October 27, 2017 - Eye Health
Visual stress is neither good or bad. It is the response to stress that affects our eye health.
How stress affects vision
Stress can lead to reduced eye circulation. When we experience stress, our eyes ask for more energy in the form of nutrients to help manage the stress until a dynamic balance is restored. If our eyes do not have enough nutrient supply to meet nutrient demand, the eye tissue can be damaged.
Stress causes you to tunnel your vision, which can negatively impact eye health in a number of ways. Tunneled vision:
- can damage the retina over time. When you tunnel your vision, you are using a smaller area of the retina. Over time, this area can become damaged due to overuse.
- reinforces and speeds up glaucoma damage. Since glaucoma is a natural tunneling of your vision, you are reinforcing the glaucoma damage.
- decreases depth perception. This reduces the stability of your body balance and causes your night vision to fail.
Stress, if not managed, may lead to macular degeneration. The condition, in part, is caused by a deficiency of essential vitamins and minerals. Stress can deplete the body of this critical vitamins and minerals, ultimately increasing the likelihood of developing macular degeneration.
Stress decreases eye circulation. When stressed, the sympathetic nervous system dominates. (The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for the fight-or-flight response) Tightened eye muscles, which is one side effect of the sympathetic nervous system, leads to reduced circulation in the eyes. Eventually, this can starve the optic nerve tissue of vital nutrients.
Stress reduces eye endurance. When you experience stress, circulation in the eyes becomes restricted and vision becomes tunneled. These can decrease eye flexibility, reduced ability to focus for long periods of time, and expedite eye fatigue.
1. Meditate for 10 minutes.
Meditation is an ancient practice that helps soften anxiety, increase peacefulness, and create a feeling of well-being. Meditation can help release your chaotic thoughts which can reduce undesirable-producing emotions, and improve your ability to handle stress. As our stress releases, this change can improve our eye circulation.
2. Release stress through movement.
Yoga, Tai Chi, and Qi Gong are very old mind-body movement practices that can help you be more present in your body instead of living in your stressful thinking. Slow, easy, and intentional movements can change your current attitudes that create stress and can increase your vitality and creativity, and peripheral vision.
3. Focus for 2 minutes on deep breathing.
Deep breathing is a particularly useful stress relief strategy because it can be done in any environment at any time. (Except under water!) Slow, rhythmic deep breathing has been shown to increase our oxygenation in the brain and intestinal system. It also increases oxygenation in our fluid bodies, like our blood and lymph. This elevated oxygen level brings more energy to the cells which facilitate the removal of metabolic waste. This detoxification and energy relax the body and mind. As we detox, our eyes are more responsive and we see detail more clearly.
If you’re feeling stressed, take 2 minutes and focus on deep breathing.
4. Find five good things to be grateful for.
Practice daily gratitude in your life. This attitude can help neutralize feelings of depression and unease.
5. Dance!
Dance and shake to some happy, high energy music. This type of free-form movement invites your body to change its normal robotic way of moving and increases your endorphins. It will increase your energy and help you let go of those thoughts that are causing anxiety. As you include your body more in your vision, your eyes relax, your balance improves, and your peripheral vision widens!
6. Exercise your eyes.
Some eye exercises that are great for reducing stress levels include:
7. Be present on one task.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed, focus on one task. This is a particularly useful while at work. When you multi-task, this scatters your focus and puts more stress on you to get things done. Multi-tasking has also been found to lower productivity – so you’re actually doing less by trying to do more. The less stress you feel, the less you will tunnel your vision.
8. Apply warm cloth or pad to your neck or shoulders.
This is an easy way to de-stress at the end of the day. Anyone who works on the computer can suffer from neck and shoulder tension. Applying warmth to your neck and shoulders releases tension in the muscles and helps de-stress the mind after a day of work.
9. Massage and elevate your feet.
If you’re on your feet all day, this is a great way to de-stress. When you spend multiple hours on your feet, they lose their sensation and circulation. In extreme circumstances, this can lead to swelling and discomfort. Massaging and elevating your feet helps open up the circulation and channel stress out of the body.
10. Start your morning with a 15-30 minute nature walk.
Take a walk for 15-30 minutes in a park or nature every day. Nature helps us slow down the speed of our nervous system and can create a feeling of well-being. This can also elevate energy levels throughout the day. Do this without your corrective glasses or contacts and notice how much more peripheral vision and light can enter your eyes. Keep your prescription with you and compare how you feel with your corrective lenses on and off. You should feel more relaxed with your corrective lenses off.
