How A Fleeting Glance In The Mirror Brought Me Back To The 1990's!

In my quest to become a healthy shift worker and to help others do the same, one of my New Year Resolutions was to get myself checked out from ‘top to toe’. Yep – I’m talking about undergoing a ‘massive overhaul’ to make sure that I’m as healthy as I possibly can be.

You see, most of us book our cars in for regular tune ups, but tend to forget about ourselves. We tend to soldier on until we get sick, instead of looking for ways to prevent ourselves from getting sick in the first place.

Now as shift workers, we are prone to catching every infection and bug that is going around because of our already suppressed immune system.

So for me, this week I decided it was going to be ‘Eyesight Week’.

Having been a contact lense wearer for many years, my poor glasses had become somewhat neglected. Stuffed in the drawer beside my bed, not only were these glasses ‘highly unfashionable’ – (think 1990’s style here) – but I could hardly see out of them!

Not good.

Not only does blurry vision present a distinct problem when it comes to being able to see where you’re going, but I always did wonder if I was jeopordizing the health of my eyes by wearing my contact lenses for too long.

For example geting up at 2:30am and wearing them through till 8pm at night. Yikes – that’s 18 hours with a bit of plastic stuck to my eye!

So off to the Optometrist I went, hoping that she was going to tell me that my vision had somehow reverted back to 20/20 and that my glasses were no longer going to be a mandatory accessory for me to wear. Yes … I was indeed, hoping for a miracle.

Alas I didn’t get this response, however I was delighted to learn that my eyes were in good health (except for a little scarring from wearing my contact lenses for too long). Note to self – I must throw out my disposable lenses after wearing them for 2 weeks … anyone else out there guilty of doing this?

Now as I’m also not one for missing an opportunity to chat with an ‘expert’ – I decided to consult with her about some tips to help maintain eye health. Her answers were as follows:

1. Eat lots of brightly coloured fruit and vegetables. The brighter the produce the brighter your eyes as they contain larger amounts of vitamin, mineral and antioxidant content.

2. Eat fish regularly. Fish is high in Omega 3 fatty acids which is excellent for eye health – particularly in helping to protect the cells in the retina which can lead to loss of vision. Fish that live in cold water is particularly good – like fresh salmon, tuna, mackeral, cod and sardines.

3. Lutein, which is a yellow or orange compound found in dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale, is one of the best known eye-protecting antioxidants around. Sweet corn, peas, and broccoli are also known to contain large amounts of lutein.

So don’t take your eyesight for granted. Get regular check-ups and eat a healthy diet that promotes excellent eye health. After all, you only have one set of eyes and you don’t want to end up having to wear cork bottle glasses when you get older!