eye health

I consider vitamins to be pharmaceutical grade medicinals, and as such should be taken with caution. I believe there are many times when it is appropriate to take vitamins therapeutically, to treat a particular condition. However they are not suitable for long term use.The body was designed to take its nutrition in the form of whole foods, not in the form of highly concentrated, isolated chemicals. Consuming them this way can be a shock to the body, affecting the hormonal, circulatory, immune, and nervous systems adversely. Our bodies were designed to consume large numbers of nutrients, all of which act synergistically. They need to work together to work. Also many nutrients, taken in large doses, can negatively impact absorption, availability, or usefulness of other nutrients.

A couple of examples:

Vitamin C taken in large doses inhibits the absorption of Vitamin B12.

There are many carotenoids, including beta carotene. If you take large amounts of beta carotene, other carotenoids will not be able to find their receptor sites. Lutein, for instance, is necessary for macular health. Not enough lutein and you will go blind from macular degeneration.

This brings up another point. Although the nutrients act synergistically, many of them have very specific functions, for instance lutein protects the macula of the eyes, and lycopene protects the protects the prostate. If we take vitamins, we may get lazy about eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, thinking we have our nutrition covered. The problem is there are thousands of plant chemicals that protect our bodies. We could never get them all in a pill, even if we knew what they all were.

To maintain good health in our modern world, we should be eating about ten servings a day of fresh fruits and vegetables. The only thing that comes close to a substitute is taking whole food supplements. One of the best, and one that is backed by a growing mountain of scientific research is Juice Plus+®. To see the research click here. That is the only supplement I would recommend for long term usage. Again, vitamins are very useful, therapeutically, when taken short term, but do more harm than good, when taken long term.

Here are two famous acupressure points that are very useful for self-help.

Hegu is well known as the headache point. Find a sore spot in the meat of the hand, between the thumb and first finger.

Hegu is also useful for colds, sore eyes, toothache, and allergies.

Neiguan is the famous motion sickness point.

It is located about three finger widths from the wrist, between the two tendons on the palm side of the arm.

Neiguan is good for all kinds of nausea including morning sickness, tightness in the chest, tight diaphragm, hiccups, and insomnia.

When you have one of the symptoms hold or massage the point for a minute or two, or until the symptom goes away. On a very bumpy flight I hold neiguan until it gets smooth again. It is also a good point for calming anxiety.

If someone faints, try pressing quite hard between the upper lip and the nose. Of course, always seek medical attention when appropriate.

If you use a computer for several hours a day, chances are you get strained or fatigued eyes. What can you do about it? There are three important factors in taking care of your eyes: relaxation, oxygen and lubrication.

In general, when looking in the distance you are relaxing the eye muscles, and when you look close up you are contracting them. Imagine what it would be like if your keyboard was at shoulder height, your arms would get pretty tired. It’s the same with the eyes, so give them a break.The ten, ten, ten rule is a good one. Every ten minutes look at least ten feet away for at least ten seconds. That gives the eyes a little opportunity to rest. Also when you keep muscles contracted for periods of time, they tend to lose flexibility. For flexibility and relaxation, do the following exercises twice a day.

Warm your palms by rubbing them together, then place them over your eyes. Consciously relax your eyes and enjoy the warmth for about three minutes. Sit somewhere where you can see something about ten feet away and something in the distance without moving your head. Hold your finger in front of your face and look, in turn, at something in the disance, something ten feet away, and your finger. Look just long enough to focus on the object. While you are doing it breathe deeply and calmly. Do that for about thirty seconds.

Oxygen: Every cell in our body needs it. Muscles use more of it when they are working hard, which the eyes do when you are at your computer. The problem is, most people don’t breathe deeply enough. Plus most of us have poor posture at the computer, which restricts oxygen from getting to the head. In order to get full breaths, we need to sit tall to allow room for the diaphragm to drop into the abdomen, and for the ribcage to expand. When you sit roll your pelvis forward, creating an arch in the lower back, and let your shoulders drop back. This will expand the entire torso. Not only are you improving your breathing, but you are also decreasing your susceptibility to repetitive strain injuries. That topic is for another post. This posture also helps keep the head up. Remember to not let your head tilt forward, beacause that puts a lot of strain on the neck muscles, which further inhibits oxygen flow to the head. Stretch and relax your neck and shoulder muscles regularly, to avoid a build up of tension in the area.

Lubrication: When the eyes are dry they are uncomfortable, itchy, gritty. Even if that did not contribute to eye strain, it is no fun in itself. Make sure you get plenty of water. Not coffee, not pop, not even juice (unless it is watered down), it has to be water.Too much caffeine and sugar will defeat the purpose of getting more fluids. Aim to drink six ounces of water every hour that you sit at the computer. Over the course of an entire day, you should drink six to eight glasses of water. If your computer is in a very dry room, see if you can humidify it. For comfort humidity should be between forty and fifty percent.

Finally enjoy your time at the computer, but don’t let it take over your life. There’s a lot more to life than a 17 inch screen.