Drinking coffee prevents eye fatigue
Exercising doesn’t just affect our arms and legs and other obvious parts of the body – new research shows that it can put stress on our eyes as well. Now a new study from the University of Auckland in New Zealand shows that drinking coffee prevents eye fatigue associated with exercise.
The researchers explained in the study that intense exercise can cause a condition called central fatigue, which normally shows up as tired legs.
The team found that vigorous exercise slowed down the study participants’ rapid eye movements.
“Interestingly, the areas of the brain that process visual information are robust to fatigue. It’s the pathways that control eye movements that seem to be our weakest link,” says Dr. Gant.
“These results are important because our eyes must move quickly to capture new information,” he adds. “But there’s hope for coffee drinkers because this visual impairment can be prevented by consuming caffeine.”
The researchers found that the participants who drank coffee had a restored neurotransmitter balance, which in turn improved rapid eye movements and reduce eye fatigue.
Caffeine is capable of countering this effect, suggesting that central fatigue may be related to a disruption in the balance of one or more excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters.”
This is not the first study linking coffee to exercise benefits, as a recent study from the University of Georgia found that coffee improved endurance during exercise.
The study showing that drinking coffee prevents eye fatigue was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
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REFERENCES:
1. “Coffee May Improve Athletic Endurance Performance.” Newswise. University of Georgia, n.d. Web. 10 Jun. 2016.
2. “Coffee Might Prevent Exercise-induced Eye Fatigue.” Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, n.d. Web. 10 June 2016.
3. “Tiring the Legs Also Tires the Eyes – the Remedy Is Caffeine.” The University of Auckland. The University of Auckland, n.d. Web. 10 June 2016.
4. “Fatigue Related Impairments in Oculomotor Control Are Prevented by Caffeine.” Scientific Reports. Nature.com, n.d. Web. 10 June 2016.
