0:00

You're listening to Life Kit from

0:02

NPR. When

0:08

you look at those dots, I'm going to show

0:10

you two choices and I just want you to

0:12

tell me which makes the edges sharper and clearer

0:15

for you. Do

0:17

those look clearer with one or two? One.

0:22

Hey there, this is Andi Tagle in

0:24

for Marielle Sagara and reporting from the

0:27

Office of Optometrist Melanie Langford here in

0:29

San Diego, California. When

0:31

you think about eye health, this is usually the

0:33

image that comes to mind, right?

0:35

Sitting in a dark office in a big

0:37

leather chair, two great big wheels of

0:39

lenses in front of your face making you feel like

0:41

an owl, and little rows of

0:43

letters across the room making you sweat. There's

0:46

no way they put three Z's in a row,

0:48

right? And seven or eight? Eight.

0:53

Okay, perfect. So

0:56

you do not appear to have any

0:58

astigmatism. This part, the

1:00

eye exam part of eye care is

1:03

for the average healthy sighted person.

1:06

Pretty straightforward and in my opinion,

1:09

pretty cool. So you're near sighted. And

1:13

then this is what your vision is with nothing. I

1:16

can't, that's crazy. Big difference. And

1:19

that's with it. I can see. Perfect.

1:22

If you talk to just about anyone who works in

1:24

the field, they'll tell you. There's

1:26

a lot more to eye health than meets, well,

1:30

you know, 80% of

1:32

what we learn about the world comes in through our

1:34

visual pathway. We need our

1:36

eyes to perform our daily activities, do

1:39

our jobs, to navigate the world around

1:41

us. So eye care is so

1:44

much bigger than just a prescription or

1:46

an annual eye exam. So

1:48

in this episode of Life Kit, eye

1:50

health. We'll talk about how to

1:52

combat eye fatigue, we'll separate eye facts from fiction,

1:55

and we'll set our sights on daily practices

1:57

to strengthen and enjoy our vision. eyeball

2:01

leaves, you're gonna learn a lot. I

2:04

know, one too many puns right? I'll

2:07

see myself out. A

2:16

quick note, while this episode

2:19

contains general healthy practices for

2:21

sighted adults, it isn't

2:23

medical advice. So if you

2:25

have any worries about your eyes or your vision, you

2:27

should go see your doctor. Alright, let's

2:30

jump right in with the big one first, shall we? I know

2:33

you're thinking about it, I'm guessing that's why you clicked

2:35

here. Yep, it's

2:37

screen time. Take

2:40

away one. Screen time is hard to

2:42

avoid, but digital eye strain

2:44

doesn't have to be. To

2:46

give your eyes the rest they need, take

2:48

lots of breaks and be mindful of your

2:50

visual space. My

2:53

seemingly endless scrolling and surfing throughout my

2:56

day was actually the genesis for this

2:58

episode. Phones and iPads and TVs and

3:00

laptops being glued to these rectangles

3:02

of light for hours and hours every day

3:05

just cannot be good for our eyes. In

3:08

fact, it's such a problem that the American

3:10

Academy of Ophthalmology and the

3:12

National Eye Institute predict that half

3:14

the world's population, half

3:16

of everybody, will be nearsighted by the end of

3:19

2050. Screens are

3:21

a potential culprit here, so there's

3:23

two systems being engaged when you

3:26

are focusing so hard on the

3:28

computer screen. That's Valerie Lamb, an

3:30

optometrist in Costa Mesa, California whose

3:32

practice also includes vision therapy, a

3:35

non-surgical approach to certain eye conditions like

3:37

lazy eyes or binocular vision. So convergence

3:40

is for our eyes to pull together

3:42

to look at something that's close. Our

3:44

computer screens are usually about 16 to

3:46

20 inches away from our eyes. That

3:48

is a very near target. A

3:50

very near target has

3:53

a lot of Demand

3:55

on our eyes to be able to focus

3:57

and line up. The Other system is our

3:59

accommodation. The system. Which. Is kind of

4:01

like the zoom future of your eyes zooms

4:03

in to make things like queer just like

4:05

as a camera. So. Together, these

4:08

two systems pull together and zoom

4:10

in. And they're hoping that position for

4:12

eight hours a bit. That's

4:14

why people feel I cities are eating another

4:16

get headaches about the eyebrows this like they

4:18

want to rub their temples at the end

4:20

because your vision system is working so hard

4:23

throughout the day. So. It would

4:25

valerie describing is something hold digital I stream

4:27

and it happens when you stare at screen

4:29

