Playing a sport requires endurance, athletic ability, and great vision. As it happens, vision drives performance in most sports. It’s common knowledge that to overcome your competition, your eyes need to be performing at their best. Even if you have perfect 20/20 vision, your eyes could still use a boost and they need protection. The right pair of sport-enhancing glasses can help protect your eyes and give you an edge over your competition.
Regardless of your visual acuity, wearing some form of protective eye wear while playing sports can help protect your eyes and ward off any injuries that occur. Nearly every sport has a different form of protective sports goggles. When you ski, you should wear the proper ski goggles that will deflect falling snow flakes and protect your eyes from the harmful glare that bounces off the snow. Major accidents have been known to happen when the sun hits the snow and reflects into the skier’s eyes.
More than 42,000 sport-related eye injuries are reported each year in the United States, each causing their fair amount of emergency room attention. Around 72 percent of these cases occur in people younger than 25, while 43 percent happen to children under the age of 15. It’s incredibly important for children to wear safety sport goggles while playing sports and it’s up to parents and coaches to insist that their eyes are protected.
While people may think that wearing regular prescription eyeglasses will be sufficient while playing sports, do not be mistaken. Certain sports, like golf, can still be played while wearing regular eyeglasses but other sports, like American football, warrant the use of protective eyewear. Wearing regular glasses while playing sports could result in an injury from plastic that may shatter or come loose and damage the eye. When selecting sports glasses, it’s important to consider the impact of ultraviolet light that radiates from the sun. UV rays have been linked to vision diseases like cataracts – so wearing tinted goggles or glasses with a special UV protective coating on the lenses while playing sports is always a good idea.
Color enhancements in eyeglasses can also aid in enhancing your performance in sports. We’re not really talking about sunglasses but you should look into sports sunglasses. These color enhancements selectively filter out glare and certain colors. The purpose is to make things more clear and give a contrast. For example, when playing baseball, light and color filters can help a baseball player catch a pop-up ball that may blend in with the sky when looked at against the sun. Tinted lenses that enhance yellow hues are perfect for tennis players; while copper-hued lenses are better for golfers who want to see the white ball against the green fairways.
Regardless of what type of protective eye wear you choose, it’s important to have two things added to the eyeglass lenses. An anti-reflective coating, sometimes called anti-glare, is a necessity for any sport-enhancing pair of glasses. You will also need a protective ultraviolet coating to ward off harmful UV rays that could cause potential vision problems in the future. Whatever your choice will be, it’s also important to choose polycarbonate lenses for the sport eye glasses. Given their resistance to shattering, they make the perfect lens choice for sports.