Sitting too close to the TV will damage your eyes

Your parents might have warned you that you would permanently ruin your eyes if you sat too close to the television or if you watched too much of it. Perhaps they believed the myth, or maybe they just wanted you to move. Either way, their warning was false. It is highly unlikely that watching television will cause your eyes physical harm. The same goes for using the computer and watching 3-D movies. If your eyes hurt after too much screen time, that usually just means that they are tired. Simply giving your eyes a rest should make them feel good as new. If you want to avoid sore eyes all together, make an effort to blink regularly and take twenty seconds to look into the distance every twenty minutes during extended periods of screen time.

Reading in the dark is bad for your vision

Reading in dim light may be more difficult and cause eyestrain, but it will not damage your eyes. If your eyes hurt after reading in dim light, that simply means they are fatigued.

Wearing glasses makes your eyes dependent on them

Wearing glasses does not weaken your vision. Your glasses are in no way changing your eyes or making them more dependent. You are simply getting used to seeing things more clearly. Additionally, wearing glasses with the wrong prescription will not harm your eyes. You just won’t be able to see as clearly as you would with a proper prescription.

Eating carrots will make your eyes sharper

Carrots are good for maintaining healthy eyes because they provide you with vitamin A, which plays a part in maintaining your current vision. However, eating carrots will not actually improve your vision. This myth started as British propaganda during World War II. The Royal Air Force claimed they were feeding their pilots tons of carrots to explain their excellent night vision. It turns out the British were just trying to hide their new secret radar technology from their enemies. The British also told their citizens that eating carrots would make it easier for them to see during blackouts. The government came up with this myth to encourage people to eat carrots from their gardens instead of eating the foods that were being rationed. Carrots are a great snack, but they will not give you super night vision or even 20/20 vision. 

Only boys can be color blind

Color blindness is a condition where one cannot see colors in a certain way. The most common form of color blindness is the inability to distinguish between certain colors, usually between greens and reds, and occasionally blues. It is far more likely for males to develop colorblindness than their female counterparts. The reason is that the genes responsible for the most common form of color blindness are on the X chromosome. Males only have one X chromosome, while females have two. In other words, males have an X and a Y chromosome and females have an X and another X. In females, a functional gene on only one of the X chromosomes is enough to compensate for the loss of the other. Therefore, females would have to inherit a faulty X chromosome from both parents instead of just one.

There’s nothing you can do about preventing sight loss

False! Regular eye exams and proper safety eyewear can save your sight. It is important to get regular eye exams even if you are not experiencing noticeable signs of problems.


Photo by Soroush Karimi on Unsplash

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