OPTIMIZE YOUR HEALTH
Protecting Your Vision

Preserve Your Vision Through Exercise
By Sue Kim-Saechao, RN, MSN, CRNP, and Jannet Huang, MD, FRCPC, FACE, ABHM

We are all aware of the multitude of health benefits physical activity offers. But did you know that exercise can even help preserve our vision?

People who do not want to develop vision loss conditions such as Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) should consider staying active and exercise moderately on a regular basis. According to research carried out by a team of scientists at the University of Wisconsin, published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, regular exercise is very effective against age-related macular degeneration. The study was conducted on almost 4,000 individuals ranging from 43 to 86 years of age. Overall results showed that volunteers who reported practicing moderate-intensity physical activities such as cycling, dancing and jogging at least 3 times per week were 70% less likely to develop age-related macular degeneration. Regular, but lower-intensity effort - such as walking more than 12 blocks daily - is beneficial against sight-loss conditions, but people who practiced this were only 30% less likely to develop lose of their vision.

Aside from the documented benefits on macular degeneration, exercise likely helps prevent other eye conditions such as cataracts, retinal artery and retinal vein occlusions.

Exercise can also help reduce the pressure in the eye, which protects the optic nerve and thereby reducing sight-loss from glaucoma. Simply going for a walk three or more times a week is all you need to protect against glaucoma progression. The catch? The exercise benefit continues only as long as you continue exercising. In the study of the sedentary glaucoma suspects, just three weeks of deconditioning undid the beneficial effects.

A word of caution about certain exercises for patients with glaucoma: It’s important to avoid the Valsalva effect (the technical term for what happens when, after an inhalation, you hold your breath and apply pressure against your epiglottis), as this appears to have a negative impact on IOP. Thus, if you’re interested in weight lifting or other forms of resistance exercise, be sure to get proper training on breathing techniques. The same holds true for yoga and Pilates, as people sometimes incorrectly hold their breath either going into or coming out of a pose. It’s best to avoid all inverted poses if you have glaucoma. This includes headstand, shoulder-stand, and the plow. While few studies have been conducted on yoga and glaucoma, there is some evidence that inverted poses increase IOP, so be sure to discuss alternative poses or modifications with your yoga instructor.

Sources:

• http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/alerts/vision
• http://www.goodhope.org.uk/Departments/eyedept/exercise.html
• http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/547338

Disclaimer: The information provided here is for “advice only”, and not meant to provide specific medical recommendations or replace the medical advice of your health care practitioner.

—August 2007

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