How eye glasses totally change your look, enhance your vision and prevent cancer

Eye-wear can totally change our entire look in addition to enhancing your vision, protecting your eyes from harmful UV radiation, preventing wrinkles and getting rid of visual fatigue and headaches and preventing skin cancer.  What a great invention!

Visit www.freeglasses.ca to find out you you can get free eyeglasses from our Vancouver Optometry clinic.

Yoga fights computer vision syndrome and keeps your eyes healthy

It turns out that that the ancient Indian practice of yoga can help fight a 21st century health issue: computer vision syndrome. Yoga is an ancient Indian science which includes the practice of specific postures, cleansing practices, regulated breathing and meditation. Readers of this blog know that dry eyes are one of the symptoms of computer vision syndrome and arise, in part, because we blink less when using the computer. Other symptoms include eyestrain, irritation, tired eyes, a burning sensation, redness, blurred vision, headaches, neck pain and double vision 

Common ways to fight computer vision syndrome include the use of specially prescribed and designed computer eye wear that reduces eye strain and also keeps the eyes hydrated by increasing the humidity between your eyes and the lens of the eye wear.

In addition to computer eye wear, a study published in the journal Head and Face that examined visual discomfort in professional computer users in Bangalore shows that a combination of yoga practices  may help alleviate the symptoms of computer vision syndrome.

The study researchers, some of whom are affiliated with the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation in Bangalore, India, took two hundred and ninety one professional computer users and divided them into two groups.  One group practiced yoga for one hour a day, five days a week for sixty days while the other group did no yoga but did their regular recreational activities for the hour.  Both groups were assessed at baseline and after sixty days for self-rated visual discomfort using a standard questionnaire. 

The researchers employed general whole body yoga postures as well as a subset eye-specific yoga movements, called Trataka.  Interestingly, trataka resembles some exercises employed during optometric vision therapy to treat eye movement disorders.  Here is how the authors of the study described the yoga that they prescribed: 

The 60 minute yoga program included yoga postures (asanas, 15 minutes), regulated breathing (pranayamas, 10 minutes), exercises for the joints (sithilikarana vyayama, 10 minutes), visual cleansing exercises (trataka, 10 minutes), and guided relaxation (15 minutes).

The practice of trataka involves two sets of eye exercises. (i) Shifting the gaze (by moving the eyes alone) in eight directions. During this exercise, practitioners are asked to use their right thumb (and when gazing to the left, their left thumb) as a cue to direct their gaze. The directions are up, down, up to the left, down to the left, up to the right, down to the right and rotation of the eyes clock-wise and anti clock-wise. (ii) During the second exercise, practitioners gaze at a flame placed at eye level without blinking. While gazing at the flame, practitioners are instructed to focus their gaze on the flame and subsequently defocus while keeping their gaze on the flame.

Throughout the practice practitioners should sit upright and should avoid moving their head to shift their gaze.

These techniques were selected either because previous research showed that they reduced physiological arousal  or based on our unpublished clinical observations

While the scores for visual discomfort of both groups were comparable at baseline, after 60 days there was a significantly decreased score in the yoga group, whereas the no-yoga group showed significantly increased scores.  This means that the yoga group had less discomfort whereas the no-yoga group had more discomfort after 60 days.

The study's results suggest that yoga can alleviate the self-reported symptoms of visual discomfort associated with computer vision syndrome.

How to get the edge in Diablo 3

How can you get an edge playing Diablo 3?  Well, an optometrist may not be an expert gamer but we know what you can do to make gaming easier on your eyes.

One of the best things you can do is to wear Gunnar eye wear   or some other computer glasses which are specifically designed with gamers in mind.  Gunnar lenses are specially designed by optmetrists to make it easier to view computer screens by changing the frequency of light that comes from the screen so that it is easier for the eye to absorb.

Gunnars also have precise wrap that increases the humidity in front of your eyes.  That fights dry eye, which is a problem for gamers because you blink less when playing video games causing your tear film to evaporate faster and your eyes to dry out.  Vision Source Vancouver optometrists carry Gunnars and we let you try them on and view a computer screen.  You see the difference right way and its quite an improvement.

All of this adds up to less visual fatigue, healthier eyes and greater endurance and more hours of video game enjoyment. After all Gunnars are the official eye wear of the world series of gaming (or at least they used to be).  Incidentally, the visual discomfort video game players experience is called computer vision syndrome and is a medical problem that is on the rise.  Computer eye wear like Gunnars can fight computer vision syndrome and is more than just video game eye wear.  We tell our patients to think of it as eye wear for a digital lifestyle.  Use it with your computer, smart phone and tablet for more visual comfort and a better life.

Three million Canadians suffer from computer vision syndrome

Some 3 million Canadian workers suffer from Computer Vision Syndrome, a condition caused by prolonged computer use.  In addition to that, a recent survey by the American Optometric Association found that 68% of young adults report a technology related vision problem. 

And as our nation has moved from a manufacturing society to an information society, Computer Vision Syndrome has become a workplace concern.  While prolonged computer use will not damage vision, it can make you uncomfortable and decrease productivity.

Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) is caused by the eyes constantly focusing and refocusing on the characters on a computer screen. These characters don’t have the contrast or well-defined edges like printed words and the eyes’ focus cannot remain fixed. Symptoms of CVS include headaches, loss of focus, burning or tired eyes, blurred vision and neck or shoulder pain.

CVS can be partially alleviated by changes in the ergonomics of the work area.  Proper lighting and monitor placement can go a long way toward reducing CVS, as can giving your eyes frequent "breaks” from the computer. But the underlying cause of CVS – the ability of the eyes to focus on the computer screen – may only be remedied by specialized computer glasses.

A comprehensive eye exam, including questions about a person’s computer use habits is the first step. If we determine that vision correction for computer use is required, we can prescribe computer lenses that are designed to improve your vision in the 18” – 28” range, the optimal distance between your eyes and the computer monitor.

The right eye-wear can greatly improve your visual comfort.  One option that is popular with the patients at our clinic is Gunnar eye-wear by Zeiss Vision, one of the oldest optical companies in the world (founded in Germany in the nineteenth century). 

Gunnar lenses have a particular wrap designed to increase the humidity immediately in front of your eyes in order to combat the dry eye that comes from the fact people tend to blink less when they use the computer.

Gunnar lenses also change the frequency of the light that comes from computer and smart-phone screens to make it easier for your eye to absorb thus making vision more comfortable and making the screen easier to read.  The improvement in vision and visual comfort is immediate and dramatic and can be experienced just by trying on a pair at our clinic.