How can you take care of your eyes naturally? A difficult question because we all live different lives, and the environment plays a major role in the health of our eyes. However, by correctly decoding our shared biology, it is possible to identify a set of highly effective rules to not only preserve your eyes but also optimize them.
Discover step-by-step a scientific recipe that is simple to implement on a daily basis to achieve and maintain hawk-like vision (#horusX).
In this article:
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Nutrition / Hydration
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Sleep
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Exercise
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Hygiene
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Toolbox
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Dangers
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Monitoring and Maintenance
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[BONUS: the recap to keep]
Nutrition
As we mentioned in our article on esports nutrition, "you are what you eat." There's no exception here; nutrition is the first essential pillar of eye health. If you eat junk, your eyes will suffer daily. Knowing that your eyes are composed of more than 100 million cells, they need good energy to function!
Certain vitamins and minerals are essential not only for daily function but also to reduce the risk of certain retina-related diseases (AMD, for example). Here are the most important ones:
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B-group vitamins: B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, and B12
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Lutein and Zeaxanthin:
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Omega-3s (fatty acids)
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Omega-6s (Gamma-Linolenic Acid)
Okay, but what does that mean in concrete terms? There are obviously food supplements if you think you have certain deficiencies, but the most effective approach remains an optimized diet. To save you from having to decipher the nutritional labels of your food every time, we have selected the top foods for eyesight to incorporate into your routine, packed with these various vitamins and minerals.
Recommendation of the most powerful foods for optimal vision:
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🥕 Carrots and other orange vegetables and fruits: Full of beta-carotene, which the body uses to make Vitamin A. Sweet potatoes are great too!
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🥬 Kale and other dark green vegetables: Packed with Lutein and Zeaxanthin (and Vitamin B9, C, and E). Also found in spinach and broccoli.
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🌶️ Red peppers: A boost of Vitamin C (as well as A and E). Raw is best.
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🐟 Salmon: Oh oh oh Omega-3s!!! And Omega-6s. Also quite a few B vitamins (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 12).
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🦪 Oysters, beans, and legumes: Oysters are a bit slimy, but they are packed with Zinc, so why not? Otherwise, for those who don't like slimy things, there are black beans and legumes (lentils).
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🥜 Nuts and seeds: Vitamin E galore (and Omega-6s). Eat a handful of almonds or some sunflower seeds.
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🥚 Eggs: The zinc in the white helps transport Lutein and Zeaxanthin from the yolk to the eyes! Good deal!
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🫐 Blueberries: Our favorite fruit! A must-have for vision (rich in Vitamin C, E, and much more!)
The Horus X Recommendation ✴️ Remember to incorporate as many of these foods into your daily diet as possible. Don't stress too much; just try to add a little more than usual and avoid foods that are bad for the eyes!
Tool ⚙️ The free app Daily Dozen. It condenses all the knowledge from the great book "How Not to Die" and allows you to have a daily checklist of the right foods to incorporate to preserve your eyes and your health in general.
Hydration
You know the drill all too well: you have to drink 1.5 liters of water a day! This little phrase actually hides a lot of subtleties. Depending on your weight, height, physical activity, and metabolism, this amount varies.
It's just a benchmark to encourage you to drink more because yes, we often tend to wait until our tongue is hanging out before swallowing our dose of H2O. And that is not good at all because it forces the machine to work unnecessarily!
The eye is one of our organs most sensitive to these fluctuations.
The example of tears is clear: eyes are covered in a layer designed to lubricate and protect against debris and surrounding bacteria.
If you are dehydrated, your eyes can no longer properly produce this essential fluid, and you will potentially suffer from several issues (dry eyes, eye strain, puffy eyes...). Imagine the consequences in the long term...
✴️ The Horus X Recommendation: A fairly simple rule with your calculator (or in your head, you little genius):
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Under 60 years old: Multiply your weight by 30 to get the volume to drink in ml.
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Over 60 years old: Multiply your weight by 25 to get the volume to drink in ml (we lose muscle as we age, so we generally need less water).
⚙️ Tool:
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If you don't want to bother and want to be more precise, we have unearthed a little gem that allows you to estimate your consumption quite accurately by taking into account your age, physical activity, etc. The software then gives you what you should really be drinking. Pretty cool! If you want to test it, it's here.
