IN YOUR DAILY DOSE today are specific yoga poses that may pose a risk for people who suffer from glaucoma. The poses can increase the pressure behind the eye and increase the risk of further damage.

IN MAKING CHANGES today are strategies you can use to reduce your stress and anxiety using other types of exercise. Although yoga is very healthy, there are poses you must avoid if you have glaucoma.

IN FACT OR FICTION you’ll discover some interesting facts about deciduous forests and what lives in them. Do you have one nearby?

In The News

Although yoga is a healthy practice that reduces stress and improves fitness, glaucoma patients can experience increased pressure in the eyes when performing several of the head down positions.

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the US and can dramatically affect your life. Damage to the optic nerve happens as the fluid pressure builds up in the eye. Increasing the pressure, although transient, during yoga positions, can increase your risk of damage and speeding the risk of blindness.

Senior study author Robert Ritch, MD from the Shelley and Steven Einhorn Distinguished Chair and Director, Glaucoma Research, was quoted in Science Daily saying, "While we encourage our patients to live active and healthy lifestyles, including physical exercise, certain types of activities, including pushups and lifting heavy weights, should be avoided by glaucoma patients due to the risk of increasing IOP and possibly damaging the optic nerve. This new study will help clinicians advise their patients on the potential risk associated with various yoga positions and other exercises that involve inverted poses."

SOURCE: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160107105234.htm

Daily Health Tip

Glaucoma leads to blindness. Reducing your risk factors for glaucoma can reduce your risk factors for going blind as you age.  Although you may have some distortion of your lens as you age from hardening of the lens, glaucoma is not a normal part of aging.

Making Changes

Reduce your risks of glaucoma by avoiding the risk factors. Some of these factors you can avoid and others are not avoidable - like getting older!

·         Having high internal eye pressure (intraocular pressure)

·         Being over age 60

·         Being black or Hispanic

·         Having a family history of the condition

·         Having certain medical conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and sickle cell anemia

·         Having certain eye conditions, such as nearsightedness

·         Having had an eye injury or certain types of eye surgery

·         Early estrogen deficiency, such as can occur after removal of both ovaries (bilateral oophorectomy) before age 43

·         Taking corticosteroid medications, especially eyedrops, for a long time

My Daily Affirmation

Self-Reflection Questions:

1. What are my triggers for emotional eating?

2. What diet or exercise changes can I incorporate to help me forget emotional eating?

3. What is my plan for learning new coping techniques?

Fact Or Fiction?

A deciduous forest is a fun place to explore with your family and friends. You might be surprised what lives there.  

It’s a forest made of trees that lose their leaves each autumn and grow new ones each spring. You’ll find deciduous trees in areas of the country where there are four seasons that are regular. Many of these trees have sap that can be tapped in the cold season to make some amazing syrup. The only areas of the country that gets more rain that ones with deciduous forests are the rainforests.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oolt2wvtuRM

Have a wonderful day!

Your Healthy Life America Team