Posts Tagged ‘eyes’

All things related to health are related to nutrition. Any eye health guide has to emphasize this connection.

Vision 

Your eyes may the window to your soul; they are also a reflection of your health. Many eye problems are a refection of your nutritional status. As people age they may experience vision loss due to cataracts, macular degeneration (AMD) and other sight problems.

Eye Health Study   

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) – funded scientists at the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research are finding that healthy eating can reduce health costs by protecting the vision and the quality of life. The laboratory study directed by Allen Taylor is part of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutritional Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. Mass.

One study indicated that regularly consuming a combination of protective nutrients and a low-glycemic-index, or “slow carb,” diet provided an AMD protective effect. A food’s glycemic index is an indicator of how fast the carbohydrate it contains will spike blood sugar levels. The macula is a 3-millimeter-wide yellow spot near the center of the retina responsible for the central field of vision.

For the study, the researchers analyzed dietary intake and other data from more than 4,000 men and women, aged 55 to 80, who had participated in the long-term Age-Related Eye Disease Study, or AREDS. Led by Chung-Jung Chiu, the researchers ranked intake of each of several nutrients consumed during the AREDS study, then calculated a compound score to gauge their combined dietary effect on the risk of AMD. The scoring system allowed them to evaluate associations between individual – and combined – dietary nutrients.

The nutrients that were found to be most protective in combination with the low-glycemic-index diet were vitamins C and E, zinc, lutein, zeaxanthin, and the omega-3 fatty acids known as DHA and EPA. The 2009 study was published in Ophthalmology

No Surprise

It’s no surprise that every cell, function, and organ is dependent on the nutrition that you supply them with. It is simply, disease can’t take root as easily in a healthy body. The way to good vision is by consuming a nutrient rich diet.

Most fruits and vegetables supply vitamin C in ample amounts. This list includes oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, papaya, green peppers, and tomatoes. Vitamin E is found in nuts, seeds, and wheat germ. Lutein and Zeaxanthin are found together in many foods. Dark green leafy vegetables are a good source. It is also found in smaller amounts in broccoli, orange peppers, corn, peas, persimmons, and tangerines.

These are delicious ways to both general health and vision health.  Achieving the benefits of good eyesight supports vascular health within the eye and improves visual acuity. It has been found than carotenoids protect against free-radical induced DNA damage. The density of your macular pigments composed (composed of Lutein, Zeaxanthin, meso-zeaxanthin) is essential to proper vision.

These may be big words, but all one has to know is eating lots lutein and zeaxanthin containing vegetables can help maintain the structural integrity of the macula.

As We See It

Plant compounds halt the progression of both macular degeneration, and cataracts. These are a significant cause of decreased vision. To halt vision loss with nutritional interventions is a very attractive solution.

One may ask, what is balance training and what are the benefits?

It can benefit a person in so many ways and it starts with the spinal cord.

The spinal cord is involved with voluntary and involuntary movement where information is carried up and down the spine by bundles of fibers in the central nervous system (CNS) where sensory and motor information signal a movement. The goal would be to build a faster reaction with technical movements. First, try dribbling a basketball and notice how little concentration is involved. Now, try dribbling a Reaction Ball - WOW, what a difference! Concentration and level of difficulty is 10 fold and one can feel the impulses to react!

This is just the beginning of the effects of balance training…

Proprioception is the ongoing awareness of body position or joint position and it is regulated by sensory organs (i.e. eyes, ears, and specialized receptors in tendons, joints, and muscles). Proprioception gets challenged in balance training too! The visual sense gives pertinent data about external stimuli and are extremely important in skilled performances. Try a simple “eyes shut” exercise, while standing on one foot to see how your proprioception is challenged in balance training. Sometimes you may feel like you want to wave your hands around to maintain equilibrium. This signals coordination involvement in balance.

Coordination involves an involuntary response that results in specific motor response with that response being dependent on the type and duration of the stimulus received. So in everyday activities coordination is rarely challenged. However, try to balance on 1 foot - turn one arm clockwise, the other arm counter-clockwise, and the other leg clockwise then counter clockwise. Now, we are talking about coordination! The results of working on that exercise over time will be building stronger somatic reflexes (reflexes involving skeletal muscle contraction).

Balance training is challenging body equilibrium and teaching nervous and sensory receptor systems to perform highly skilled movement patterns.

How can balance training help the elderly?

As I trained patients with high-level neuromuscular and neurological conditions, the best results came from combining “eyes shut” exercises with coordination exercises all while doing a light aerobic activity. Results and graduation to a new fitness level were achieved in 4-weeks. Aerobic activity alone produced no results and coordination drills with eyes open only produced minor results. So to get the most out of balance try an array of activities such as the examples above.

How can balance help kids and adults?

When in good health, a person wouldn’t even recognize their nervous system and muscles executing a simple movement, but when there is a problem their nerves and muscles can become impaired. People can easily begin reaping rewards from balance training and apply them to sports like tennis and basketball. Balance training also strengthens muscle stabilizers, so if you are apt to get ankle sprains - then regular balance training can fix that problem!

Watch my client master a very difficult balance exercise that also works the core and quads!