Nearly 253 million people suffer with vision problems like cataracts and macular degeneration. In fact, macular degeneration affects close to 11 million people and optometrists expect that number to significantly grow, but doctors say if more people would embrace natural eye care, vision impairments would diminish.
Blood vessels within the eyes are vital because they provide each cell with nutrients and oxygen. With the blood flow, the body also disposes of the degradation of by-products that arise during metabolism. For the maintenance of these transport routes, and the growth of new vessels is mainly responsible for a protein molecule, the so-called Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor. It is transported through the blood and ensures that new vessels are born.
However, this mechanism can also cause severe vision problems and severe eye damage in age-related macular degeneration. The disease starts out as a yellow spot, in the middle of the retina, also called the macula. The density of photoreceptors is particularly high there, which enables sharp vision. In AMD, blood vessels in the vicinity of the retina proliferate. Unfortunately, their walls are permeable, and blood fluid can enter the retina and lead to edema. As a result, visual cells of the macula slowly die.
What Can Patients Do?
More likely, people over the age of 65 are affected, and the number of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) increases with life expectancy. Untreated, the disease usually leads to blindness, in the majority of cases. Nevertheless, poor vision can be prevented, and existing eye problems can also be cured or at least alleviated with natural methods, especially when it comes to the so-called age-related visual impairment.
Eye problems are known to occur with increasing age. However, this should not lead to the conclusion that age inevitably leads to visual impairment. Poor sight, in this case, are long-term consequences of the lifestyle and diet of the person and the bad habits they embrace. This in turn means that a different lifestyle and the change of habits can prevent the so-called age-related visual problems or significantly mitigate their severity.
Train the Eye Muscles
When sitting in front of a screen, like a computer or television, from time to time let your eyes wander off into the distance (e.g. out of the window), then immediately hold some object directly in front of your eyes to look at it closely, then look into the distance again. By consistently practicing this, you will train the elasticity of your eye muscle.
Our Diet Often Determines the Health of Our Eyes
The eyes, like all other organs, are supplied with nutrients from our daily diet, via our blood supply, and can therefore only be as healthy as the food we eat allows them. Holistic therapy for eye diseases include moderate exercise, fruits and vegetables, and sufficient amounts of the nutrients lutein and zeaxanthin, and vitamin D for the eyes.
Remember, many eye problems are the result of an unfavorable diet and lifestyle that often goes on for decades, and therefore, cannot disappear overnight. Start early and visit an ophthalmologist to make sure everything you’re doing is equally effective.