reading entry 5

Women tend to face more vision problems.

JUST as how men and women are still not equal in various aspects, eyesight problems also hit women harder in many ways.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), nearly two-thirds of blind people worldwide are women and girls. However, 80% of all blindness can be treated, cured or prevented. In many countries, men have twice the access to eye care as women.

This year, World Sight Day (which is always held on the second Thursday of October) is observed tomorrow and themed Gender And Eye Health.

“When we talk about eye problems that affect women more than men, it’s usually due to the longer life expectancy of women and age-related eye problems such as cataract, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration,” said Dr Norazlina Bachik, consultant ophthalmologist with a private eye specialist centre.

Eyeing the problem: ‘When we talk about eye problems that affect women more than men, it’s usually due to the longer life expectancy of women and age-related eye problems,’ says Dr Azlina Bachik.

In addition, she said, women’s eyeball structures are usually smaller, which can affect refractive errors like myopia or nearsightedness, hyperopia or farsightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia, an age-related condition involving the gradual loss of one’s ability to focus on nearby objects.

Smaller eyeballs tend to worsen farsightedness or hyperopia. Hyperopia is a common vision condition in which one can see objects in the distance clearly, but objects nearby may be blurry. It is not age-related. People with severe farsightedness can only see clearly objects a great distance away, while those with mild farsightedness may see clearly objects that are closer.

Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in the world. Symptoms of cataract are smoky or hazy vision, dull colours and blur night vision. However, cataract is reversible and besides being age-related, is also common in people with diabetes. The risk of developing diabetes increases with age. Diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes, affects the retina and can cause blindness.

Glaucoma, on the other hand, is hereditary, irreversible and usually asymptomatic. Available treatment only slows down its progression. Called the “silent thief of sight”, it affects the peripheral vision first, followed by central vision.

The main reason glaucoma happens is due to high intraocular pressure (or pressure within the eyeball) which over time, damages the optic nerve, which is located at the back of the eye.

There are two main types of glaucoma – open angle glaucoma and angle-closure glaucoma.

Open-angle glaucoma occurrences are quite equal between men and women but angle-closure glaucoma is more common in women due to their smaller eyeball structure.

The term “open angle” refers to the angle between the iris and sclera which is normal, in contrast to angle closure glaucoma where the angle is narrowed. In this condition, there is a sudden increase in the pressure within one eye.

The third eye problem associated with age is age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a disease that gradually destroys sharp, central vision, needed for seeing objects clearly and for tasks such as reading and driving. AMD affects the macular, the part of the eye that allows you to see fine detail, and is not painful. In some cases, AMD progression is slow and people do not notice a change in their vision. In others, the disease progresses faster and may lead to a loss of vision in both eyes.

Hormonal imbalance also plays a big part in women’s eyesight. “Anything hormone-related, including hormone replacement therapy and fertility treatments, affect refractive errors,” said Dr Norazlina.

During pregnancy and after, if the mother is breast-feeding, the body experiences hormonal changes which may increase refractive errors, especially presbyopia, and also cause dry eyes.

Lack of estrogen is one of the reasons for dry eyes in women, who form the majority of sufferers. According to Dr Norazlina, about 90% of her patients with dry eye problems are women.

Lifestyle factors also contribute to eye problems in women. Generally, more women than men wear contact lenses. When there is poor hygiene or extended wear of contact lenses, infections may arise. In some severe cases, the cornea is scarred. Improper removal of eye make-up causes dirt to be trapped at the base of the eyelash, which can cause infections as well.

Eye check-ups are important in preventing eye and vision problems. To help prevent cataract, wear sunglasses that filter out ultraviolet rays (A and B), which can also cause damage to the macular. Smoking is also a risk factor for cataract and AMD. Some studies have also shown that high omega-3 fatty acids intake can reduce the occurrences of cataract and AMD.

“The most effective preventive measure for all eye problems is a yearly screening,” stressed Dr Norazlina.
http://thestar.com.my/health/story.asp?file=/2009/10/7/health/4825052&sec=health

reading entry 4

Smiling Improves Women's Self Esteem and Appearance, Scientists Say

Recent study claims that a woman can significantly improve their appearance by simply smiling. Researchers discovered that the smile improves the appearance of women who feel unhappy about their look.

A considerable improvement in self esteem brought psychologists to the idea that feeling confident about your appearance is associated with social acceptance. Scientists performed their study, led by psychologist Carolien Martijn, with women of normal body weight, who showed different degrees of satisfaction with their appearance.

"The positive effect we witnessed for women with a high level of body concern supports the idea that body satisfaction may be linked to the idea of social approval," said Carolien Martijn. She added that by simply showing women pictures of themselves followed by a happy face, considerably improved their self esteem. Scientists mentioned that the experiment is worth carrying out on people, who were clinically diagnosed with eating disorders.

In their research, scientists analyzed the degree of body satisfaction and self-esteem of 57 women with normal body weight index. They also took pictures of each study participant. Then women were shown photographs of themselves among pictures of other women and each picture was followed by a photograph of either by a smiling, frowning or neutral face.

The participants were then divided into two groups. Women from the first group were shown pictures followed by a smiling face, while those from the second group were shown pictures followed randomly by neutral, frowning of smiling faces. Afterwards women were once again examined for body satisfaction and self esteem.

Those who were shown a smiling face after their photograph, showed an increased body satisfaction. According to Miss Martijn, women with high concerns about their body showed a significant improvement in body satisfaction. In addition, these women had the level of their self esteem considerably increased as well. The same results were reported in the second group.

According to researchers, they will carry on with their experiments together with experts from the University of Sheffield and develop specific strategies to improve body image.

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reading entry 3

Plants Enjoy Women's Voices More than Men's

Plants grow faster if you talk to them and the effect is even better if you're a woman. Researchers at Royal Horticultural Society carried out an experiment to find that the voice of a woman gardener makes plants grow faster.

The experiment lasted a month and by the end of the study scientists managed to discover that tomato plants grew up 2 inch taller when women gardeners talked to them instead of male.

Sarah Darwin was the one of make the plants registered the best growth. Her voice was the most "inspiring" for plants than the voices of nine other gardeners when reading a passage from the On the Origin of Species. The great-great daughter of the famous botanist Charles Darwin found that her plant grew about two inches taller than the plant of the best male gardener.

Colin Crosbie, Garden Superintendent at RHS, said that the findings cannot yet be explained. He presumes that women have a greater range of pitch and tone which might have a certain effect on the sound waves that reach the plant. "Sound waves are an environmental effect just like rain or light," said Mr. Crosbie.

The study began in April at RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey. Scientists started with open auditions for the people who were asked to record passages from John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream and Darwin's On the Origin of Species.

Afterwards researchers selected a number of different voices and played them to 10 tomato plants during a period of a month. Each plant had headphones connected to it. Through the headphones the sound waves could hit the plants. Scientists decided to leave two plants in silence, thus to be positive that the experiment is fair. It was discovered that plants that "listened" to female voices in average grew taller by an inch in comparison to plants that heard male voices.

Miss Darwin said: "I think it is an honor to have a voice that can make tomatoes grow, and especially fitting because for a number of years I have been studying wild tomatoes from the Galapagos Islands at the Natural History Museum in London."
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