Add one more item to the list of body parts you’re protecting when you work out or do strenuous physical chores: your eyes
By Wendy Haaf
Study results presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology suggest that exercising can seriously reduce your risk for glaucoma.
In glaucoma, pressure inside the eye increases, which, if untreated, can eventually damage the optic nerve and ultimately cause blindness. To study of the correlation between exercise and glaucoma, researchers at UCLA (the University of California, Los Angeles) delved into data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a long-term study that has been tracking the health and nutritional status of US adults since the 1960s.
They found that the most active participants had a 73% lower incidence of glaucoma than those with the lowest physical activity levels. Moreover, for each 10-minute jump in moderate to vigorous physical activity a week, glaucoma incidence dropped by 25%.
Photo: iStock/tetmc.
