Summertime is great for fun and relaxation. However, it can cause a lot of harm to our eyes, especially during the hot and humid summer months. Here’s how you can maintain your eye health. Here’s how you can maintain your eye health this summer and year round.
Wear Sunglasses
As the sun beats down, you need an efficient way to block some of the harmful rays from your poor eyes. Whether you are at the pool lounging, out to lunch on an uncovered patio, or reclining with a good book on the beach, you need a pair of shades to keep your eyes safe.
For the best protection, doctors say you need large frames with 99 to 100% blockage of UVA and UVB rays. However, even sunglasses don’t always make the cut—wearing sunglasses too often may negatively influence your natural sleep cycle.
If you are worried about your sunglasses’ effectiveness, an eye mask to help with dry eyes can make a huge difference. After a long day of having fun in the sun, you need a way to cool down and relax straining and dryness. These warming eye masks refresh and restore your dry eyes, especially during the summer.
How to Drive Safely
As you head out for long summer road trips, you will realize that, even with sunglasses, your eyes aren’t accustomed to the bright reflective sunlight and the strain it puts on your vision.
Driving during the summer can even cause illusions. We have likely all seen a huge puddle of water blocking our passage on a hot summer day—according to ScienceABC, this happens when the:
“Air just above the road becomes hotter and thus less dense than air higher up. The optical properties of this ‘inversion layer’ can then lead to light rays from the sky that would otherwise hit the road curving upwards—creating the illusion they have bounced off a reflecting pool of water on the road.”
When your eyes cause a real-life mirage, you know they are having a hard time. As you struggle to drive during the summer, rest them up before going out again the next day with an eye mask for dry eyes at night.
Eye Strain and Reduced Tear Production
Eye strain gets to be a real problem during summer months. According to the Mayo Clinic, the most common causes of eye strain include:
- Looking at digital device screens
- Reading without pausing to rest your eyes
- Driving long distances and doing other activities involving extended focus
- Being exposed to bright light or glare
- Straining to see in very dim light
- Having an underlying eye problem, such as dry eyes or uncorrected vision (refractive error)
- Being stressed or fatigued
- Being exposed to dry moving air from a fan, heating or air-conditioning system
Interestingly, all of these causes are heightened during the summer. Have you ever tried to look at your phone in the sun? It’s nearly impossible—as you squint to try and make out what is on the screen, your poor eyes cry out for relief.
After being outside for any amount of time, you will experience a huge shift in light exposure as soon as you head inside. This, coupled with the much more frequent exposure to bright, glaring lights, causes huge problems and discomfort.
All of these concerns greatly reduce your ability to produce healthy tears. No, not crying per se, but the natural coating of liquids and oils that protect your eyes. Rather than subjecting your eyes to this torture, give them a break at night or during the day with a dry eye relief mask.
Air Conditioning Problems
You may be surprised to find that air conditioning, everyone’s lifesaver during the summer, actually causes serious issues for your eye health.
When you walk into a highly air conditioned environment, do you notice your eyes tear up? You may think it's from relief from the heat, but, in reality, it is your eyes’ inability to produce healthy eye coatings.
According to the Cleveland Clinic:
“The oils from [the meibomian glands] actually float on top of the watery fluid in the tears. This keeps the water from evaporating too quickly. Some of the oils stay along the edge of the eyelid, and they help keep the tears from "leaking" over the eyelashes. If there is not enough of these oils, tears will keep overflowing from the eyes. Oddly enough, a problem with the meibomian glands can lead to overflowing tears and dry eye syndrome at the same time!”
To help combat your eyes’ constant exposure to air conditioning blasts, you may consider a beneficial and relieving mask for dry eye syndrome.
Protecting Your Eyes Against Allergies
As things come back to life from Spring and into the summer, many people suffer through catastrophic, itching, and drying allergies. If you experience these issues, you know who you are, and it is not easy.
To help combat some of the irritation, be sure to avoid rubbing your eyes, even if they itch. You will also want to gently rinse any allergens from your face before bedtime or any time you come inside to avoid spreading the allergen in your home and on your pillow. A dry eye mask can also help renew your eyes for the next day’s battle against the elements.
Pool Chlorine and Your Eye Health
While chlorine is great to keep your pool clean and healthy, the same cannot be said for eyes. Anytime our eyes are exposed to the chemical, it strips our eyes of their natural protective oils and tear film, making them more vulnerable to infection.
But it’s summertime—you can’t just avoid the pool completely. So, to regain your eyes’ natural state and health, wear a nighttime dry eye mask.
Maximize Your Summer Eye Health with the Dry Eye Mask
As we head into the summer, you’re ready to finally get back to having some fun. Rather than leaving your eyes dry, itchy, and unprotected, give them the restful therapy they deserve with the patent pending heatable dry eye relief mask.
