​Preparing Our Eyes To See In Darkness

When compared to darkness, our eyes adapt well in brightness. Cones attain highest sensitivity in 5 to 7 minutes while 30-40 minutes is required by rods or complete darkness to attain dark adaptation up to 80 percent. It can also take many hours or total dark adaptation.

Exposure to sunlight for a long time reduces the ability to see in darkness by ten minutes and there is 50 percent loss of night vision if eyes are completely exposed for ten days. Always wear a grey tinted sunglass. If we wear red tinted glasses before going to low light, it will help us a lot as rod cells don’t recognize red color. This is a trick practiced by aviators before flying at night.

Always lower the brightness in the computer screen. Do not look bright light directly as it increases the adjustment time to adapt to darkness. If you have to look, then close one of your eyes for dark adaptation. While driving at night do not look directly on the high beam. Instead focus on the lines in road to stay in your course.

Allow your eyes to adjust naturally. Close your eyes for sometime before going to dark as our eyes will adapt to the darkness. Apply some pressure to intensify the adaptation process.

Seeing at night is very important to be safe. Be sure that you get good amount of vitamin A. avoid smoking and do not forget to wear glasses while you go out. You can also try UV rays blocking contact lens.