The Tribune

By RIEL MAJOR

rmajor@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Alliance for the Blind and Visually Impaired marked its 10th annual sight awareness month at the Mall at Marathon yesterday.

During his remarks, Health minister Dr Duane Sands stressed the importance of protecting your eye sight.

Dr Sands said: “You are given one body to take care of and the time to do that is now. How you treat your body today will affect how your body functions in the future.

“Yummy green leafy vegetables like lettuce, cabbage, and kale, crunchy carrots, sweet potato, dillies, plums, mangoes, strawberries all of these colourful fruits and vegetables help to fight off and reduce the risk of eye disease.”

The minister told students to avoid playing rough and not aiming for eyes. He highlighted the danger fingers, hands pencils, pens, crayons, rocks or sticks can all be to your eyes.

“Your eyes are very delicate and stretches, rips and knocks from objects can cause your sight to become blurred or you can loose it all together.

“Play safely and always protect your eyes.”

Dr Sands advised the audience to be mindful of the amount of time we spend on digital devices such as tablets, desktops, and smart phones because the blue light found in LED screens can damage your eyes.

“Researchers are now studying how much the blue light can negatively affect your sight late in life. I’m not saying do not use your devices, but I’m saying take breaks from your device. Every 20 minutes you should look up and look at something a good distance away for at least 20 seconds.

“Ensure that you get your eyes checked regularly.

“You are not too young to start taking precautions to ensure that you maintain and preserve your sight.”