October is a month of change in many regards. Kids have started to adapt to the new school year, parents are getting into a routine, many people are preparing for Thanksgiving and Halloween and as the new Naturopathic Doctor at Markham Village Naturopathic clinic, I am here to remind you not to forget about your health! My name is Janelle Murphy and as of October I will officially be a part of the Markham team! Check out my bio on the website to learn more about me but today I am writing to you about one of my many passions- visual health.
Health Canada also recognizes this month of change through the awareness of many diseases. One of these I would like to point out is that October is eye health month!
According to the national coalition for eye health, “Canada is on the brink of an epidemic of age-related eye disease, due largely to this demographic shift in aging. The number of blind and visually impaired Canadians has increased 37% in the last 10 years and is projected to double between 2006 and 2031” I know this sounds frightening but you are already in the hands of prevention so why not extend it to your eye health?
If you are reading this blog, my guess is that like most Canadians you may spend a lot of time on the computer, a smart phone, watching television or reading books. You wake in the morning and look at the bright light or you go to bed at night trying to navigate in the dark. You most likely squint to view things or to protect from sunlight or perhaps you are one of many looking through a blurry visual field. What I’m getting at is that in this day and age we put a lot of strain on our eyes. In many cases our eye health can represent the overall health of our bodies. If we are taking the time to eat healthy, exercise, and see a naturopathic doctor, we should also be taking the time for regular eye exams and talking to your ND about these eye straining activities or even symptoms. Naturopathic doctors can work along side your optometrist to enhance your vision and improve your quality of life through many avenues. One simple piece of advice is to take breaks from your computer and look far into the distance, and all the way to the left and right (it hurts a little bit doesn’t it?) Just like muscle that hasn’t seen the gym in a while, our eyes adapt to looking into a computer screen or through eyeglasses and forget to move around. Take breaks from long hours of reading to try these simple exercises- add this to the many changes of October!
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