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Can you see at night as well as you think you should? If the answer is no, just know that you’re not alone. Many people feel that their night vision is weaker than it should be, and that can lead to problems. For one thing, it makes driving at night difficult at best, and downright dangerous at worst. If you worry about your night vision while you’re driving, then maybe it’s time to do something about it. So take a look at some of your options for improving your night vision.
Give Yourself Some Time
If you feel like your night vision is bad, take a look at how you’re using it. Do you walk out from your brightly lit apartment to your car on the dimly lit street, hop in, and start driving? If so, then you probably will have some difficulties. You have to give your eyes some time to adjust. It takes nearly half an hour for our eyes to fully adjust to darkness, and that’s when you’re avoiding bright lights in the meantime.
Protect Your Eyes
One of the most interesting ways you can improve your night vision is by changing what you do during the day. If you tend not to wear sunglasses, then you might be damaging your vision later on in the night. All the radiation and bright light from the sun during the day can hurt your ability to see at night. In fact, just 10 minutes of sunlight a day over a period of 10 days can leave you with a 50% reduction in your night vision. Remember that not all sunglasses protect your eyes from UV rays, and the kind that you want will transmit 15% of visible light. Not only will it help your night vision, but wearing sunglasses during the day will help protect your eyes from troubles down the road.
Go Red
A related tactic to improve your night vision is to use red tinted glasses to help your eyes adjust. The reasoning behind this is that the rods in our eyes aren’t as sensitive to red. So when every other color besides red is filtered out, your eyes are tricked into thinking that it’s dark, preparing them for their use at night. Pilots actually use red-tinted glasses when they don’t have time to adjust their eyes for night flying.
You can also use red light if you’re trying to adjust your eyes to the dark, but realize that you really do need some light for a brief time. As we just mentioned, your rods aren’t as sensitive to red light, so your eyes still keep their night vision.
Improve Your Overall Vision With LASIK
Driving or other nighttime activities can be quite stressful for those who already have poor eyesight. The added element of darkness can make routine tasks like finding the right exit on the highway into difficult and even dangerous situations. If that sounds like you, then maybe it’s time to consider improving your vision with LASIK eye surgery. If you’d like to learn more about how LASIK can improve your vision—both day and night—then give us a call, and we can set up a consultation to assess your options.
