It is through our eyes that we are able to see and experience the most beautiful moments of our life. And our eyes are one of the most important parts of our body as well. One of the five senses of our body depends on eyes – our eyesight that helps us see. Our eyes just like other organs of the body require nourishment from both within and outside in order to function optimally. We all know that vitamin E is very important for good eyesight, isn’t it? In spite of all the care that we take, it is very common for us to suffer from dry eyes. When our eyes are dry, we feel the itching, stinging, and burning sensations around the area of the eye as well as inside the eye. If this problem of dry eyes is recurring frequently, then there could be some serious problem with your eyesight and might even lead to damage over time.
Usually whenever we feel our eyes itching or burning, we go ahead and buy those over the counter eye drops set an available and seek relief through them. However we need to understand that such products will only provide a temporary relief. A long-term fix for a problem such as dry eyes needs to be integrated along with physical activity in your everyday life — and this isn’t something that we’re just saying, this is backed by several studies published in medical journals.
Read on and understand how studies are backing that physical activity will help you steer clear from the problem of dry and itchy eyes.
What the study says
In this particular study, the researchers divided their participants into two different groups. One group of participants were made to have exercise sessions on their treadmill for at least five days per week while the other group of participants did only one session of exercise on the treadmill per week. Following this, after a few weeks I exams were conducted on both the groups before the exercise session and after the exercise session in order to determine what effect physical activity had on the tear film and tear secretion. And it was clear that participants who were exercising more often should have greater benefits when compared to participants who exercise just once a week. Participants exercising regularly showed that they had a significant increase in their tear quantity after exercising.
They also discovered that performing aerobic exercises helps in the tear secretion and the stability of the tear film. And this particular research was published in the experimental eye research journal.
How do we know if we have dry eyes or not?
Every single time we blink, or eyes get covered with the tear film — it is an essential coating that protects our eyes and maintains healthy ocular function. The tear film that is produced every time we blink is made up of three layers – water, oil, and a very unique compound called mucins. This particular compound called mucins hydrates the surface of the eye and keeps all the irritants like dust away by blocking them.
And if that tear film gets compromised, the surface of the eye can develop dry spots where irritants like dust can settle and can create itching.
Each one of us or using some or the other digital devices like on mobile phones or laptops or TV screens every single day. This accounts to great amounts of screen usage and this directly has an impact on our eyes. Excessive screen time results in dry eyes even in kids these days. The dry spots in our eyes can develop because of computer usage, or even with factors such as hormonal changes, sedentary behavior, aging, certain medication side-effects, and dehydration as well. Even certain factors like allergies, humidity changes, smoke exposure, vitamin A deficiency, and wind exposure could also lead to dry eyes. And using eye drops every single day is not the solution to finding relief from the dryness caused in our eyes because of the lifestyle issues that we have.
How does exercise help dry eyes?
One of the best cardio exercises would be aerobic exercise as it is known to primarily engage different muscle groups of a body. What we do not know is that it also has a very distinctive effect on our eyes as well. Performing aerobic exercises increases the blood circulation in our body as well as reduces intraocular pressure– this is the measure of fluid pressure that occurs inside our eyes.
According to experts from the ophthalmology department in America, our eyes are made up of a substance that has a jelly-like nature and is called vitreous humor which fills the back area of the eye and the same substance is more watery and liquid in nature towards the front area of the eye and is called aqueous humor. When you observe or study a healthy Eye, a very tiny amounts of new aqueous humor will always enter the eye where the old amount of acquiesce humor is draining out. The equals low of this acquiesce humor tells us the amount of stable pressure inside our eyes.
If this pressure is either too high or is less regulated, it could damage the optic nerve and might reduce the vision of the Eye. Regular physical exercise especially those that are aerobic in nature will ensure that optimum pressure is maintained and also lowers the inflammation caused inside our eyes and increases the tear secretion as well – all of these contribute to reducing chances of a dry eye.