{"id":933,"date":"2016-03-23T17:15:14","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T21:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/?p=933"},"modified":"2016-03-23T17:15:14","modified_gmt":"2016-03-23T21:15:14","slug":"aging-and-vision-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/aging-and-vision-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Aging and Vision Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Pomidor-photo-half-size.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-907\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-907 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Pomidor-photo-half-size-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Alice Pomidor &amp; John Reynolds\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Palmer-MH-high8-res.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-908\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-908 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Palmer-MH-high8-res-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Palmer MH high(8) res\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Alice Pomidor, MD, MPH, AGSF<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Professor<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Florida State University School of Medicine<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Mary Palmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, AGSF<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Helen W. and Thomas L. Umphlet Distinguished Professor in Aging<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>UNC\u00a0School of Nursing<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/aging-and-vision-problems\/\">previous blog post about eyesight<\/a>, we discussed a number of vision problems that people may experience as they get older.\u00a0 However, many people will experience age-related changes that are not eye diseases.\u00a0 For example, you may begin to notice changes in your night vision\u2014such as having trouble seeing stars on a clear night, or finding that it\u2019s more difficult to navigate in a dark movie theater. Your eyes may also adjust more slowly to sudden changes in light. Glare and bright lights may trouble you, and that may make it harder to drive at night.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s more, working on the computer, reading printed material, or doing close-up projects like sewing, knitting, or woodworking may become more difficult as you age. Often, you can correct these problems easily by using brighter lighting or getting reading glasses.<\/p>\n<p>Vision changes can lower your quality of life and increase your risk for having household accidents, or even car crashes. That\u2019s why getting a yearly check-up with an eye specialist is important.\u00a0 (See our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/aging-and-vision-problems\/\">previous\u00a0blog post<\/a> for a handy guide to eye specialists.)<\/p>\n<p>Here are some tips on how to keep vision as sharp as possible for as long as possible:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Schedule yearly visits with an eye specialist.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Regularly check all medications for any side effects they may have on your vision. Common vision-related side effects include dry and irritated eyes. Antihistamines, allergy medications, antidepressants, tranquilizers, and some high blood pressure medications can cause dry eye.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Make sure that items on your floor (such as electrical cords, throw rugs, and knick-knacks) are removed or rearranged so that they are out of the way and you don\u2019t trip over them. Also watch out for pets who can have a way of getting under your feet!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Brighten your home and make objects more visible. Here\u2019s how:\n<ul>\n<li>Use adjustable desk, floor or table lamps close to your working area to shed more light when you\u2019re reading or doing close work.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid clear glass light fixtures to reduce glare.<\/li>\n<li>Minimize window glare with opaque blinds, curtains or shades.<\/li>\n<li>High-quality fluorescent light bulbs make it easier to see colors than conventional incandescent bulbs. What\u2019s more, fluorescent bulbs spread light over large areas without glare, use less energy, and last 10 to 20 times longer than incandescent bulbs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Just a few steps can make a big difference.\u00a0 Check out our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/resources\/resource:eldercare-at-home-vision-problems\/\">online resource on vision problems<\/a> for even more suggestions!<\/p>\n<p><em>Drs. Pomidor and Palmer are the Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, of the American Geriatrics Society\u2019s Public Education Committee.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alice Pomidor, MD, MPH, AGSF Professor Florida State University School of Medicine Mary Palmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, AGSF Helen W. and Thomas L. Umphlet Distinguished Professor in Aging UNC\u00a0School of Nursing In our previous blog post about eyesight, we discussed &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/aging-and-vision-changes\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,9],"tags":[47,46],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=933"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":941,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions\/941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}