You At Your Best

July 2017 • The Five Senses

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8 | YOU AT YOUR BEST | nwAdg.cOm/YOUATYOURBEST JULY - ThE 5 SEnSES | SATURdAY, JUnE 24, 2017 By SaraH HaNey NWa Democrat-Gazette T he eyes are the complex organs of the visual system, providing vision and the ability to process many vi- sual details. They are composed of more than two million working parts and are capable of processing an aston- ishing 36,000 pieces of information per hour by delivering data to your brain to be evaluat- ed instantly. Your eyes will process 24 million images in your life- time and are responsible for setting up how we react to the environment around us. Because of this, the eyes are an extremely vital sense that we so often take for granted. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- vention, approximately 14 million Americans aged 12 years and older have self-reported visual impairment de- fi ned as distance acuity of 20/50 or worse. Of those 14 mil- lion Americans, 8.2 percent do not have health insurance. Diet A lot of vision problems arise as a secondary disease to a pre-existing condition. The leading cause of blindness in adults is type 2 diabetes, which can be associated with obesity. By eating a healthy diet of green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, and collards, as well as salmon, tuna, oranges, and non-meat protein sources such as eggs, nuts, and beans, you can drastically reduce your risk of devel- oping type 2 diabetes and help yourself maintain a healthy weight. These are both vital to good eye health. Age-related vi- sion problems like macular degeneration and cataracts can potentially be warded off by omega-3 fatty acids, lutein, zinc, and vitamins C and E nutrients. Stop Smoking While the negative health effects of smoking tobacco are widely known, the damage that it does to your eyes is not as commonly known. Smoking increases your risk of developing cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma, di- abetic retinopathy, dry eye syndrome, and causes damage to your optic nerve. Quitting smoking can reduce your risk of developing many sight-threatening eye conditions. Wear Sunglasses Ultraviolet rays from the sun may lead to macular de- generation and the development of cataracts. Cataracts are a clouding of the eye's natural lens. The eye's lens is the part of the eye that focuses the light we see. The right pair of sunglasses — ones that block 99 to 100 percent of UVA and UVB rays — can help protect your eyes. Safety Eyewear Many sports can lead to eye injury. It is important to al- ways wear eye protection, such as helmets with protective masks or sports goggles. You should always wear protec- People who have been putting off eye exam- inations may want to call their opthalmologists to schedule an appointment. That's because vision checkups can do more than protect your eyes. By examining the eyes, doctors may have a window into health problems affecting other areas of the body. Researchers recently discovered a link be- tween detected retinal amyloid plaques and the onset of Alzheimer's disease. While evidence was found in lab mice, autopsies of at least eight Alzhei- mer's disease patients have also shown amyloid plaques, which are known to interfere with memory and other mental functions, present in the retinas. Doctors at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, Ca- lif., are gearing up for larger studies of humans to de- termine if an Alzhei- Eyes on health: What your eyes can tell doctors metro creative ServiceS Vision THE SENSE OF

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