How to have Good Eyesight

Good eye care habits cultivated from young can prevent the worsening of one's eyesight and also prevent the development or worsening of myopia in children. For adults, spending long hours using computers or watching television can cause detrimental effects to our precious eyes too. Therefore, here are 6 points you should take note in order to achieve better eyesight.


Eat carrots or other foods rich in Vitamin A
If you currently have problems seeing well at night or have a host of other eye problems, it could be due to the lack of vitamin A in our bodies. Carrots protects the eye by reducing the risk of cataracts and preventing night blindness. Ensure you have enough vitamin A by eating foods like carrots or other fruits!

Spend more time outdoors instead of indoors
This is especially important for growing kids where research has show that kids who spend more time outdoors are less likely to suffer from myopia or short short-sightedness. However, do avoid periods where the weather gets really hot (eg 11pm to 3pm) as strong UV rays emitted by the sun can harm the eyes if no proper sunglasses are used.

Avoid spending too much time on a screen
Spending too much time on the computer or television puts great strain on our eyes as it causes our eyes to be more particularly adjusted to a certain focal length. This makes it difficult for our eyes to focus on distant objects if this continues for prolonged periods. Therefore, after every 30-40 minutes of looking at the screen, give your eyes a break by focusing on distant objects for 2-3 minutes before proceeding back to your screen. Try to focus on far away objects such as trees or grass as studies have shown that the colour green helps relax our eyes.

Ensure proper lighting when reading or studying
Insufficient lighting while reading or studying can cause our eyes to squint as it tries to make out the words in the dark. This squinting causes strain to our eye muscles and may damage our eyes in the long run. Hence, ensure sufficient lighting before proceeding to read or study

Exercise and do eye massages
Exercising increases overall heart rate and therefore blood circulation. Increased blood flow towards the eyes ensure our eyes absorb more nutrients and oxygen.
Doing gentle massages to our eyes can also sooth our eyes and increase blood circulation. One such method is to grab our nose area between our two eyes and massage the area up and down gently to increase blood flow

Go for regular eye checkups
Lastly, always go for regular checkups with a doctor to check for your eyes. This would allow you to discover early if you are suffering from any eye ailments so treatment can be given early.

Our eyes are precious, so take good care of them!

Watermelon and Grape Juice

A cooling drink to be enjoyed during hot weather and also an energy booster.

What you will need:   
300g watermelon
10 red grapes (without seeds)
15 ml lemon juice
15ml honey

Method
1. Rinse and cut water melon into slices. Remove the seeds
2. Add in the watermelon slices and grapes into the blender and mix well.
3. Add in lemon juice and honey and serve with ice


Benefits:
Watermelons are a good source of fructose and fructose which provide us with energy to carry out our daily activities. They also help promote diuresis and reduce inflammation in our body. Hence, it is good for people who are heaty, suffering from fever or having sore throats.

Grapes contain lots of sugars such as glucose and fructose as well. They are high in iron and Vitamin B12 as well. Benefits of grapes include fighting fatigue, providing energy and preventing anemia.

Lemons are citrus fruits that are high in vitamin C that helps boost our immunity and makes the drink taste better.


Tips:
A fresh watermelon should be without wrinkles and should have a smooth and dark green surface. When you scratch the surface of the watermelon with your fingertip, it should produce a crisp clear sound. When choosing cut pieces, ensure the flesh it bright red and its seeds are shiny.

Choose a bunch of even sized and plump grapes. Take note that it is normal to see white-powder like substances coated on the skin of grapes but do avoid grapes with wrinkled skin or brown patches on them.

Choose lemons that are bright yellow in corner with no black sports. Lemon should also be firm and heavy

Enjoy!