for to on. He might get headaches your

4:31

I social dry, You might even have never

4:33

seen that. There's no need to fight with

4:35

that list. The first

4:37

one is catching you My for the

4:39

phrase before Twenty Twenty Twenty. That

4:42

means for every twenty minutes of work

4:44

to get twenty second break and look

4:46

twenty feet away. And why do we

4:48

say twenty feet away? Because we feel

4:50

like that's Eclipse. You just say when

4:52

your eyes are looking far away, your

4:54

eyes and more blacks. Simple enough. Another

4:56

thing to consider is how you set

4:58

up your workspace. less people invest in

5:00

fancy chairs or ergo keyboards. But like,

5:03

what about the ergonomics they are? I

5:05

ate. If you're on of workstations, if

5:07

you have your computer screen and behind

5:09

you is a wall, there's no way

5:11

for your. Eyes to rest. What if you

5:13

were putting your computer next to window? You

5:15

want to think about the position of your

5:18

monitor The top of the screen should be

5:20

at or just below I level control for

5:22

glare and brightness to. Then

5:24

you might consider giving her I muscles a little

5:26

work out every now and again. Bally's that it

5:28

easier for. Him to recall it. Simmer

5:31

pieces and all you need. Is

5:33

really useful in which are going to

5:35

do is they're just going to put

5:37

your straight ahead of you and you're

5:39

going to make a big circle with

5:41

your thumb and you're gonna follow watching

5:43

them with their eyes. You're gonna put

5:45

your thumb in a big circle like

5:47

up to the top of your head,

5:49

out to as far as your arm

5:51

can reach out to the side and

5:53

and down to the bottom. That's including

5:55

all six of your am I muscles

5:57

what you're doing that stuff. So we

5:59

have a patient with a despise circles

6:01

with your right thumb and then switch

6:03

to the other hand and be five

6:05

six with. Your left them going

6:07

in the. Outward. Directions

6:10

on your go, up and out. Then

6:12

there's the like. This. Is a

6:14

super hot topic in the world? Maybe you're one of

6:16

them many many people who went out and got a

6:18

pair of blue eye glasses to protect your eyes in

6:20

the beginning of the pandemic. Here's

6:22

the thing. Is an absolutely no.

6:24

Studies have demonstrated any kind of negative

6:26

effect of blue light on your retina,

6:29

on your side, rocks on your mac

6:31

us nuts after ruble one. She's.

6:33

An optimal adjust and clinical associate professor

6:35

at the University of Hawaii John Byrne

6:37

School of Medicine. I think people get

6:39

a little confused with ultraviolet light and

6:41

blue lights from Dup Factor. But.

6:43

What Blue light does is it affects

6:46

your melatonin. It affects your circadian rhythm.

6:49

So was like from a computer screen is

6:51

in your sleep space it might interrupt your

6:53

bedtime routine just like a lot of sunshine

6:55

might get into a the nap. But other

6:57

than that it's not really something to worry

6:59

about says river. Digital. Eyestrain is

7:02

so once we removed that aspect from device

7:04

in because there was some thought that maybe

7:06

it was related to that the blue belts.

7:08

Really, it comes down to the fact that

7:10

when we are on devices the whether it

7:12

be a computer or a phone or tablet

7:14

we tend not to blink as much and

7:17

we are focusing up close for many hours

7:19

at a time. Blinking. Is

7:21

a lot more important than you think it

7:23

is. When we're not blinking as much your

7:25

eyes get drier. I know, doesn't sound like

7:27

a very big deal. So. The amazing

7:30

thing is that you were to

7:32

yourself is responsible for a good

7:34

part of the clarity of your

7:36

vision. When you have dry

7:38

ice deficient be split into something that

7:41

we often seats. People don't come in

7:43

saying I have dry eyes, they come

7:45

in oftentimes saying my eyes hurt or

7:47

my vision is blurred but it comes

7:50

and goes throughout the day or when

7:52

I blink it gets a little bit

7:54

better. So. And see ramification

7:56

of having dry eyes can be really

7:59

profound than. Really when you get

8:01

very severe dry ice, there a lot of

8:03

different medical problems that can be associate with

8:05

severe try I syndrome. I. Stand

8:07

corrected: Excuse me while I take twenty

8:09

second sibling tibet. Some. Other

8:12

options for making sure your eyes the moist

8:14

throughout the day. You could keep artificial tiers

8:16

handy. It's not eyedrops. There is a difference.

