Protect Those Eyes!

There was a boy in eighth grade who was resident heartthrob in my school. The girls positively swooned for him. I had always found him to be rather doltish, with his extraordinarily large head (literally and figuratively) and cheesy lines. He actually winked at girls as he leaned his ever so slightly hairy forearm on their locker between the midday hall shuffle. His voice crackled a la Peter Brady as he’d whisper sweet nothings to naive girls. “Your eyes are the window to you soul,” he’d say. The girls, my peers, my friends, found him poetic. With each crackly whisper their knees went faint, and he’d repeat the cliche. I gagged in a corner.

“Your eyes are the window to your soul.”

 

All these years later I think back to those days and that boy. He was terribly unoriginal. He did, however, hit upon something that has stuck with me. Eyes. Eyes are vital. Understatement of the year, no? Perhaps not windows nor soul peepers, yet eyes are vital just the same. But in our everyday lives, in our comings and goings, we take our eyes for granted.

It’s not just about wearing goggles when you use a buzzsaw or play squash. There are sun protection and eye strain to think about. It took me 15 years to nag talk my husband into getting prescription sunglasses. He was more worried about losing his glasses than his vision. I am a certifiable nag for sure when it comes to my sons wearing sunglasses. I tell them it’s sunblock for their eyes. And here we are as a society squinting at little screens and backlighting all. day. long.

Here’s what I learned from The Vision Council:

• Approximately 80% of what our children learn comes through their eyes.
• UV damage is cumulative.
• One-fourth of all eye injuries are related to home repair or the use of power tools.
• Follow the 20-20-20 rule: Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

Here’s the thing. These are the only eyes you’re ever going to get. Protect them. 

 

Now, something more apropos that dolt in middle school should have said: “Your eyes are the window to your overall health and well-being.” Perhaps not as swoon-worthy, but I’m more attracted to facts than schmaltz. During routine eye exams, eye doctors can uncover chronic systemic diseases like high blood pressure and high cholesterol, brain disorders, stroke, multiple sclerosis, diabetes and even some types of cancer. Don’t take those baby blues for granted. Foster Grant would tell you the same thing.

 

Fun cocktail party fodder: The eye is the strongest muscle in your body and it can process 36,000 bits of information every hour. Surely that makes for a better pick up line.

 This post is sponsored by The Vision Council. I was compensated for sharing this information, but the stories are all mine.