The 9 Worst Habits for Your Eyes

Everyday actions that can affect your vision and threaten your health

Kimberly Goad,

Updated May 27, 2026

AARP

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Updated May 27, 2026

cell phone, cigarettes, phone, mascara, glasses

Photo Collage: AARP; (Source: Getty Images (7))

Key takeaways

Daily habits like smoking, screen overuse and skipping sunglasses can harm eyes.
Simple changes, from screen breaks to nutrition and vaccines, help protect older adults’ vision.
Annual eye exams can catch glaucoma, cataracts and age-related macular degeneration before vision loss occurs.

The importance of an annual eye exam cannot be overstated. Not only does it help you keep tabs on any changes in your vision; it’s also a must for detecting the big vision thieves: glaucoma, cataracts and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), all of which can cause irreparable harm before you’ve even noticed any vision loss, says Dr. Michelle Andreoli, an ophthalmologist at Northwestern Medicine in Illinois.

What might not be so obvious when it comes to the health of your eyes are the everyday habits that affect them. Here are nine of the worst habits for eyes — and what you can do to break them.

Bad habit 1: Smoking

Cigarette smoke is more than just irritating to your eyes; research shows it also raises your risk of developing AMD, the eye disease that can blur your central vision. People over age 55 are already at risk for the condition, but a review of studies published in Clinical Interventions in Aging shows that smokers are at a two- to fourfold risk of AMD, compared with never smokers. From 1990 to 2021, global cases of smoking-associated AMD rose from 40,006 to 58,858 cases — a 47.1 percent surge, according to a 2025 report in Tobacco Induced Diseases. Cases are expected to rise to 72,574 by 2040.

“Smoking reduces the effectiveness of antioxidants and may deplete these levels in the macula,” the small area at the center of the retina that’s necessary to see things in front of you, explains Dr. Ashley Brissette, an ophthalmologist in New York City. “Cigarette smoke also reduces the amount of oxygen reaching the tiny blood vessels that supply the eye, leading to vision damage.”

That’s true for those who smoke only occasionally or are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke, Brissette adds. The good news? The same review of studies shows that kicking the habit does more than reduce the risk of AMD: After 20 years, the risk of developing the condition is the same as it is for nonsmokers.

Bad habit 2: Staring at your smartphone

Your eyes pay a price directly and indirectly when you stare at that tiny screen — or, for that matter, your computer screen or TV — without giving them a break. According to the American Optometric Association, using any digital device for two hours straight can cause digital eye strain.

“We’re supposed to blink once every 4 seconds, and in front of the computer, we blink about once every 8 to 10 seconds. That [difference] may sound insignificant, but blinking is what keeps our eyes lubricated. [If] we aren’t lubricating our eyes sufficiently, we develop dry eye symptoms, and that leads to eye strain,” Andreoli says.

Her recommendation: Practice the 20-20-20 rule. Throughout the day, take a 20-second screen break every 20 minutes to look at something 20 feet away. And while you’re in habit-changing mode, turn off your phone and put the laptop away in the hours leading up to bedtime. If you like to play, say, Wordle or return emails late at night, be sure to dim the screen’s brightness. You can schedule this to happen automatically using the Night Shift setting on an iPhone or the Notification Shade on an Android device.

Bad habit 3: Not wearing sunglasses

In the same way that ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun can do a number on your skin, it can also wreak havoc with your vision. Specifically, UV rays can damage the eye’s surface tissues, the cornea and lens. Over time, that damage can lead to cataracts, AMD and cancers of the eye.

“You can also develop a sunburn on the eyes called photokeratitis, which can be extremely painful,” Brissette says. To help prevent all of the above, wear sunglasses — not just during the summer but every day of the year, even when it’s cloudy.

“Sunglasses protect the eyes in a few ways,” Brissette adds. “It’s hard to apply sunscreen close to the eyes, so sunglasses can act as a physical barrier, blocking UV rays from the eyelids and skin around the eyes. Also, the lenses of the sunglasses have UV protection.”

To fully protect your eyes, check the tag or sticker to make sure the glasses provide 100 percent UV protection.

Worth noting: Even if you wear contact lenses with UV-blocking technology, you should still wear sunglasses outdoors. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), these contacts protect only the part of the eye they cover, leaving the surrounding area exposed to harmful radiation. Your eyes get the most protection when you wear sunglasses, especially wraparound styles.

Bad habit 4: Sleeping with your contact lenses in

Sure, contacts have gotten more user-friendly, but that doesn’t mean you can put them in and forget about them. “The biggest issue is the risk of infection, which can cause permanent scarring of the cornea and loss of vision,” Brissette says. “Bacteria and other debris get trapped between the contact lens and the surface of the cornea, so leaving them in too long or past their expiration [puts you at] high risk for developing an infection.”