8:19

But. There have been recalls lately so you

8:21

might want to do a quick search before

8:23

you buy. You could also get results like

8:25

a mini spa treatment at the beginning and

8:27

end of each day by putting warm compresses

8:29

over your eyes. That. Can help

8:31

moisturize that Wales hands on your eyelids that

8:33

you need to make. We'll for your tears

8:35

do at least for five minutes morning and

8:37

night. Just might help. And it's it's an

8:39

easy thing. It helps even for people who

8:41

have allergies of live a lot of different

8:44

ways. That says, having that lubricant in your

8:46

chair film can be of benefit. Up

8:49

next I hygiene. let's talk dirty

8:51

details about keeping our eyes clean

8:53

their the windows to the sole

8:55

after all. so let's make sure

8:57

we treat them accordingly. Ethically

9:00

to protect your P bursts bi

9:02

curious on wind and lifestyle choices

9:05

Can all a sex these two

9:07

small precious organs. Let's start with

9:09

bacteria. I'm looking at you

9:12

contact lens wearers when you sleep and

9:14

your contact lenses are increasing the risk

9:16

of infection at the cornea. Have to

9:18

eat my and I've heard people I

9:20

with my contract for that vitamin I'm

9:22

not gotten. Facilities are very very lucky

9:24

if that's great that it really is

9:26

setting up the perfect environment. For all

9:28

these micro organisms to grow and

9:31

replicate that like and moist, moist.

9:33

Environment for think about that image in your

9:35

head before you switch of six times. I

9:37

glad that. Repossess. Easily the

9:40

healthiest still. Also often the most

9:42

expensive and packaging have the option

9:44

is a daily contact and that's

9:47

because those lines material that it's

9:49

made up is going to have

9:51

a higher oxygen permeability. If

9:54

you have to be cleanses or monthly lenses,

9:56

she says it's important. not to try and

9:58

stretch the timing of them The

10:00

clock starts the minute you open the package. And

10:03

remember, regardless of which type of contact you wear,

10:06

life happens. So before you find

10:08

yourself without contact solution or your carrying case,

10:10

or the next time you want to take

10:12

a nap on a plane, just always, always,

10:14

always people need to have a good set

10:16

of glasses. Because I think the biggest issue

10:19

with wanting to take out your contact lenses

10:21

at the end of the day is that

10:23

they don't have enough to-date glasses prescription. Another

10:25

bugaboo for eye doctors, makeup. Hey,

10:28

my ethnicities, Indians, they are all

10:30

into the really tight lining, water

10:32

lining, the big dramatic eyes. So

10:34

we can do all of this,

10:37

keeping your eyes healthy. The most important thing is

10:39

to remove and wash your makeup every

10:42

single night without fail. I'll

10:45

admit, I was pretty loosey goosey about this before.

10:47

And then Rupa told me this thing. They've

10:49

done studies and they have shown there

10:52

are Demodex lash mites

10:55

that live on your lashes that

10:57

come out at night. Lash

11:00

mites. They love mascara.

11:03

Look it up if you dare. Another

11:05

big no-no is putting eyeliner on your waterline.

