Glaucoma: The evidence on lifestyle choices
29 January 2021
Winter 2021
Should optometrists be telling their glaucoma patients to give up yoga and quit coffee, or concentrate on more general lifestyle changes instead? Jo Waters asks three leading experts.
People with glaucoma sometimes ask clinicians what they can do to reduce their risk of losing their vision, and whether lifestyle changes could help. But what does the currently available evidence show?
“Patients ask about how drinking too much coffee or certain yoga positions may raise intraocular pressure [IOP],” says Dr Laura Edwards MCOptom, Specialist Optometrist at Moorfields Eye Hospital. “Others have questions about supplements and herbal remedies, and whether they help lower IOP. I generally don’t advise patients to give up activities, as the evidence base for the effects of these lifestyle factors isn’t strong enough for us to make recommendations.”
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