WALKING STEPS AND GLAUCOMA

 

A daily average of more than 10,000 paces was shown to have a long-term impact on ocular blood flow that may confer a protective effect against glaucoma.

A minimum of 10,000 steps per day has been associated with numerous health benefits, including a reduction in blood pressure, an enhancement in exercise capacity and a decrease in sympathetic nerve activity among individuals with hypertension. 

A recent study published in Journal of Glaucoma revealed that increasing patients’ daily exercise, particularly to more than 10,000 steps per day, may be a pragmatic approach to improving optic disc blood flow in glaucoma patients.

“Our study implies that daily physical activity may have a long-term impact on ocular blood flow” the study researchers wrote in their paper. 

Click here for the journal source.

CHRONIC STRESS AND MACULAR DEGENERATION

 

A new study in American Journal of Ophthalmology demonstrated a connection between chronic stress and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). 

The data revealed that AMD patients exhibited significantly higher chronic stress scores as far back as a decade before their diagnosis when compared to controls without AMD. For each unit increase in chronic stress score, the odds of having AMD increased by a factor of 1.11, highlighting a direct correlation between chronic stress and the increased likelihood of developing AMD. 

While this study reinforces that smoking cessation is the most important lifestyle modification to lower AMD risk, the researchers point out the connection between smoking and  chronic stress.

Smoking has been directly associated with higher stress scores. Nicotine exposure may lead to activation of stress systems, and chronic stress may lead to adoption of poor health behaviors like smoking.

Future work could expand on current efforts to understand the role of chronic stress in ocular health and disease outcomes, such as AMD progression.