One minute you feel like you're eighteen. The next that your bones ache, your energy levels (not to mention your skin) sags, and the print on everything seems to be getting smaller and smaller. The years catch up with us quickly, and nowhere is this more noticeable than with one of our most precious gifts, our eyes.

Age Related Eyesight

As we get older, our eyesight diminishes. Physical changes occur altering the capacity of our eyes to receive an image and transmit it to the retina. Conditions like "night blindness" become more common. As we age, we also become less sensitive to color, particularly the short waves (blue and green). And that is not all. Unfortunately, according to the Better Vision Institute, a number of vision-related problems associated with the aging process like cataracts, glaucoma, and presbyopia await us.

The retina, a thin lining on the back of the eye, is made up of cells that receive visual images and pass them on to the brain. Retinal disorders are a leading cause of blindness in the United States and include age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and retinal detachment.

Computer Use

Working on the computer can make things worse. The computer is a very vision oriented device that can add stress and strain to our inevitably aging eyes. There are some great products on the market to help with existing eye problems and to avoid future ones.

Presbyopia

As our eyes age, focusing on small print becomes difficult. This condition has a name all its own called presbyopia; it impacts nearly everyone over age forty. Presbyopia can begin in the late thirties, but by the age of fifty-five, close to 100% of the population is affected. You will probably know when this aging problem begins to appear. Letters look fuzzy when reading up close. Reading in low-light situations is difficult. Although presbyopia will not threaten your eyesight, it is a progressive condition that should be properly diagnosed and treated by an eye care professional. If you would like to see what presbyopia and other eye problems are like, visit the SOLA Web site.  Run your mouse across a picture and see the same type image as someone with cataracts, macular degeneration, and other eye conditions.

Bifocal lenses, which solve the problem of presbyopia, present another dilemma for computer users. Bifocal wearers frequently move their heads up and down to switch between the close and distant viewing sections of their glasses when working on the computer. If you wear bifocals and use the computer, you will want to check out PC Lens® a clip-on product that provides an inexpensive solution for bifocal wearers.

Revitalize Your Aging Eyes

For years, I wore special bifocal lenses made specifically for computer use (Access lenses by Sola). Recently, however, I found a new product that I am especially excited about. Melanin glasses.

If you don't know what melanin is, don't worry; I didn't either, until I found these glasses. It turns out that melanin is a pigment that occurs naturally in your body. It gives your skin and hair its color, and, in the eyes, it protects against damaging light rays. You guessed it! Aging eyes are deficient in melanin. By age fifty, about 25% of our melanin is lost.

Melanin soaks up light over a broad spectral range absorbing higher energy light more strongly than the lower energy light. So it absorbs Ultra Violet more than blue, and the blue more than green - and so on. In this way melanin provides protection to the lens of the eye against UV. Many say that this decreases the risk of cataracts. Melanin provides near optimum protection to the retina by filtering the different colors in proportion to their ability to damage the tissue of the retina, thereby also reducing the risk of macular degeneration. Because the blue light is reduced, so is the glare, and vision is thus enhanced.

Melanin has been successfully added to both prescription and non-prescription lenses for sunglasses, computer glasses, and night driving glasses. I have heard from numerous sufferers of macular degeneration that melanin glasses helped their vision. Healthy-eyed wearers as well as those who are suffering from macular degeneration and other eye problems have raved about the glasses. Read my review of melanin glasses at the Melanin Product Review.

Good Habits for Good Vision

When dealing with the computer, whether you need the help of glasses or not, there are good habits and practices that can help those poor old eyes.

• Establish an eye-friendly environment for your computer use.
  
  
• Position your monitor 20" to 26" from your eyes and about 4" to 6" below eye level.
  
  
• Dim the lights. Most offices, especially those with florescent lights, are too bright. Flickering fluorescent   lights should be eliminated.
  
  
• Use proper lighting. Eliminate reflections on the computer screen. Reduce excessively bright light both inside and out.
  
  
• Match the computer screen to the brightness of the environment.
  
  
• Adjust your monitor for contrast and brightness. In general, dark letters on a light background are easier for most people to read.
  
  
• Minimize glare on the computer screen. Use window shades, blinds, or drapes to block excessive sunlight. Move the computer to a location that causes no glare on the screen or use an anti-glare screen guard or hood.
  
  
• If you are seated in a draft or near an air vent, try to eliminate the flow of air past your eyes. Make sure you sit straight in front of the monitor rather than off to the side.
  
  
• Take a 5-minute break every hour or two to reduce eyestrain.
  
  
• Blink more often. When staring at a computer, people blink about five times less frequently than normal according to some studies. Blinking lubricates the eyes. If you don't blink, tears that coat the eye evaporate causing dry eyes. Dry air in the computer room can aggravate this condition.
  
  
• Every fifteen minutes, focus on distant objects to relax your muscles.

There are ways to keep the twinkle in your eye by following good habits and using some clever vision aids. Although the years add up much too quickly, let's do our best to take care of one of our most precious gifts, our eyes.