National Stress Awareness Day: Stress, Vision, & Tips on How To Cope
The image shows: A man sitting in front of a laptop with his fingers on his temples looking stressed. There is someone to the left and right of him holding things towards him to demand his attention, including papers, a smartphone, a clipboard and a pencil.
On November 2nd it’s National Stress Awareness Day. Stress is something that affects all of us and staying on top of it is essential for our health and well-being. At Optelec, we’re fascinated by vision, and our mission is to improve quality of life for visually impaired people, so we’re going to look at how stress affects vision and outline some coping strategies for visually impaired people. So, whilst this month’s blog is all about stress, and a lot of this content might be stress-inducing, we hope to help you relax more while learning something along the way!
First, a little bit about stress! Stress is a particularly modern problem because our stress response is triggered by a whole host of “unnatural” things. This affects our body and mood and contributes to the mental health crisis as well as the increase in diabetes, strokes, and heart attacks. In (vaguely) scientific terms, stress is something like the body’s response to being out of balance. The stress response is inherited from our ancestors who had to be on guard against threats (this is the famous “fight or flight” response which is an automatic physiological response to something perceived as threatening). When we perceive a threat, our brain activates the central nervous system and tells our glands to release the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. This triggers faster breathing, a quicker heart rate and the production of extra glucose, which pumps oxygen to our muscles and gives us the strength and energy we need to act quickly.
Clinical research has shown that this stress response causes vision problems. When people are stressed, they often suffer from blurry vision, sensitivity to bright light, dry or excessively teary eyes and eye strain. Stress also increases the risk of glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration.
Another stress-related vision problem is near-point visual stress. This problem affects people who spend a lot of time on their computers (most of us then). Staring at a computer screen strains our eyes when the visual skills needed to continuously focus aren’t strong enough. The stress placed on the visual system triggers the fight or flight response and leads to eye strain, fatigue, and headaches.
It’s not all doom and gloom, and there are lots of things you can do about it. Every Tuesday we post some uplifting content and tips on our social media pages about how to improve your life in little ways, in our Four Bullet Tuesday series. If you want to counter stress, learn to laugh more, practice mindfulness, yoga, or do a host of other uplifting things, check out our recent posts for a great place to start!
If you’re visually impaired, day-to-day obstacles can be huge stress inducers, so preparation is key to stress reduction. What you’ll need to do depends on the type of impairment you have, but you may want to prepare your home by distinguishing places and pieces of furniture with colour and contrast. This will make the boundaries between things like the edges of a table or sofa more obvious.
You may also want to organise your belongings, making sure that drawers have a specific purpose (no junk drawers!) And if they’re things you need regularly, make sure they’re the most easily accessible. You could even organise your coats and trousers from lightest to heaviest. The more things you can do to boost your independence and navigate the day with confidence, the less stressed you are likely to feel. Make the most of assistive technology so you can easily navigate your home and enjoy your hobbies in every room. Lastly, prepare for emergencies. This can really give you a sense of security and peace of mind – knowing that you’re prepared for all outcomes, however unlikely!