About 1 in 3 contact lens wearers plead guilty to sleeping or napping in their lenses, according to research in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In doing so, they’re upping the risk for contact lens–related eye infections by six- to eightfold.

“I suggest daily lenses for most of my patients — put them in in the morning and throw them away at night — because the risk for infection with those types of lenses is very low,” Andreoli says. With some of the longer-wear lenses, patients have a knack for losing track of how long they’ve worn them, she notes.

Bad habit 5: Rubbing your eyes

There’s no real harm in occasionally rubbing your eyes, but if you’re aggressive about it, you run the risk of damaging your cornea, the clear, dome-shaped front surface of your eye. This can lead to keratoconus, which occurs when your cornea thins out and begins to bulge outward into a cone shape. As a result, your vision becomes blurry and distorted.

A 2023 study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine found that the severity of dry eye disease was higher in patients who are chronic eye rubbers.

If you’re looking for quick relief from redness, irritation, dryness and grittiness in the eye, it’s OK to rub your eyes.

If you find that you’re habitually rubbing your eyes — and one way to get a handle on just how often you’re rubbing is to keep track for a week — try rubbing the outer edge of the eye socket instead of your eyes as a way to minimize the consequences.

Bad habit 6: Sleeping with makeup on

Researchers know that wearing eye makeup increases your risk of inflammation and affects the quality of your tears. It also plays a role in the development and exacerbation of dry eye disease, according to research published in 2022 in Cureus. That’s especially true if you make a habit of falling asleep with your makeup on.

Every once in a great while, it’s OK if you don’t take your makeup off before you fall asleep. Make a habit of that, however, and you raise your risk of eye infection, most notably in the form of a sty, a painful lump that grows from the base of your eyelash or under the eyelid. Also important is how you take off your eye makeup.

Oil-based remover can exacerbate some dry eye symptoms and deposit oil in the tears, Andreoli says. “If patients are starting to notice this, abandon eye makeup remover and use very mild face soap instead,” she adds.

Bad habit No. 7: Heavy drinking

The surprise isn’t that drinking is bad for your health. The surprise is how bad heavy drinking can be for your eyes. “Some of the most damaging effects on vision are from extremely high levels of alcohol or chronic alcohol abuse,” Brissette says. “Toxic blood alcohol levels can permanently damage the optic nerve and vision centers.” Even occasional alcohol use contributes to dry eye disease, Brissette says.

In fact, a review of studies published in 2021 in the Journal of Ophthalmic & Vision Research found that chronic alcohol consumption raises the risk for cataracts, AMD, diabetic retinopathy and various types of optic neuropathy, among other conditions.

Bad habit No. 8: Skimping on nutrients

Somewhere along the way, carrots became the poster vegetable for good eye health. While it’s true that your eyes need vitamin A — it helps nourish the cornea and is critical for retinal function — carrots aren’t the only eye-friendly veggie.

An older clinical trial tested whether nutritional supplements — specifically, lutein, zeaxanthin, vitamins C and E, copper and zinc — could prevent or slow the progression of AMD and cataracts. Taking the vitamins had no effect on cataracts, but it did help people with AMD reduce their risk of progressing from intermediate to advanced AMD by about 25 percent. The formulation tested in the study is sold over the counter as the AREDS2 formula.

Brissette recommends taking the supplement if you’ve been diagnosed with AMD, though it’s always crucial to talk to your doctor before taking any new supplement or medication.

Otherwise, she suggests following the Mediterranean diet for overall eye health. “That’s what we have the best evidence for in terms of being beneficial for eye health — specifically, foods rich in vitamins A, C and E, lutein, zeaxanthin and omegas,” she says. “It’s always better to get our nutrients from whole food sources rather than from supplements, if possible. If you’ve been diagnosed with macular degeneration, then taking a supplement, such as AREDS2, can help to slow progression and are additionally recommended.”

Bad habit No. 9: Skipping vaccines

The AAO recommends getting appropriate vaccines, including shingles and measles. Both diseases can cause serious vision problems.

The CDC recommends that everyone age 50 and older receive a two-dose series of Shingrix, which is more than 90 percent effective at preventing shingles in people 50 and older who have healthy immune systems. In addition to a painful rash, shingles can cause serious complications, including nerve damage and vision loss.

Although most older Americans have either had measles or the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, it can still be a concern. If you can’t remember whether you’ve had the illness or the vaccine, talk to your doctor; the CDC says getting an additional vaccine is not harmful.

Measles can infect the cornea and cause blindness, although due to widespread vaccination, this is rare in the United States.

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The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.

Kimberly Goad is a New York-based journalist who has covered health for some of the nation’s top consumer publications. Her work has appeared in Women’s Health, Prevention, Health and Reader's Digest.