11:07

That's the pink part of your eyelid. I

11:09

love that look. It's not

11:12

one that we recommend because it can block

11:14

the oil glands of your eyelids. It can

11:16

cause styes. It can cause

11:18

issues with dry eyes. Also

11:20

those loose glitter eyeshadows. They

11:23

tend to really fall into the eye and

11:25

a lot of particulate matters. So usually I

11:27

would avoid the loose ones as well. You

11:30

can do glitter shadows. The pressed

11:32

ones are going to be a bit better. Other

11:34

best practices include regularly cleaning your applicators

11:37

and brushes and actually following the expiration

11:39

dates on your mascara and other eye

11:41

makeup. And they might be shorter than

11:43

you think. Check your boxes. Most dates

11:45

run somewhere in the range of three to 12

11:47

months. Moving

11:50

on to sun damage. It is

11:52

no joke. Exposure to the sun, even

11:54

in small amounts, over time can lead

11:57

to serious eye problems like cataracts or

11:59

macarons. You

12:01

can develop callus-like tissue on the whites of your eyes from too

12:04

much sun, dust, or wind. And we

12:06

can't forget the eyelid and the external structures of

12:08

the eye because you can get cancers on those

12:11

parts of the eye, which is

12:13

why sunglasses and hat use is so important. Rupa

12:16

suggests wearing hats with at least a three-inch brim when

12:18

you're outside for an extended period of time, and

12:20

to be cognizant not only of direct

12:22

sunlight, but also things like exposure to

12:25

glare or reflection from the road. Then

12:28

there's sunglasses. Are they

12:30

all created equal? They are not. The

12:33

most important thing about sunglasses is it has a

12:35

little sticker on it that says 100% UVA, UVB.

12:39

Polar eye sunglasses will make your eyes

12:41

more comfortable, especially if you're wearing them in

12:43

a place with a lot of glare. But

12:46

be warned, unless they also

12:48

specifically say UVA and UVB, you're

12:50

not getting the sun protection you

12:52

need. Other lifestyle factors

12:55

that affect your eyesight, like diet

12:57

and exercise, don't require any super

12:59

special ingredients or supplements. Yes,

13:01

what you've always heard is true. Carrots are

13:04

good for your eyes. But it's not just

13:06

about the carrots. And the beta-carrotine

13:08

that you get from carrots is also present

13:10

in things like sweet potatoes and cantaloupe and

13:13

spinach and tomatoes. When it

13:15

comes to healthy practices, Rupa says, don't

13:17

overthink it. All the things that

13:19

you would think about for the lifestyle factors that if you're

13:21

aiming for a healthy life, just getting good sleep, being

13:24

able to not smoke

13:27

and just exercising, has been

13:29

shown just the same to affect your eye health

13:31

just as much as affects the rest of your

13:33

body. Now let's turn to prescriptions, because I don't

13:35

know about you, but every time I walk out

13:38

of my eye doctor's office, I look

13:40

at that little piece of paper and I'm like, what

13:42

in the name of middle school science am I looking

13:44

at right now? Let's

13:46

go over what you actually need to know. This is

13:48

my favorite, my favorite class in six-pray. This is probably

13:50

why I wanted to optimize. I love optics so much.

13:53

Takeaway three, understand your prescription. When

13:55

you receive your prescription, you'll see

13:58

two rows, OS and OD. Very

14:00

simple. OS, oculus sinister, is

14:02

Latin for left eye, and OD,

14:04

oculus dexter, is Latin for right

14:06

eye. No idea why it's

14:08

necessary to be in Latin, but I digress. Your

14:11

prescription can be different for each eye. Then

14:14

you'll see a plus or minus number. A

14:18

plus prescription means you're hyperoptic or farsighted.

14:22

In this case, you might have trouble seeing

14:24

close-up or even at medium distance because

14:26

the eyeball is a little bit short.

14:29

So we put a stronger plus lens

14:31

in front of the eye to bring

14:33

that light so that

14:35

it can focus on to the retina

14:38

instead of behind the retina. If you

14:40

have a minus prescription, you're

14:42

myopic or nearsighted. That

14:45

means you have trouble seeing far away because

14:48

the eyeball itself is shaped a

14:50

little bit longer and because

14:52

of that we use a minus lens

14:54

to push the light back so it's

14:56

on the retina. In general, the

14:59

higher your number in either direction, the worse

15:01

your natural vision and the stronger the lens

15:03

you'll need to be able to see clearly. But

15:06

Rupa says in particular your doctor's gonna want

15:08

to keep an eye on nearsightedness. That's that

15:11

minus prescription because in that case your retina

15:13

might be stretched more thinly than the average

15:15

eye. Anything from a zero to

15:17

a negative three is considered a mild prescription.

