Cricket Eyes Age and Cataracts

Top professional sportsmen need very good eyesight, especially those who need to pick up the flight of a moving ball quickly. There is no doubt that the Indian Premier League (IPL) has firmly established itself on the world’s sporting calendar. Top cricketers from all over the world join Indian’s talent, established and emerging, to play an 8-team 20-over per side competition. The crowds are tremendous and the rewards for the top players the best a cricketer can expect anywhere. Chris Gayle, the hard-hitting West Indian reaching the veteran stage, began this season with a century but has otherwise struggled. It may be something to do with the eyes.

All but one of his dismissals have been by the quicker bowlers bowling short of a length. It means the flight of the ball remains below the sightscreen and it is therefore more difficult to pick up quickly. Commentators have been mentioning it in each game with reference to Gayle’s age and the fact that even though he is relatively young, mid-30s, his eyes and reactions are not as good as a decade ago.

The degrees of deterioration will be minimal but they exist. Away from the professional sports arena, the demands on ordinary people are not so exacting. Few people in their mid-30s for example will notice any difference in their eyesight in virtually every case. Amateur cricketers can continue to play well after that age, though they may drop down a level of two and athleticism is perhaps a bigger factor in their retirement than eyesight?

In ordinary walks of life, we regularly take our eyesight for granted. In later life, we usually accept that one day we will need reading glasses, and even wear glasses all the time. It is not really an inconvenience but it is something worth avoiding for as long as possible. There is extra pressure on eyesight and vision in later life, especially for those that spend significant time looking at a computer screen which is all too common in today’s working, and indeed social, environment.

It poses the question about whether we make determined efforts to look after our eyes as we do our overall health. It certainly helps overall fitness if you have a healthy diet and take exercise but the eyes can often do with a little more than that. Often it seems we don’t think about that yet there are a few things that take little effort that have been shown to add to the health of eyes.

Naturally formulated eyedrops certainly help keep eyes in good condition and help counter a number of common ailments that people suffer from. They are cheap, quick and easy to apply and perfectly safe.

While eyedrops are not the solution for Chris Gayle because of the exacting standards that are expected at the very top of the professional cricket game, the rest of us don’t face the challenges that Chris has faced in this season’s IPL.