3 Ways Sunglasses Do More Than Protect Your Eyes

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By now you are probably hearing about the importance of wearing sunglasses to protect your eyes against direct sunlight and UV rays. We have heard so much about eye protection that you’d have to be living under a rock to not realize how important a good pair of sunglasses is. But did you know that protection against sunlight isn’t the only benefit?

Sunglasses do other things for us as well. You might consider these other things as tertiary, but they can be pretty important in certain situations. Three examples are below for purposes of illustration. They come from Olympic Eyewear, a Utah company that designs, manufactures, and sells wholesale designer sunglasses for the U.S. market.

1. Sunglasses Prevent Eye Fatigue

Not wearing sunglasses on a sunny day is not necessarily the end of the world inasmuch as the human body knows enough to squint when necessary. Squinting is no solution for UV rays, but it will do in a pinch. So what’s the problem with squinting? It causes eye fatigue, among other problems.

Squinting is a natural response to protect the eyes against excessive light. As you squint, the eyeball is subject to less ambient light. But it also puts a tremendous amount of stress on the muscles around the eyes. Squinting all day long just makes your eyes tired.

Tired eyes could be a problem at nighttime. Maybe you squint all day at work – because you work outdoors – and then find it difficult to drive home in the evening once the sun goes down. Or perhaps just reading a book or watching television at night seems to be more difficult than it should be. It could be because your eyes are tired.

2. Sunglasses Prevent Headaches

Squinting all day does more than just make for tired eyes. It also creates tension in the upper part of the head that can ultimately lead to headaches. And even without the squinting, bright sunshine itself can cause headaches after hours of exposure. Sunglasses address the problem.

A good pair of sunglasses allow you to relax your facial muscles. They prevent excessive squinting. As such, you will have fewer sun-related headaches to deal with. And if you find that you still have headaches even with wearing your sunglasses, try also wearing a hat with a wide brim. That will keep out sunlight that would otherwise come in over the top of your head and behind your sunglasses.

3. Sunglasses Can Delay Crow’s Feet

Those little lines that form at the corners of the eyes are called crow’s feet. Did you know that crow’s feet develop more quickly in people who squint a lot? You will never prevent crow’s feet completely but wearing sunglasses whenever you are outdoors might delay their onset.

Note that the impact of sunglasses on developing crow’s feet is minimal. There are lots of other things that cause those lines to appear. The point here is that squinting only makes crow’s feet appear sooner and more well defined. So squint less and there is a good chance that you will delay the onset of crow’s feet. When they do appear, they should be less intense.

Now that you know how sunglasses could help beyond just protecting your eyes against direct sunlight and UV rays, hopefully you have a greater appreciation of the pair you store in your car. Go buy at least one pair if you don’t have one already. A good pair of sunglasses offers a dark lens to catch direct sunlight and a rating of at least UV 400 to filter out dangerous ultraviolet rays.

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