15:20

Negative three to negative six is moderate

15:22

and then anything above a minus six

15:24

really puts you in a very different

15:27

risk category of high myopioids

15:29

where you can get retinal tears,

15:31

retinal detachments, cataracts, glaucomat, so anybody

15:34

that's a minus six diopter or

15:36

higher, then we want to make sure we're

15:38

following them at least once a year for

15:40

sure. Now there's one more condition to

15:42

be aware of on your prescription, astigmatism.

15:45

So many people get really concerned about

15:47

astigmatism. They worry about it. They say,

15:49

oh my gosh, doctor, I have astigmatism

15:51

and they think it's a really terrible

15:53

diagnosis and it's not. All it

15:55

is is the shape of the front surface of your

15:57

eyeball. Regular shaped corneas are. Keep

16:00

like has a basketball but people with

16:02

a segment is I'm stoked when you

16:04

look more like has a football and

16:06

because it that the lights getting to

16:08

fake it until lot of different points

16:10

and so to bring it all into

16:12

one point we use a cylindrical and

16:14

and that helps focus the light onto

16:16

the retina. You can be near sighted

16:18

with astigmatism or farsighted with astigmatism either

16:20

one. All combined that prescription

16:22

should be able to give you good,

16:25

clear, hopefully twenty twenty vision that can

16:27

help you better navigate the world around

16:29

you. Serious. What twenty

16:31

twenty means? exactly? Yeah meet.

16:33

You. Know. This is all arbitrarily

16:35

said by. Twenty Twenty refers to what

16:38

the quote unquote average person that can

16:40

see at twenty feet away. So.

16:43

The first twenty refers to actual

16:45

distance. The second twenty refers to

16:47

how close and object appears. So.

16:50

If you can see twenty Fifteen, that

16:52

means you can see at twenty feet

16:55

And a quote, normal person can see

16:57

at fifteen seat. How good can you

16:59

guess? I can go all the way

17:01

down to Twenty Ten. Wow. Some people

17:03

concert versus a that yeah supervision like

17:06

have a T that looks like a

17:08

ladybug processor and people can see that

17:10

from. Yeah. Now

17:13

that we can all read our prescriptions,

17:15

let's talk about what factors actually affect

17:18

them because they're a lot of myths

17:20

and misconceptions out there quickly. For reflect

17:22

or fiction, learn what can and cannot

17:24

affect the quality of your vision. For

17:26

example, maybe you have a parent or

17:28

grandparent? Avoid using the reading glasses for

17:30

fear of becoming too dependent on them.

17:32

They sail boats. I started wearing reading

17:34

glasses and Nhs all went downhill. I

17:37

can't even exist without them. It's not

17:39

that you've made your eyes weaker, it's

17:41

simply that now you see more clearly

17:43

with. Your readers on and you notice

17:45

that difference. That's it. And

17:47

opposite is also true so I'm

17:49

slightly near sighted. For example, my

17:51

doctor prescribed the glasses for movies,

17:54

concerts, driving at night. But.

17:56

i'm constantly forgetting them rupa says

17:58

i don't have to worry making

18:00

my eyes worse by not wearing my glasses

18:02

every time I'm supposed to. There's nothing about

18:04

glasses that changes the structure

18:07

or shape or the muscles of the

18:09

eye or the focusing ability

18:11

of the eye. It's not going to change it.

18:13

That's a relief. Though when

18:15

you do wear your frames, you're gonna want

18:17

to make sure you have an up-to-date prescription.

18:19

If it's an old glasses prescription, it might give

18:21

you some eye fatigue, it might give you eye strain, maybe

18:23

it might give you a headache because you

18:26

have to strain to see

18:28

a little bit better. If it's really old, but

18:31

typically it's not going to cause any

18:33

lasting damage. Generally speaking, Ruba says that

18:36

most prescriptions will stabilize around early adulthood,

18:38

but that's not always the case. So

18:41

let's break down what can change the quality of your

18:43

vision. Some conditions like

18:45

cataracts can be age-related. Excessive

18:48

smoking and drinking have been linked to a

18:50

number of eye diseases that could then worsen

18:52

your vision. There are also some medical conditions

18:54

that will do the same. High

18:56

blood pressure for one. And then

18:58

if you have conditions like diabetes,

19:01

that actually can affect the lens of your eye

19:03

and can make you nearsighted. So there are a

19:05

lot of medical issues. And then there's one more

19:07

which we've kind of delved into already. And

19:10

near work is associated with becoming nearsighted.

