Not long ago, sports professionals rarely wore eyewear to protect their eyes. This greatly exposed them to sports-related eye injuries. Today, however, sports eyewear can be spotted in almost every sports activity. Whether it’s in major leagues or little leagues.
Protecting your eyes from accidental finger jabs and other forms of impact are enough reasons to invest in sports glasses.
It’s true that every sporting activity requires a different skillset. However, all kinds of sports share a critical need for good vision. Investing in a good pair of prescription sports glasses is important for various reasons. This includes the protection of your eyes and the enhancement of your performance.
Tips in Selecting the Ideal Sports Glasses
Sports glasses are important for those who engage in sporting activities. Prescription options are designed to enhance your ability to perform better. They also reduce fogging, prevent eye injuries, and resist impact.
Based on your kind of sport and personal preference, you need to know whether you’ll buy glasses or goggles. Goggles will give you a secure fit, one that doesn’t fall off or slide down your nose during high activities. As for glasses, they are a good option for those participating in non-contact or lower intensity sports.
Let’s now discuss how you can pick your sports glasses.
- Ensure They Are a Good Fit
An important factor when picking out your sports glasses is ensuring that they are a good fit. Due to the sporting activities, these glasses tend to get shaken around quite a lot. This is especially the case in sporting activities that involve running, jumping, and throwing.
Sports professionals don’t like wearing glasses that are tight and uncomfortable. But it’s also necessary that the glasses stay in place when your head gets shaken around. You should also ensure that they stay in place when your face gets sweaty.
There are a lot of sports websites that have tested all kinds of sports sunglasses. Trials have also been made while in various environments and different weather conditions.
So the standards for choosing the best sports glasses should be based on wraparound protection for the eyes. You should also base your choice on clear vision and let it be tight but comfortable.
- Light Adaptability
If you’re playing outdoors, it will be a good idea to protect your eyes from injuries and the harsh sun rays. Remember that the sun’s glare can make your eyes teary. This can be distracting if you’re hiking or biking.
The UV 400 coating on glasses will protect you from the harsh ultra-violet rays. Assuming you live in high UV index regions, you need to get glasses with UV 400 coating. That is what will protect your eyes. Your eyes can get affected by UV rays after prolonged exposures. Thus, you must get prescription glasses to help you reduce the exposure to the sun.
When playing sports, you have to worry about light coming from the sun and reflections from water bodies. To protect your eyes from glares and bright light, make use of the prescription sports glasses online. These glasses will give you clear vision in any light conditions. They can turn darker with exposure to the sun and go back to being clear in regular lighting.
- The Color of the Lens and Tints
You shouldn’t ignore your preferred lens color and tint when selecting your sporting glasses. A lot of brands offer a broad range of lens tint options with sports models. So your choice of the glasses should depend on the circumstances and environment of your sporting activities.
The most popular choice for athletes is the gray or smoke tinted lens. That’s because they are suited for light conditions. This ensures that light is evenly reduced across the whole color spectrum. The only disadvantage is that these kinds of glasses don’t provide greater contrast.
Another popular choice is the amber and brown tint. They provide a higher contrast, which makes objects appear sharper and distance judgment is improved. Yellow colors help by enhancing colors in an environment with low visibility. These glasses also improve contrast while increasing depth perceptions.
Some of the useful lens technologies include photochromic lenses that change colors based on the lighting conditions. A lot of manufacturers for sporting glasses incorporate this feature in their ranges. Polaroid lenses have been around for some time. They can reduce glare substantially, especially from wide and flat surfaces.
- Materials Used in Manufacturing the Glasses
Lens materials are an important consideration for sports glasses. The popular choice here is glass and polycarbonate lenses.
Compared to polycarbonate, glass tends to be marginally clearer. The disadvantage with them, however, is that they’re prone to scratching while polycarbonate has impact resistance abilities and is less likely to shatter. The weight of the material is also a good consideration. The lighter the sunglasses, the better they are where split seconds can count.
Technological advances brought new features into the market a while back. Interchangeable lenses are the most useful for sports as they can be snapped into place in seconds. This eliminates the need to have an extra pair of spectacles at a time. Different lenses can be easily snapped into place to suit the weather or environmental conditions.
Ultra-modern hypoallergenic materials feel better on the skin. They’re good for sporting activities where glasses must be worn for extended periods. Shield lens designs have also improved in recent years. They now provide more wraparound protection for the eyes. They claim the best coverage and ensure good air circulation.
- Pay Attention to the Altitude
Special lenses probably come to mind when thinking of protection from ultraviolet rays. But in snow sports, UV rays reflect off snow and infiltrate the gaps in frames.
Specialized frames designed for high altitude sports can help to reduce damage by including shields on the sides and over the bridge of your nose. The shields will improve your ability to look around without facing glare.
High altitudes are also something to consider for more additional UV exposures. That’s because the higher you go, the thinner the atmosphere and the greater the exposure to UV rays.
Final Take Away
When involved in sports activities, note that prescription glasses will help with the reduction of glare and brightness. On hazy days, the glasses will increase contrast and improve your vision.
Prescription sports sunglasses also protect your eyes from ultraviolet light, rain, and snow. When selecting a pair of sports glasses, be sure that they will suit your unique needs. You can research, read reviews and solicit the opinions of fellow athletes to get the right glasses.
