The Struggles of Exercising With Prescription Glasses and Vision Impairment (and How to Deal With It)

When you’re at work, school, or just hanging around places, you’re bound to notice people wearing glasses. According to CBS in 2013, 61 percent of the population wear glasses or contact lenses. That’s 6 in 10 people who have vision impairment. Vision impaired people function as well as everyone else, except for their eyesight. They work, play, and exercise. However, exercising can be a challenge if you wear glasses or contact lenses. As with all challenges, you can easily conquer these with simple fixes.

The Struggle: Fogging glasses due to increased body temperature. So you’re running, cycling, working out, or playing sports. As your intensity increases, your body heat does too. Your skin sweats to cool down your skin. The differences in temperature makes your glasses fog. 

The Fix(es): First, consider purchasing anti-fog lenses or an anti-fog coating spray. When buying new glasses, choose a style that doesn’t stick too close to your face, so it allows for more air circulation. Also, don’t overdress when exercising. Too much layers heat up the body. In general, wear one layer of dri-fit clothing for sweat absorption and breathability.

The Struggle: Sweat dropping from the forehead to the lenses . When your head points to the ground while on a rest period, sweat is bound to drop from your forehead to your glasses. It’s annoying but you have to wipe your glasses. When it happens, you have to do it all over again, for God knows how many times.                         

The Fix: A sweatband. A thick, wide sweatband made from a mix of artificial and natural fabrics helps to wick the sweat away from your forehead. It absorbs the sweat and allows it to evaporate quicker than it would on your skin. That makes sweat unable to obscure your clear lenses.

The Struggle: Unstable glasses due to impactful body movements. People with glasses have all had that moment when they run faster, do jumping movements, or play ball sports. It annoys you because it makes it’s a distraction and makes concentrating harder. Also, it moves around and disturbs your vision. 

The Fix: Head straps or glasses straps. If you don’t have the money to buy sports glasses, considering head straps. They attach easily to the edge of the frame to ensure no movement. It’s (mostly) cheap, stabilizes your glasses, and you can take it off any time. 

The Struggle: Tired of exercising with regular glasses. Vision impaired people would be lying if they told you exercise with glasses is easy. Especially if what you do is an intense sports. It never seems that your glasses can keep up with you.

The Fix: If you're in a safe position, then take the glasses off. If you know the place you're running or cycling around, then generally it is safe to take them off. If that isn't an option, purchase sports glasses or contacts. If applicable, the easiest fix would be to buy sports glasses. They come at a price though, and cost more or less the same as regular glasses. But, they come with a prescription. With sports glasses, fogging, sweating, and moving won’t disturb you at all. Vision impaired athletes from a wide variety of fields use sports glasses to help their game. Contacts are a cheaper alternative, but it can be challenging to some. It can’t be used in swimming. You have to be extra careful with it, as it can be easily infected with sweat and constant touching.