monthly health challenge :: october

It may  seem like a strange topic for a monthly health challenge, but this month I want to focus on healthy eyes. A couple of years ago, I started to notice that things were a little blurry at night when I would try to read. At first, I attributed it to being tired or to bad lighting. But, after going to the eye doctor, I found that my vision was no longer 20/20. My doctor recommended that I start wearing reading glasses whenever I read at night. I was shocked, never having had any sort of eye problem before. Apparently, it is common for vision to begin to deteriorate in your 40's, and I was no exception to that rule. But, that wasn't the only thing I had going on. I had also developed a condition that I had never even heard of. To be honest, I can't even remember the name of it, but I do know what caused it. Apparently, after years and years of running outdoors, I have developed calluses on the whites of my eyes. Who'd have ever guessed that exposure to wind and harsh weather elements could cause such a thing on your eyes. I asked my eye doctor if there was anything I could have done that would have prevented this from happening. He told me that if I had been wearing sunglasses all of these years, while outdoors, there's a good chance the calluses would have never developed. And so, my advice is this: whether you think you need it or not, wear sunglasses when you are exercising in the great outdoors, especially if it's windy. While the calluses don't cause me any vision problems, they are noticeable and make me a little self-conscious. I wish I would have known about this years ago.