Exercise That’s Good for Your Eyes
About 3 million people in the United States have glaucoma, which is a range of diseases that damage the eye's optic nerve and cause vision loss. The most common form of glaucoma (open-angle) causes pressure inside the eye. There is no cure for the disease, but early treatment can slow progression and preserve vision. Things like controlling blood pressure, maintaining a healthy diet and exercise can all help prevent vision loss.
In fact, researchers from UCLA found that not only is exercise good for glaucoma prevention, but brisk walking or jogging can especially reduce the risk. Dr. Victoria L. Tseng, one of the researchers behind the study, looked at how exercise affects blood flow to the eye.
Using nationwide data, the researchers found that compared with the least active, the most physically active people appeared to have a 73 percent lower risk of developing glaucoma. A healthy amount of exercise consisted of about 7,000 steps per day, every day of the week. Every additional 10 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity reduced the risk of glaucoma by 25 percent.
Ready to get your steps in? Connect your fitness tracker to MyBlue® and walk your way to healthier vision.
