see what style of glasses might suit your face shape (subjectively).