Human sight is the main source of information about the world around us. It is very important to take care of your eye health throughout your life. Quite healthy able-bodied people about 40 years old often turn to ophthalmologists with complaints of a sharp deterioration of visual acuity, decreased contrast sensitivity, rapid eye fatigue and visual voltage.
At the age of 40, the body becomes vulnerable to external aggressive factors. For the eyes, the main enemy is bright solar radiation, namely the blue part of the visible spectrum. light, harmful radiation from computer monitors, as well as bad habits - smoking and drinking alcohol. The fact is that the tissues of the eye, and especially the retina, contain a large number of protective pigments such as lutein and zeaxanthin. They have a powerful antioxidant effect, prevent lipid peroxidation and are a kind of sunglasses for the eyes, absorb blue light and suppress the formation of free radicals, protecting the retina from damage and destruction.
With age, the concentration of protective pigments in the macula - lutein and zeaxanthin, decreases, and the tissues of the eye become vulnerable, often this leads to serious chronic progressive retinal disease - age-related macular degeneration, in which visual acuity is irreversibly reduced, and defects of the central field occur vision. The disease is the leading cause of blindness in people over 40. Risk factors include not only age and increased insolation, but also the presence of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, obesity, smoking and unbalanced diet.
In order to keep your eyes healthy, you must follow a number of rules:
- First of all, you should give up bad habits, smoking is an enemy not only for the eyes, but also for the body as a whole. By leading to narrowing of small blood vessels, smoking impairs the nutrition of organs, reduces the access of nutrients to tissues.
- Everything that is good for the body is good for the eyes: try not to overwork yourself, exercise swimming, yoga, spend more time outdoors, but do not forget about sunglasses.
- You need to eat right. The retina needs lutein and zeaxanthin. A high content of these elements is noted in egg yolk, bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes, spinach, etc. And also food containing vitamin C, zinc, selenium and tocopherol is useful for vision. Such substances are found only in some products in a low concentration, so it is advisable to make a menu with a nutritionist. Foods high in cholesterol should be avoided from the diet.
Due to the fact that in the conditions of modern life the nutritional balance is disturbed, food is not enriched with vitamins and minerals, as required by the daily intake, experts advise to supplement the daily diet with vitamin complexes containing the optimal concentration of lutein and zeaxanthin, trace elements and vitamins to protect the eyes, namely zinc and Selena. Thanks to the intake of such funds, the content of yellow pigment in the macula, the optical center of the retina, increases, which in turn reduces the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration by 70%, increases contrast sensitivity, color perception and visual acuity in the whole. Among the drugs, one can single out "Ocuwaite Lutein Forte", which is considered the number 1 drug on the recommendation of Russian ophthalmologists. To reduce the risk of developing the disease and slow the progression of the disease, it is recommended to take it in courses - 4 months 2 times a year.
Natalia Namzhiltsyrenova, ophthalmologist, Family Doctor network of polyclinics.