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In addition to that, find an app that reminds you when to drink. A bit annoying at first, but you'll soon get the hang of it. The difference in terms of well-being is incredible (not to mention that you will go to the bathroom more and therefore do more exercise! Clever!)
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Finally, invest in a nice water bottle and remember to fill it at the beginning of the morning and in the early afternoon so you are never dry.
Sleep
The third essential pillar for your eyes (and for your body in general). When you rest enough, your body has plenty of time to repair your eyes (you don't even need a Goa'uld sarcophagus), which results in better, clearer vision, better lubrication of the eyes, and healthier nerves and tissues in and around your eyes.
By sleeping enough, you will feel fewer eye-related headaches, and you will notice that your vision is clearer both day and night.
✴️ The Horus X Recommendation: On average, to function at its optimum, an adult needs between 7 and 9 hours of sleep, but this varies, of course. Generally speaking, the younger you are, the more sleep you need.
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Oura ring (our favorite), Apple Watch, or a sleep tracker bracelet. These tools are ideal for seeing your sleep trends and guiding you toward a dynamic approach. There are so many things you can do to optimize your sleep!
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8sleep thermoregulated smart mattress. Okay, this is quite an investment, but the difference is significant for falling asleep faster and staying asleep longer. This mattress is the future, and it's impressive. Don't forget that you will spend more than 20 years of your life sleeping; it's worth investing in when you know the impact of sleep.
- Blackout curtains or sleep mask: ESSENTIAL to sleep in the darkest room possible. Our body (and not just our eyes) is (very) sensitive to variations in light.
Exercise
It's always the same thing, but that's simply because it is devilishly effective.
"Cardio" exercises (which increase your heart rate) lower intraocular pressure—that is, the pressure inside the eyes—which helps protect the ganglion cells of the retina. Cardio exercise also increases blood flow to the optic nerve and the retina.
✴️ The Recommendation: Implement a simple routine. Your body needs it and the results are proven!
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Easy: 4 sessions of 20 minutes of walking per week.
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More athletic: 3 sessions of 25 minutes of intense exercise.
⚙️ Tools : At Horus X, we love Freeletics, an easy-to-use app that allows you to do bodyweight exercises anywhere, even if you don't have space. Really great for tracking progress. #noexcuses
PS: This is a minimum, but it is important to start gently to establish a routine (and that is the most important part).
Eye Hygiene: How to clean your eyes naturally
You have likely understood by now that your eyes have an automatic cleaning mechanism: tears. In general, they do not need additional help. There is no need to shampoo your eye; it won't make it softer and you risk hurting yourself.
The idea here is to ensure your eye remains clean in case of an incident, or by removing excess residue and debris that accumulate around the eye, but generally speaking, we repeat, there is no real need for cleaning. The following advice is therefore only to be applied in very specific situations.
1 - First!
Before anything else, don't forget to wash your hands!
2 - Morning Cleaning
In the morning, a gentle cleaning to remove the residue from the night that has accumulated in the corner of the eye. In the shower or using a small washcloth, rinse gently.
3 - Makeup Removal
For anyone who wears makeup, it is imperative to wash your face properly before going to bed. We aren't really talking about cleaning the eye itself, but all the surrounding impurities on the eyelid, the corner of the eye, eyelashes, etc. Otherwise, all this grime ends up in your eyes; watch out for infections.
✴️ The natural recipe: 60ml of sweet almond oil, 40ml of rose water on a cotton pad. Dab gently from the base of the eyebrows towards the eyelid.
4 - Accident
If you have accidentally splashed your eye with something suspicious, you can start by rinsing it with saline solution, very gently. About fifteen seconds is enough to clean it all out.
If it is truly more serious and/or you are in pain (permanent discomfort, sensitivity, redness, blurred vision...), you must consult your doctor or a specialist as soon as possible.
Your Essential Protective Tools
Now that you have all the essential foundations for preserving your vision naturally, let's add the final layer. Adding eye protection allows you to be protected in all circumstances and for the long term:
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🌞 Against the sun (and UVs): a good pair of UV400 sunglasses. Why not the Urban Sun model?
