As a parent, you worry about the health and wellness of your children and when you aren’t looking up how to optimize health in one area, you’re researching another. Unfortunately, babies don’t come with instruction manuals, and subtle signs and symptoms can be easy to miss, especially when your children are unable to communicate what they are experiencing. Fortunately for you, optimizing eye health in your children is much easier than you may think. In today’s post, we offer a few tips for supporting eye health at every age — pro tip: they are all effective for parents and grandparents, too!
- Offer eye-healthy snacks and food.
Eye-healthy foods also support overall health and should be included at every meal and as often as possible. Foods that support eye health are often kid-friendly as well, including carrots, berries, milk, lean meat, and eggs. Food to avoid for eye health, and general health as well, including sugar, dyes, sodium, and preservatives. Visit our other post to learn more about adding in these eye-healthy foods.
- Protect eyes from injury.
Wearing goggles or eye protection is important when participating in contact sports, science experiments, and any activity that exposes your child to fumes, debris, or propelled objects that run the risk of hitting their face.
- Wear eye protection.
In addition to protective goggles for hazardous activities, wearing eye protection including sunglasses and blue-light-blocking glasses can significantly reduce the risk of vision problems as your child ages. Sunglasses protect your kids’ eyes from harmful UV rays that can burn the eye structures. They should be worn in all sun-intensive activities including snow play and water activities. Blue light blocking glasses can be worn anytime your child is looking at a screen including television, tablets, or computer screens for longer periods of time.
- Drink plenty of water.
Hydration is paramount to wellness in general and essential to optimal eye health. While the recommended volume of water you should drink varies by source, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends babies need 3 cups of fluid per day from breast milk or formula, while children need more than four, and eight cups for teenagers. While fluids can include non-water sources such as milk and juice, water is always better.
- Take daily eye vitamins.
Daily eye vitamins that support optimal eye health support the structures of eyes as well as offer nutrition for your eyes that is difficult to consume in regular meals. Eye supplements like the Viteyes® Blue Light Defender™ Kids can filter blue light, relieve tired eyes and nourish eye structures.
- Be the example.
To help your children learn the skills and habits to optimize their eye health, it’s important to model the behaviors. Children learn best by what they see, not what they’re told. To promote eye-healthy habits in your kids, it begins with you! Wear the eyewear, eat well, and take your eye vitamins!
The key to optimizing the health and wellbeing of anyone is by establishing healthy habits at a young age! Whether it’s brushing teeth, drinking enough water, or taking eye vitamins, the sooner you start, the more likely children are to continue the practice into adulthood. For eye health support for ages as young as four, browse our eye vitamins online today.
