7 Fascinating Facts About Human Eyes

I have some significant vision problems.

Unfortunately, there's not much I can do about that.

However, in my research about sight, I found some interesting facts I thought I'd share.

First, I'd like to advise everyone to get an annual eye checkup.

Always have your eye pressure and your retinas checked. For the retina check, they will put drops in your eyes and wait until your pupils are hugely dilated. Then they can look through them to see the retinas.

Most insurance doesn't pay the extra for checking eye pressure and retina, but that's where the problems can sneak up on you that could eventually result in blindness.

7 Fascinating Facts About Eyes

1. The sense of sight is responsible for 90 to 95% of all or our sensory perception.

Think of the details you read from a character's viewpoint in a book. They're primarily about what the character  sees. A sky isn’t just blue; it’s robin's egg blue. Saying an ocean is stormy doesn't convey as much information as saying it's midnight blue with foaming white caps.

2. The human eye can perceive more than a million simultaneous visual impressions.

3. The human eye can detect the differences in almost 8 million gradations of color. My daughter the artist can do this. I look at something and say it's gray. She looks at it and says, "No, it's blue with an undertone of black and magenta."

4. The human eye is so sensitive that on a clear night when there is no moon, a person sitting on a mountain peak can see a match struck 50 miles away.

If you ever saw an old WW2 movie, where monitors checked to make sure no one had a light on that could be seen form outside.

If a light shone through an uncurtained window, the blackout monitor would yell for them to turn the light off  because bombers flying high in the sky could target a city using that light.

5. The human eye takes about an hour to completely adapt to seeing in the dark. If you have any kind of retina problem, you lose the ability to see in the dark.

6. When someone sees something pleasing, the pupil in the eye can dilate as much as 45%.

Remember all those passages in romance novels where you read, "His eyes darkened." That indicates he saw something very pleasing and the pupil of the eye enlarged to take in as much detail as possible.

7. Blue eyes are most sensitive to light with dark brown the least sensitive. Most snipers from Revolutionary times to modern day have been blue eyes.

My husband has brilliant blue eyes, and he could literally shoot a penny off a fence post.

Nature makes up for this physical difference, I guess, because people with brown eyes have an increased sense of smell. Most perfumers and others whose jobs involve the need for smell sensitivity are brown-eyed.

Protect your eyes when out in the sun. Wear good quality sunglasses. During this COVID era, it's safer to wear glasses than contact lenses when out and about.

Takeaway Truth

If you're a writer, make sure your words paint a picture that will come alive in the reader's imagination.

If you're a reader, think about those descriptions you read and the physical effects on the body. You may discover another layer of meaning.

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