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📺 Against screens (and blue light): an excellent pair of blue light blocking glasses. We recommend the Ushuaïa model!
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🔨 In case of DIY (for various projectiles): a pair of safety glasses. Good products available from Bollé, for example.
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🤕 In case of emergency: saline solution for a quick rinse.
To Avoid
If you are wondering " what damages eyes the most," the list is simple:
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🍺 Alcohol: In addition to the immediate tunnel vision effect, alcohol accelerates cell aging (dryness, irritation, macular degeneration, optic neuritis, cataracts...)
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🚬 Cigarettes: Tobacco is toxic. The toxins that enter your body when you light up a cigarette will damage your vision and, again, risk triggering early eye diseases.
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🫣 Rubbing your eyes: Even if you wash your hands often, it is difficult to eliminate 100% of the residue that risks contaminating your eye. By rubbing your eyes, you especially risk a nasty conjunctivitis.
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🍔 Eating too much fat: Fat is life... wait, no! You already know, but fat will gradually deteriorate your whole body. Your eyes are no exception, with, once again, a potential impact on AMD.
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🥤 Eating too much sugar: Too much sugar can lead to diabetes. This excess sugar in the blood will harden the blood vessels of the eye, which will then no longer function properly.
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🕶️ Not wearing appropriate glasses: The effects of UV rays and blue light from screens are well-known, and yet... We don't always feel the problem directly. Over the years, vision risks deteriorating. A gesture that is, however, so simple!
😴 Misusing your contact lenses: it’s so easy to forget after a big night out. However, falling asleep with them in is really not a good idea. The lenses can dry out and also make your eyes much more susceptible to infections! The same goes for swimming; it’s tempting, but you risk an infection!
💄 Sleeping in your makeup: Unless you’re Bozo the clown and want to keep the look for good, we highly recommend removing your makeup. The pigments can become harmful to the very sensitive skin of the eyelid, not to mention the risk of contaminating the eye itself.
Check-ups and maintenance - Ophthalmologist
Every year or every 18 months, it’s important to pay a visit to the ophthalmologist! (Actually, I need to keep that in mind myself very soon). For those who already wear prescription glasses or contact lenses, it’s a chance to see if an adjustment to your prescription is necessary; for those who don’t, it’s an opportunity to ensure you don’t need them, and in general, it’s also super important for a thorough check of your eye health.
It is so important to detect eye conditions early because for some, like glaucoma which is relatively common, if it’s caught in time, we can manage it! That’s not necessarily the case if you wait too long.
Set a little annual reminder in your electronic calendar (we use Google Calendar, it’s very simple), book your appointment, and don’t give it another thought until next year.
[BONUS] The summary to keep for healthy eye care
If you follow these, you’ll be ahead of 90% of people in terms of natural eye optimization and protection!
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🍲 Diet/Hydration: Eat a more balanced diet by incorporating the superfoods from the Daily Dozen list (available on Google or Apple).
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💤 Sleep: Prioritize your sleep. 7 to 9 hours per night, trying to track it to improve it via certain apps or tools (Oura ring, Apple Watch...).
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🏃♀️ Exercise: Some regular exercise to get your heart rate up and relax those little eyes. Essential!
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💦 Hygiene: Your eyes know how to self-clean. Except in specific situations, a quick wipe of your face with a washcloth in the morning is enough.
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🧰 Protection toolkit: Sunglasses + blue light blocking glasses + safety glasses + saline solution.
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⚠️ Dangers: Alcohol, tobacco, unbalanced diet, irresponsible, gross behaviors #justkidding (dirty hands in eyes, sleeping in makeup, not wearing sunglasses...)
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👩⚕️ Check-ups and maintenance: every 12 to 18 months would be ideal
Taking care of your eyes naturally: final thoughts
If, like pirates, you think wearing an earring will improve your vision, then you haven’t quite understood this article. You’re kidding yourself, as they say. Jokes aside, you can see that taking care of your eyes naturally starts with a solid foundation of small, important, yet relatively easy rules to implement in your daily life + a few practical tools to help you in your quest for hawk-like vision.