19:13

Near work is what it sounds like.

19:16

Any work that you focus on up close, as

19:18

in within arm's reach. So all

19:20

that screen time we were talking about definitely

19:23

falls under this umbrella. Video games,

19:25

computer work, but also homework

19:27

time, reading, drawing, all near

19:29

work too. The good news is the fix

19:31

is as simple as you think it might be. Just

19:34

getting away from the desktop and

19:36

getting outside. Takeaway

19:38

five, our final takeaway, is

19:41

take your eyes outside. Often,

19:44

one of the very best ways to enjoy your

19:46

sight and strengthen your vision is

19:49

to take in the natural world

19:51

around you. Being outside is so

19:54

crucial, especially in my younger patient

19:56

population. This might sound a little hyperbolic,

19:58

but there's a lot of signs. backing this

20:00

up, especially when it comes to young eyes.

20:04

Recent research suggests that regular outdoor time for kids,

20:07

up to two hours a day is

20:09

what both Valerie and Rubo recommend, may

20:11

help slow or even prevent nearsightedness. That's

20:14

a big deal. There

20:17

are a couple of theories as to why this is. One

20:19

is that when you're outside looking at nature, you're

20:21

spending less time looking at things so close up.

20:24

Your eyes are taking more things in at a

20:26

distance, which is important for eye development and eye

20:29

rest. The other theory is that

20:31

sunlight slows eye growth, which could help

20:33

eyes from unnaturally elongating, which is a

20:35

cause of nearsightedness. Okay, let's go outside. But

20:44

then there's the fact that it just, you

20:46

know, feels good. It's

20:48

a beautiful day today, Teddy. Do

20:50

you see the cars going by? Use

20:53

your eyes to take in all the wonders

20:55

around you. That's why I bother with eye

20:58

care at all. Do you want to play a

21:00

little eye spy? Eye spy?

21:02

A big tree. My

21:09

nine month old hasn't really said as much

21:11

yet, but I'm pretty sure he agrees with

21:13

me. You're right. We don't have to say anything.

21:15

We can just take it in, huh? Okay,

21:18

friends. Thanks for learning how to

21:20

take care of those peepers along with me. Let's

21:23

recap. Take

21:25

away one. To avoid digital eye strain, take

21:28

lots of breaks and be purposeful about your

21:30

visual workspace. Take away two. Practice

21:32

good eye hygiene. That means

21:34

changing out those contacts, wearing those sunglasses, and

21:37

note to self, not wearing that winged eyeliner

21:39

too close or for too long. Take

21:42

away three. To understand your eyes,

21:44

understand your prescription. No

21:46

letters chart necessary. Take

21:48

away four. Separate eye fact from fiction. Glasses

21:51

don't change the structure of your eye. Take

21:54

away five. Get out in the world and give your

21:56

eyes a visual treat. The science says

21:58

it's good for you and your heart will. For.

22:02

More Life Kid. Check out our other

22:04

episodes I hosted one on how to

22:06

Get along with your inlaws and we

22:08

have another on your Care can Buy

22:10

Know That and pure.org/life Kit. And if

22:12

you love Life Kit and want more,

22:14

subscribe to our newsletter and pure.org/life Kids

22:16

newsletter. Also, we'd love to hear from

22:18

you to hear episode ideas are feedback

22:21

you want to share. Email us at

22:23

like. It at npr.org.

22:27

This. Episode of Like It was produced

22:29

by Clamoring Snyder or host is Marissa

22:31

Sekera and are visuals editor is that

22:33

Carlin. Our digital editor is Melissa Curried.

22:36

they can change is is supervising editor.

22:38

Spit on of in is the executive

22:40

producer or production team also includes Audrey

22:42

When and so the Daedalus engineering support

22:44

comes from David Greenberg, Mbeki Brown and

22:47

a very special thanks to Melanie Langford,

22:49

Matthew Langford Cerebral House and the whole

22:51

team at Family Vision Here. Optometry. I'm

22:55

Andy Take. Things Seriously.