What Can I Do to Improve My Night Vision

For many people, especially older people, the beauty of nighttime is getting obscured by a condition called nyctalopia, more commonly referred to as night blindness. Not only can these people not appreciate the beauty of night, they cannot easily do their regular day-to-day activities like reading, knitting, driving, or even walking at night.Night Vision

Cataracts, nearsightedness, side effects from medications, laser refractive surgery, corneal diseases and injuries, and Vitamin A deficiency can create night blindness. These can usually be successfully treated, but if eye disease or genetics are the cause, night blindness may be more difficult to treat, or in some cases untreatable.

To determine what's causing your night blindness, you should start with a comprehensive eye exam by your doctor. During the exam your doctor will check for a variety of health conditions and look for the cause of your night blindness. In some cases, night blindness can be managed with special lenses in eyeglasses like those treated with an anti-reflective coating, or lenses that have been designed and tinted to reduce glare and nighttime blindness. Talk to your eye doctor to learn which solution is best for you.

Tricks to improve night vision

Red-tinted glasses help improve night vision

This is a common trick that aviators use when they don’t have time to sit in perfect darkness and adjust before night flying. Wearing red-tinted glasses before you go out into low light will help train your eye to focus better.
If you are looking at a map with a flashlight, cover the flashlight with a red glazed paper. The red light will make the map appear sharper. And if you’re buying a new car, look for a dashboard with red illuminated buttons, rather than blue, green, or white.

Avoid looking directly at any light sources

When you look directly at a light source, your pupils are forced to contract. This increases the amount of time it takes for your vision to acclimatize to the low light. If you can’t avoid looking at a light source, cover or close one eye until it passes.
Looking directly at light sources is a common concern while driving at night. If you are faced with oncoming high-beams, protecting one eye will prevent you from getting flash blindness in both eyes (like a deer in headlights). Another trick while driving at night is to take your eyes off the oncoming high beams and look at the white line on your side of the road to maintain a safe course.

Let your eyes adjust to the darkness naturally

The best way to see in the dark is to let your eyes slowly acclimatize to low light. You can do this by sitting in perfect darkness 20 to 30 minutes before going out into the night. Or you can wear a sleep mask or just cover your eyes. This simple trick helps your eyes easily adjust to the night.
Special Forces use the technique of squeezing their eyes shut tightly for 10 seconds once they are in the dark.

Keep your eyes moving

Try not to stare at one object as it will cause your eyes to adapt to whatever light source that is available at the point of your focus. Dance your eyes around, scan the area, and you would be able to see better in dark. Keep blinking, too, to avoid your rods (cells in your eyes responsible for night vision) from desensitizing.

A gentle eye massage helps improve night vision

Just close your eyes tightly and apply slight pressure on both your eyes with your palms (use the fleshy part of your palm below your thumb) After about five or 10 seconds, instead of seeing black, your vision will turn white momentarily. When the white goes away and the black comes back, open your eyes, and your vision will be significantly better in the dark.
While the above tricks can help improve night vision, they will work even better if you supplement your diet with vision-boosting nutrients.

Stop Smoking

There are studies that shown that smokers are 2 times more prone to night accidents than non-smokers.
Nicotine and the hypoxic effect from carbon monoxide reduces your night vision.
Just by avoiding both first and second hand smoking can help improve night vision.

Allow Ample Adjustment Time

Give yourself ample time for your eyes to adjust to the dark.
Keep your eyes closed first when you are entering a dark environment from a well lit one.
It takes about 25 minutes for our eyes to be able to fully adapt in the dark. Avoid any source of bright light as they can hinder your process of adaptation.

To determine what's causing your night blindness, you should start with a comprehensive eye exam by your doctor. During the exam your doctor will check for a variety of health conditions and look for the cause of your night blindness. In some cases, night blindness can be managed with special lenses in eyeglasses like those treated with an anti-reflective coating, or lenses that have been designed and tinted to reduce glare and nighttime blindness. Talk to your eye doctor to learn which solution is best for you.

Sources:

Natural ways to improve night vision (night blindness) by Dr. Victor Marchione, July 23, 2016

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