Your eyes are an important part of your everyday life. When they are not working as they should, you may not be able to do things as you normally would. If you want to learn how to properly care for your eyes, take a look at the following helpful article.

If you are in the market for a new pair of glasses, you can often find cheap yet stylish frames online. Some places even offer a pair free or discounted if you are a new customer. All you need is your vision acuity number that you receive from having an eye test performed.

Always wash your hands before you touch your eyes. Your fingers are covered with bacteria because your hands touch surfaces that other people have touched. If you touch your eyes without washing your hands, you will transfer bacteria to your eyes and cause irritation or even an infection. Therefore, before touching your eyes, wash your hands with soap and water.

If you work in front of the computer all day long, you should rest your eyes frequently. Your eyes tend not to blink when you are staring at the computer screen. This can cause dry eyes and other eye stress. Look away every ten minutes or so and blink to rest your eyes.

Eat a healthy diet to help take care of your eyes. Certain foods, particularly those high in vitamins C and E, zinc and omega-3 fatty acids can help protect your eyes as you age. Aim for green leafy vegetables, “oily” fish, beans, eggs, nuts, and citrus foods for best results.

Take dry eyes very seriously if you suffer from this condition. While everyone experiences some dryness, either due to being tired or environmental influences, it can be damaging if it’s happening too frequently. Talk to your eye care professional about possible treatments for your dry eyes, to prevent long-term damage.

If you work for long periods of time on a computer, protect your eyes by taking frequent breaks. You might have noticed that your eyes often feel strained, tired and itchy during regular working hours. This is probably a good indication that you’re over working them. Get up and stretch for a few minutes, offering your eyes some time away from the screen.

If you regularly wear contacts, keep a pair of backup prescription eye glasses. When experiencing irritation in the eye, you should remove the contact and wear a pair of prescription eye glasses. Keeping a contact lens in your eye while the eye is irritated can turn this seemingly small problem into something much larger, such as corneal ulcer.

If you want to ensure that your eyes aren’t puffy, put your eye gels and creams in the fridge. This coolness will help to reduce inflammation, plus it will feel great when you put it on. Be sure to use your gel or cream every day for optimal results.

Always take out your contact lenses before you sleep. Contact lenses that are left inside the eyes for too long will harbor bacteria growth. You should remove your contact lenses every night and disinfect them properly. Failing to do so will just set you up for more frequent eye infections.

To soothe puffy eyes, place a slice of a cold cucumber on top of each eyelid. The coolness from the cucumber slices will calm the puffiness and give your eyes relief. Leave the slices on your eyes for about ten minutes before you sleep at night to reduce minor inflammation.

While sunglasses are helpful for protecting your eyes from the sun’s UV rays, it may also be wise to wear a wide-brimmed hat. Wearing this kind of hat prevents any UV rays from reaching your whole face, including your eyes. So, if you know you will be outdoors for a long period of time, wear this kind of hat.

Take breaks to prevent your eyes from getting sore. Short breaks offer a chance for your eyes to rest. Your eyes of course get the extra blood flow and oxygen, which takes away the eye strain.

You may not realize how important staying physically fit is for the health of your eyes. Being overweight can cause a number of health problems, one of them being glaucoma. Exercising for about a half an hour each day can reduce pressure on your eyes by as much as 20%!

Visit your eye doctor on a regular basis. It is important to get your eye’s checked for their health and for your vision. If you are straining to see because your vision isn’t good or your glasses or contacts don’t help like they should, you can cause permanent damage.

As the beginning of this article has discussed, you need your eyes for many aspects of life. This is why you need to care for them properly. The above article has taught you how to go about doing just that. Put the above advice to use to be sure your eyes are always healthy.

Eye Care Tips That You Can Use Right Now was originally published on Spring