Recently I hosted a Nia class taught by a guest teacher. It was a on a Sunday. It happened to be one of the hottest days we have had. So I thought I would allow myself to be a little cooler by wearing my contacts and not my glasses. And by “cooler” I mean temperature-wise, tee hee! Having glasses on my face makes me a tad bit warmer than when I don’t have glasses on. I hadn’t worn my contacts in a long time. Turns out a VERY long time. When I went to read, I couldn’t. And on top of that I kept looking down under my glasses (the ones I wasn’t wearing because I was wearing my contacts). I also couldn’t write. I mean I could but it wasn’t very well because I couldn’t see. It was kind of funny, but very frustrating. I know that it happens, I know that as we age we lose our ability to read up close, but it was really weird, because without my contacts lenses I can see up close, fine. I can read up close without my glasses on, I have to look below them, push them up, or take them off. So when my contacts made me a far-sighted person, it was so weird to lose the ability to see close. I mean it made sense because my glasses do the same thing, it just didn’t dawn on me that my contacts would do the same thing and that I couldn’t push them up or easily take them off in order to see.
I am so used to wearing my glasses that the first time I stopped dancing during the Nia class, to mop off my face I grabbed for my glasses (the ones I wasn’t wearing because I was wearing my contacts) to push them up so I could towel off my face. Funny. It was a funny experience. Kind of frustrating because no matter how far or close I moved the – whatever I was trying to read – I couldn’t really see. This wasn’t an issue during the class, but afterwards it was. I actually borrowed by husband’s glasses for a second, just to see if they would help — they did.
Losing our ability to see close is part of the aging process. It is called presbyopia and is actually a change in the eye’s focusing ability. The American Optometric Association website says: “Losing the ability to read the newspaper or see the cell phone numbers may seem to have occurred abruptly. Actually, these changes have been occurring gradually since childhood. But up until now, your eyes have had adequate focusing power to allow you to see clearly for reading and close work. Now your eyes no longer have enough focusing power for clear and comfortable near vision tasks.” This is “the result of the lens inside the eye becoming less flexible.” The effects of this loss of flexibility starts being noticed about the age of 40. The condition just continues to worsen as we age.
There are many ways that this can be addressed or corrected, from glasses to surgery. I want to get new glasses. I don’t remember the last time I got new glasses. I am thinking I don’t want bifocals or progressives. I think I am ok with just looking under, pushing them all the way up, or taking them off. But we will see.
For those of you who are at this point or beyond, what have you opted to do? Anyone like progressives?
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