She seems to be right… well, at least about fewer men being blind.
Surveys have shown that nearly two thirds of all the blind and visually impaired people in the world are women. So why this mammoth difference? What is it about women that makes them more prone to visual impairment?
Certain factors are responsible for putting females at a disadvantage:
- Longer Life: Females tend to live longer than males. This means that they are more likely to suffer from age related eye diseases like cataract and age related macular degeneration.
- Inherent Chink in Armour: A number of eye diseases are more commonly seen to occur in women. Take dry eyes for example, dry eyes occur twice as commonly in women as in men. Women are also more likely to suffer from certain diseases of the immune system like RA, SLE etc. which are known to affect the eye.
- Unfairness towards the fairer sex: Social or economic constraints often prevent women from getting access to eye care on time. It’s not that this holds true for rural or poor women only. We all know how our mothers, sisters and wives fuss about the entire family’s nutrition and doctor visits, but always put their own health on the back burner.
What can women do?
- Eat Healthy: Have a diet rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Beta Carotene, Zinc and Omega 3 Fatty Acids.
- See your Eye Doctor: Do not put off that eye check for later. Do visit your eye doctor as advised even if you do not think that you suffer from any obvious eye problem.
- Live a healthy lifestyle: Exercising regularly and avoiding smoking will not only keep your heart healthy, they will help your eyes too!
As to who is more stupid, men or women.. we’d like to reserve our comments on that!!
