3 Ways Your Vision Is Hurting Your Fitness

When discussing health factors that influence how fit you are, it’s important not to overlook your vision. Although the eyes may be among the smallest organs, they hold influence over most aspects of your day-to-day—including your fitness. After all, your visual system is responsible for keeping your mind and body performing optimally. Additionally, around 80% of what you learn is based on what you see. All this is why up to 50% of the brain’s real estate is dedicated to vision alone. Conversely, poor vision can create significant hurdles in your fitness journey. Here are a few ways this happens and what to do about it.

Poor vision can worsen pain management

Whether you’re new to working out or not, feeling sore is normal. This is the body’s reaction to the micro-tears that happen to the muscles and surrounding tissue during exercises. That said, when you have vision problems, the intensity of your soreness may feel worse. A National Library of Medicine study noted that low vision levels are linked to musculoskeletal complaints. While this may vary per person, this can happen due to eye straining. When the eyes strain, they’re more likely to trigger stress-related inflammation. 

Unfortunately, inflammation is known to heighten pain sensitivities, thereby making soreness feel worse. In some cases, inflammation can even pressure the nerves, exacerbating conditions like carpal tunnel or sciatica. Understandably, this pain may be hard to work through, so you have to hit pause on your regular routines. 

Poor vision hurts your sleep hygiene

Rest and recovery are just as important as active days. As such, whether you’re taking a passive or active rest day, you want to make time for sleep. In the fully relaxed state of sleep, the body can start to heal fully and reset for another bout of workouts. Comparatively, even a single night of poor sleep can decrease your performance. Meanwhile, chronically poor sleep hygiene can create a hormonal imbalance that impacts muscle building and recovery.

Poor vision, though, makes proper sleep hygiene harder to achieve. One reason is that the pain associated with ocular issues can result in sleep disturbances. Another is that poor vision limits the body’s ability to perceive light, which is crucial in regulating the circadian rhythm. As such, it’s harder to manage the internal body clock. 

Poor vision can ruin your mood

Contrary to what others may think, fitness can be emotional. After all, you’re actively working to improve your life, which can be personal. Working out can also encourage the release of happy hormones, like endorphins. When you have vision issues, your emotions are more likely to lean towards the negative. This is usually attributed to the discomfort that eye problems cause. In many cases, poor vision can also affect your cognition, alertness, and memory, making your prone to frustration and crankiness. During your fitness journey, this can hurt your performance and even increase the risk of injury. 

How you can address eye issues

The simplest you want to do is protect your eyes from straining. Often, people push their eyes to exhaustion despite the fact that repeatedly doing this can cause ocular stress. One way to relieve your eyes of this strain is by wearing eyewear that makes perception easier. Chief among these are readers glasses or readers. Unlike prescriptions that can correct vision, these work to simply yet effectively make detail work easier. Models like Foster Grant’s IRONMAN are even made with lightweight yet flexible materials that are durable enough for more involved tasks. In the gym, these readers can be useful in more near-distance activities, like reading on the treadmill. 

In addition, you’ll want to consider blue light glasses, given that the average screen time in the US is over seven hours daily. Designed to work with and without prescriptions, these glasses use lenses coated in blue-violet light-blocking filters. With these, the eyes are protected from potentially harmful blue-violet light, which has been linked to problems like retinal cell damage and poor sleep. These are now widely available, with diverse brands like Ray-Ban and Oakley offering versions of these glasses. During your workouts, these are perfect if you stream classes or watch videos to occupy yourself. 

Lastly, remember to keep your eyes hydrated. Throughout the day, your eyes are subject to various elements that can cause irritation. For fitness buffs, this can include sweat, oil, and even debris if you’re outdoors. Because tears are not always enough, try bringing eye drops with you. Accessible brands, such as Visine, widely offer these soothing solutions you can use on the go. A few drops in each eye can help lubricate them, preventing soreness and corneal abrasions.