Helping Our Eyes Through Exercise and Physical Activity

I went skiing yesterday. Loved it! I am a pretty mediocre skier, but I love being on the mountain on a cold, crisp day with a blue sky and the sun glistening on the white snow.

The importance of protecting your eyes while skiing

Yes, I wore my sunglasses. I know snow reflects a LOT of light.

I just looked up “sun glare on snow” and fell down a science rabbit hole.

Alrighty then. Learn something new every day. But that is not why I started writing this article. I started writing it to talk about visual impairment and sports.

Accommodating skiers with special needs

As long as those "bad" eyes are in a head attached to a fairly functional body, visually impaired folks can do sports. The place we were skiing, Jack Frost, has a special program for the blind. If I Google adaptive ski programs, I come up with lists of dozens of ski areas that accommodate skiers with special needs. Other places near me in Pennsylvania include Camelback, Whitetail, and Liberty, as well as a number of others. If you are interested, check them out.

Other sports for the visually impaired

Besides skiing, the visually impaired can engage in many other sports. I have done Zumba and yoga for years. If we ever get snow, I plan on cross-country skiing. Swimming, riding my bike, and kayaking are all on the agenda for my summer.

But don’t take my word for it. I recently came across an article online listing 10 sports for the visually impaired. To my list, they added things like table tennis and golf. They also suggested mountaineering and rowing!

Do you like to bowl? There may even be a blind bowler organization you can join. You might even get good enough to bowl in tournaments!

Physical activity is good for us in so many ways

Physical activity that we get doing sports is good for us. If you want to improve your overall health, it's well known that exercise through sports has a good chance of doing it for you, if you're cleared by a doctor for it. Want to expand your social circle? Engaging in sports can do that for you, too.

Not to mention the positive impact it can have on our mental health. There are also great benefits to that, too. According to the American Psychiatric Association, the role of physical activity and sports in mental health is significant; they suggest participating in sports can reduce symptoms of depression and even help people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).¹

Sports can feel empowering

Also, exercise and success at sports can be empowering. Vision loss is experienced by many as coming with a decreased sense of empowerment. Sports can help you get some of that back.

Getting involved in sports does not have to mean becoming an athletic "animal." Tandem biking and chair yoga are just as legitimate for some as powerlifting is for others. And, by the way, if you want to lift — power or otherwise — weightlifting is a legitimate sport and is open to the visually impaired.

Remember, sports are not just for kids. They are definitely not just for the fully sighted. Now, go play!