Top 5 Tips For Exercising With Corrective Eyewear
Whether you’re using contact lenses or wearing eyeglasses, these tips will make exercising with corrective eyewear effective and safe.
Having less than optimal vision can affect how you do many things. You may find it difficult to read, work, drive, play, and even exercise if your vision is compromised.
One way of dealing with vision problems is using corrective eyewear. They are medical devices that help take care of common vision errors.
Refractive errors are the foremost causes of visual disturbances in the US, with up to 150 million Americans needing vision correction due to these errors.
Wearing contact lenses or eyeglasses is the most common way to correct refractive errors. They both allow light entering the eye to focus on the retina for clear vision.
Glasses and contacts have specific features that make users prefer one or the other. Let’s examine glasses and contacts before seeing how you can exercise with either of them.
Glasses vs Contacts
The glasses or contacts debate is something many people will have to deal with at some point in their lives. Choosing whether to wear contact lenses or glasses is a matter of the individual’s lifestyle and personal preferences. Other factors like aesthetics, convenience, and budget may also influence one’s decision.
Eyeglasses and contact lenses have their merits and downsides, and it is necessary to examine both before choosing.
Below are the pros and cons of contact lenses and glasses to help you decide.
Pros Of Contact Lenses
Contacts are better than glasses for sports and physical activities since they don’t get in the way and do not fall off.
They conform to the eye’s curvature providing a wider field of view, so there are fewer obstructions or visual distortions.
Contact lenses are not affected by cold weather and do not fog up your vision.
They do not clash with what you wear, so you don’t have to worry about them affecting your style.
You can also accentuate your sense of fashion using colored contacts, as they allow you to change your eye color to match your outfit.
Cons Of Contact Lenses
Contact lenses require proper care and maintenance, and not caring for your contacts can put you at risk of infections from eye deposits and bacteria. You should consider using daily disposable contacts if you cannot commit to the discipline of cleaning your contact lenses every day.
Contacts may reduce the amount of oxygen that gets into your eyes, especially if you fall asleep in them. This situation can lead to dryness, redness, and irritation.
They may also contribute to computer vision syndrome if you stare at digital screens for too long. Contacts with a blue light filter can help prevent this problem.
Pros Of Eyeglasses
Glasses are generally cheaper than contacts as they do not require frequent replacement. You still get to keep your frames even if you need to change your prescription.
They are suitable for people with dry or sensitive eyes. They don’t touch the eyes directly, so they do not exacerbate the problem. You are also less likely to rub your eyes if you wear glasses.
Glasses do not require much cleaning and maintenance. Wiping your glasses with a clean material is often all you need to use them every day.
Eyeglasses provide protection from wind, dust, and other environmental elements.
Glasses can be great fashion accessories with elegant frames that reflect your personality and style.
Cons Of Glasses
Glasses do not rest directly on the eyes, limiting your peripheral vision. People who wear glasses may also experience blurred vision and difficulty focusing on objects at first.
Eyeglasses can get foggy in cold weather, obstructing or distorting your vision.
Glasses with strong prescriptions may be thick and give you an unappealing facial appearance.
Tips For Exercising With Corrective Eyewear
Exercising with corrective eyewear can be tricky. Let me explain why:
- Contact lenses do not do well in water, and the sweat you lose when exercising can cause your eyes to become dry.
- Glasses may also fall off when exercising or break and injure you if you are involved in a contact sport.
So here are five tips to allow you to exercise correctly with your eyewear:
1. Choose The Right Eyewear
It would be best if you exercised with the proper corrective eyewear. If you use contacts, consider soft contacts with high oxygen permeability to allow your eyes to breathe freely.
Disposable contact lenses may also be better since you can discard them after every workout session and use a new one when you exercise again. This way, you protect yourself from harmful bacteria.
For glasses, you want to choose glasses with light frames that allow you to move easily when you exercise.
You also want to consider glasses with firm straps that keep them from falling or going out of place as you move.
2. Drink Lots Of Water
This point might seem basic, but your eyes mustn’t become dry when you go for your workouts.
Contact lenses can suck up the moisture from your eyes, causing dryness and irritation when you work out. Drinking water or other fluids keeps you hydrated and prevents discomfort.
You can also apply wetting drops to your eyes or wear an absorbent headband to avoid sweat from reaching your eyes.
3. Avoid Water Getting Into Your Eyes
This point is crucial, especially if you are swimming or playing watersports while wearing corrective eyewear.
Water contains germs that can contaminate your contacts and harm your eyes, and you can prevent this by wearing watertight goggles above your contacts when swimming.
4. Go With Cleaning Materials
If you are wearing contacts, go along with your contact cleaning solution when you exercise in case you need to take out your contacts and clean them. It would help to carry an extra pair of contacts for disposable contacts.
On the other side, if you wear glasses, you should carry lens cleaning wipes to take care of dust, fog, and other elements that may stick to your glasses and affect your vision.
5. Do Not Touch Or Rub Your Eyes
Working out may expose you to dust, insects, and flying dirt that can get into your eyes. Rubbing your eyes if this happens can put you at risk of harmful germs.
Take out your contacts if something gets into your eyes before removing the object. Clean your contacts before inserting them again or discard and replace them if they are single-use contacts.
Conclusion
Corrective eyewear helps people with vision problems see better. But their peculiarities may hinder exercise or physical activity.
However, following the simple tips discussed above can help make exercising with corrective eyewear effective and safe.
