Our neighbourhoods and internet is filled with examples and studies on how exercise benefits our Physical and Mental health. One another study from University of Virginia School of Medicine have found that exercise slow or prevent the development of macular degeneration (causes loss in the centre of the field of vision) or other common causes of vision loss such as glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.

“There has long been a question about whether maintaining a healthy lifestyle can delay or prevent the development of macular degeneration. The way that question has historically been answered has been by taking surveys of people, asking them what they are eating and how much exercise they are performing,” Bradley Gelfand, PhD, UVA’s Center for Advanced Vision Science.

An initial test comparing mice that voluntarily exercised versus those that did not found that exercise reduced the blood vessel overgrowth by 45 per cent. A second test, to confirm the findings, found a reduction of 32 per cent.

Gelfand noted that the onset of vision loss was often associated with a decrease in exercise. “It is fairly well known that as people’s eyes and vision deteriorate, their tendency to engage in physical activity also goes down. It can be a challenging thing to study in older people. How much of that is one causing the other?” the researcher said.