One day I woke up with a low blood sugar level, so I rushed to eat some biscuits. When my sugar levels became normal, I went outside to take some sunlight, but then I realized all the distanced houses and people were looking blurry as if my eye was not working.
I looked again and again, but my vision was still blurry. I tried washing my eyes with cold water but it didn’t work. Then I decided to visit an ophthalmologist, an eye doctor.
My visual acuity was found to be normal after the doctor performed further tests. I asked him, “So why am I not seeing clearly?” He said it’s because of type 1 diabetes. He explained that when sugar levels come to normal from low instantly, veins inside the eye lenses get swollen.
Swollen eye lenses produce blurry vision. If you are facing any major issues, like pain in the eyes or trouble seeing objects clearly, it is recommended you see a doctor. This article will talk about taking care of your eyes as a type 1 diabetic so they stay healthy as you grow old with type 1 diabetes.
Maintain Normal Sugar Levels
The health of your eyes is directly related to the stability of your blood glucose levels. Keeping blood glucose in a normal range is not an easy task, but with some effort it is achievable.
Read this article to know more: 4 Simple Ways To Keep Glucose Levels Normal
You are seriously harming all those tiny nerves in your eyes if you do not follow a set diet and insulin schedule and your blood sugar levels are typically high or low.
Our eyes are nothing but just a bunch of fine nerves. When blood high in glucose passes through them, it damages the insides of those fine nerves. Most of the time the damage can be healed as our body is a divine piece of technology, but sometimes it is irreversible.
The most important thing is keeping our blood sugar levels in safer zones for the healthy functioning of all our organs, including our eyes.
Eye Massage
My eyes used to hurt from spending the entire day working on a PC, but these days I know how to take care of them. I used to work as a front-end web developer. Developers sometimes sit in front of a screen for 8 to 10 hours at times and that causes eye strain of the worst kind.
These days, the whole world seems to be online, and that requires us to look at screens for hours. Our eyes are evolved to see at distance. Looking at a 5-inch block just one foot away from our faces the whole day causes dryness and eye strain.
That’s when I discovered about eye massage, and trust me, this thing really works. You can learn some basic eye massage techniques from Youtube, and in just 5 minutes you will feel relaxed.
Benefits of massaging your eyes in Type 1 diabetes
- Improves blood circulation in the eyes
- Relieving tension from our eyes
- Improved vision
- Relaxation of eye muscles
- Improved tear production
5 to 10 minutes of eye massage in the morning and before sleep have been linked to all these benefits. So, if you are worried about your eyes, learn to massage them and take care of them. Please notice that at the time of eye massage, your blood glucose levels are normal.
Yoga Practices for Eye Health
I started yoga 4 years ago, and at that time I never knew this simple ancient Indian spiritual practice would transform my whole being. Yoga has some proven benefits in improving the functionality of the optic nerve.
In the yoga system, there are many simple practices dedicated to our eyes, and they have benefited millions of people. Here are some of them that have worked for me.
- Palming: Rub your both hands for a few seconds; when they are warm enough, close your eyes and put your palms over your eyes gently. This will relax your eyes.
- Clockwise viewing: Rotating eye balls clockwise helped me reduce blurry vision, and now my vision is normal. This might not apply to everyone, but it is my personal experience.
- Pranayam Breathing: This yoga practice is associated with reducing mental stress and makes your head light.
These are what helped me; you can read more about yoga for eyes here.
Eating Clean and Green
My friend used to complain that he could not see well after dusk because he ate every kind of junk food on the market, from cheap candy to deep-fried food that takes ages to digest.
Our diet is basically the building blocks of our body; as famous yogi and mystic Sadhguru says, our body is just the accumulation of the food we’ve eaten since the day we were born.
My experience tells me not just carrots, but eat as many colorful veggies you can get. The eye is an intricate organ. The main nutrients that our eyes need are Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Omega-3, and other types of antioxidants.
Control Your Screen Time
One day I was sick and I watched some movies on Netflix; it was a cold winter day. That day I spent 14 hours binge watching a series, and the next day, when I checked my digital well-being, I was blown away at how careless I was.
I am glad I gave up on it before it became a habit because that much screen time could have easily damaged my vision.
Heathy screen time limit by scientists is less than 4 hours per day. These days I like to spend my time watching birds in my garden, reading books, making art and not staring glowing piece of metal fourteen hours a day. I would recommend you the same. Keep it under four hours.
Conclusion
Eyes are complex organs yet very simple to take care of, so please take care of yourself, warriors. Here is the summary of this article and important points to remember so you can keep your eyes healthy to see the beauty of this world, the faces of your loved ones, and nature.
- Keep Sugar Levels Normal ( Less than 200 mg/dl is safe for type-1 diabetics )
- Do Eye Massage before sleeping
- Practice Yoga for better vision and eye health
- Eat clean and green, mostly home-cooked food, salads, fruits, etc. ( avoid highly processed or packed food )
- Less Screen Time ( spend less time on electronic devices like pc or mobiles )
Thanks for reading.
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