Night Blindness

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

27 Feb 2009 02:41 PM

How's your night vision? I don't think mine is the worst out there, but I don't think it's great, either. It does take your retina a moment or two to adjust to differences in light when going from bright to dark or vice versa.

Some people do tend to have more trouble with night vision than others. People who are nearsighted, for example, can be slower to adapt to seeing in the dark.

So what can you do if you're worried about your night vision?

• Check your own night vision first -- you don't need the doctor for this one. After five minutes in a darkened room (say, a movie theater), you should be able to see the person next to you. If you can, you don't need to worry too much. If you can't, you might want to check in with your eye doctor.
• Make sure your diet includes plenty of vitamin A. Vitamin A is essential for vision! Studies have shown that large doses of vitamin A can help a deficient person improve their night vision within hours. Check with your general practitioner to see if you might have a vitamin A deficiency.
• Help yourself see better when driving at night. On a clear, bright day, you can see more than a thousand feet down the road. At night, you have maybe four hundred feet of visibility from your headlights. Plan your route to include divided highways, to protect your eyes from the glare of oncoming traffic. When the glare of oncoming lights gets to be too bad, look to the right to help save your eyes. Slow down and don't take chances with crummy weather conditions like rain and fog.

If you're THAT worried about your night vision, you might feel better if you limit your driving to the daytime. If you absolutely have to hit the road, you may find that big cities are better lit than back roads. Stick to familiar routes, rather than blazing new trails when you're already unsettled behind the wheel.

Learn more about Aimee Amodio

Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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