How Exercise can Help Protect Aging Eyes | Healthy Aging Month

Exercise is one of the best ways to promote good health. Getting regular exercise can improve cardiovascular health, strengthen bones, and help you maintain a healthy weight, but it doesn’t stop there. Exercise is also good for your eyes, especially as we age.

September is Healthy Aging Month. We can use a reminder on how exercise can promote healthy eyes and vision and how to start or maintain good habits.
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Vision As We Age

Some decrease in the acuity of vision is normal as we get older, but it is not inevitable to develop eye diseases. Still, getting older does increase our risk.

Certain types of eye diseases occur more often as we get older. In fact, many types of eye conditions most commonly occur in people during their 70s and beyond. Protecting your eyes as you age is one way to help you maintain good vision.

Remember, developing vision loss as you get older has a direct impact on other areas of your life. When vision decreases, it can increase your fall risk and adversely affect your quality of life. 
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What The Research Says

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, getting regular exercise may help reduce your risk of certain eye diseases both directly and indirectly. For instance, research has indicated that exercise may decrease your risk of age-related macular degeneration.

Exercise may also help prevent developing glaucoma. The AAO reports that a study found that people that regularly performed moderate exercise were about 25 percent less likely to develop glaucoma than people that were inactive.

There are a few reasons why exercise may help the eyes. For instance, exercise gets the blood flowing. Just like aerobic exercise gets the blood circulating to your muscles and heart, it also increases blood flow to the retina and optic nerve. Exercise may also help decrease intraocular eye pressure, which helps protect the retinal cells.

But that’s not all. Exercise can also indirectly affect the eyes. Regular exercise helps reduce your risk of developing type two diabetes, which can lead to vision complications, such as diabetic retinopathy. It can also help you maintain a healthy weight and decrease the risk of high blood pressure and strokes, which can also lead to vision loss. 
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​Exercise Guidelines

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most adults should aim for about 150 minutes of cardio exercise each week. Of course, that’s not all at once. You can break it into five 30-minute workouts. If that doesn’t work for you, you can split your workouts into even shorter sessions.
Any type of aerobic exercise that gets your heart rate up is a good option. Good choices include:

• Brisk walking
• Jogging
• Aerobic classes
• Circuit training
• Biking

Remember, the best type of exercise is one that you will stick with.  

Tips for getting started

If you have not started a regular exercise program, consider giving it a try. Below are several tips to get you started.

Pick activities you enjoy: This seems like a no-brainer, but trying something that your friend likes or is trendy, but you dislike, will not work. Choose something you like or at least tolerate.

Start slow: You don’t have to start by exercising five days a week. Set manageable goals that you can stick with. Remember, any exercise is better than none.

Enlist a friend: Some people do better if they have a friend or family member to exercise with. It might help keep you motivated and make you accountable.

Try the outdoors: Not everyone is a gym rat. You may find you are more motivated to stick with exercise if you workout outdoors. Look for an outdoor boot camp in the park. Maybe powerwalking with a friend would be your best bet or a swim or bike ride. Think outside the box or outside the gym!
We hope the above information gets you motivated to start an exercise program. If you have any questions about maintaining healthy vision as you age, we are happy to help.

If you would like to ask whether an appointment with one of our eye doctors would be appropriate at this time, call our office at 508-746-8600.