11. Take 10 minutes to recenter yourself with music.
If you’re feeling overstressed, take a break, lie down, and listen to slow, soft ambient music. Invite your mind to drift between the sounds of the song. This practice helps release your mind of its stress-producing thoughts and will empower you to tackle the root cause of the stress. As you listen to this music, your body will relax and your eyes will too!
12. Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy can be a great way to help de-stress and does not take time out of your day to practice. This can be done during everyday activities, such as while you’re in the shower or reading a book before bed. Lavender, rose, and neroli are known to help relax you and help release pent-up stress. These essential oils are highly oxygenating and hydrating for the eyes, brain, and body.
13. Eat a meal of healthy fats and vegetables.
The microbiome and eye are deeply connected. Eating natural, unprocessed foods that include organic proteins, fruits, vegetables and healthy fats support a healthier relationship between your gut and brain. The less gut inflammation, the less eye inflammation, and the better your eye circulation.
14. Spend time with a companion.
Dedicate an amount of time to spend time with someone who is important to you. Be present and focus all your energy on the other being. This can be a family member, a partner, a friend, or even a pet. Dedicating time to someone else and connecting on a personal level can tackle loneliness and mitigate stress. Your two eyes have relationship with each other. The more they collaborate and work together, the more inner peace you will feel, and the better you will relate to others.
15. Improve your quality of sleep
If we don’t sleep, our body is not able to recharge. We will have lower energy and won’t be able to navigate daily, normal stress in our life. Lack of sleep has been shown hinder the body’s ability to handle stress and can lead to reduced willpower to make healthy decisions. This can lead to overeating and avoidance of exercise, which can compound stress. The better you are able to sleep, this will reset your nervous system to be more balanced. The more balanced your nervous system, the better you will focus and use your eyes during the day.
Here are three easy ways to improve the quality of your sleep:
- Reduce blue light exposure before bed. This means staying off our digital devices at least one hour before going to sleep
- Eat dinner at least 3 hours before going to bed.
- Reduce caffeine and alcohol intake – especially before bed.
16. Eliminate or reduce caffeine intake.
Caffeine can increase your cortisol levels (the stress hormone) and create an imbalance in your endocrine system.
Our adrenal glands produce cortisol as a way for our body adapt to external stressful situations. When cortisol production is high, blood pressure goes up, our circulation increases, and our digestive system slows down, all in an attempt to consolidate our energy to handle the stressful events that arise. Our endocrine system helps us regulate our body and give us more energy to meet the demands placed on us.
17. Add stress-reducing supplements to your routine
These nutrients and vitamins are known to help improve stress levels. These all play an important role within the eye as well.
- Magnesium can help reduce cortisol levels, relax your muscles, and improve sleep.
- Vitamin B Complex can help increase many important metabolic processes in the body. When our metabolism gets activated, our emotional health can be more balanced due to an increase in the neurotransmitter serotonin. Certain toxic amino acids like homocysteine are reduced. When we feel better we see better!
- Vitamin D can help lower cortisol levels. If you are stressed, the body can block the calcitriol receptor, which results in decreased absorption of vitamin D. In other words, you need more vitamin D to reduce stress, but your body blocks its absorption. If you are stressed, it becomes particularly important to consume enough of this essential vitamin. This supplement is also important in the winter because we do not get as much daily sunlight, which is responsible for catalyzing the creation of much of the vitamin D in the body.
- Fish Oil Omega 3 has been shown to help improve our brain function by balancing how our neurotransmitters work and reducing inflammation and anxiety. Supplying the brain with sufficient healthy fats fuels its ability to process stressors of daily life.
18. Practice Non-Violent Communication Skills.
This practice helps us learn how to communicate with others in a way which creates more equanimity. When we learn to communicate in non-violent manners, we are better able to meet others needs and have our needs met. This can improve relationships with those closest to us, reducing stress levels by preventing stressors from being created and helping us navigate and reduce stress more efficiently. When we are happy and joyous in a relationship, our eyes can relax and we don’t have to be in a “hypervigilant” focus.
19. Get regular acupuncture
Regular acupuncture can be an excellent way to reduce stress. This modality can relax your body-mind, and improve your circulation – especially for the eyes.
20. Get a full body massage
Full body massages help open up the lymph channels and reduce muscle tension. This prevents us from tunneling our vision and makes our body feel more fluid, which can improve vision.