Wearing glasses and exercise

[damekindness]

I’ve worn contact lenses for decades and always for exercise. I’m due eye surgery and as part of that will need to stop wearing contact lenses for a month or so pre-op.

I am VERY short sighted so will need to wear my glasses for this period of time. How do people manage exercise with glasses? I mainly stick to Pilates, Yoga and swimming

Pilates and yoga I just wear them as normal. If you have very fall-y off-y glasses you might have to pop into your opticians and get them to adjust the arms. Sometimes I take them off if I have to put my face on the mat but mainly it's fine still.

Swimming I buy prescription goggles:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002641740619.html?spm=a2g0n.order_detail.order_detail_item.2.1ebff19ccKDOns

These are super cheap and work fine.

If you need them faster you might have to buy from Amazon or eBay.

Very easy to wear glasses for yoga and pilates.

Swimming is obviously tricky if you're putting your face in the water. Prescription goggles is probably the best solution.

I have prescription swim goggles, game changer for me.

I’m blind as a bat and my glasses are like jam jar bottoms 🤣 I’m a fitness instructor and run 10 miles a day as well as teach body pump and Pilates etc - wearing my glasses too - how do you think everyone else manages daily?🤷‍♀️😁

Thanks for the supportive comment

You need glasses that fit correctly so jump around and touch your toes in the opticians to check they don’t move around and fall off

and for swimming prescription googles may be the best solution

It was a fair comment. Many people wear glasses including during exercise.

@DisplayPurposesOnly and I was asking for their tips for wearing glasses during exercise as I’ve never done so. Many have taken the time to offer that advice and I’m very grateful for that advice

You will be fine for yoga etc OP, in terms of swimming I cant get perscription goggles so I just go in blind but stick to quieter times.

While I would avoid anything where you are likely to get hit in the face, most exercise is fine while doing glasses. I’ve done running, weights, HIIT, etc all while wearing glasses.

I wear glasses for all the activity I do except swimming. So pilates, gym machines, tennis etc. you need glasses that fit well and don’t wobble around. It’s not a problem. Swimming is ok, I can see well enough to avoid crashing into someone.

For swimming I have some prescription goggles, about £20 on Amazon they aren’t perfect vision but good enough to see in the pool, you just pick your lens strength and get the closest you can. For gym I just wear my glasses and occasionally shove them back up on my nose if they are falling down. They generally stay put, if I get particularly overheated they can get a bit steamed up but not usually.

If it's raining wear a hat with a brim if you exercise outdoors otherwise you're wiping raindrops off your specs all the time.

I swim in the sea and just don't wear my glasses. I like the fact that I can just withdraw into my own little world and everything becomes a blur.

I found that no matter what adjustment my glasses slipped when I was running or doing yoga. I now wrap a small hair band around each arm just where it sits behind my ear. Keeps them nicely in place.

I wear prescription swimming goggles from amazon.

For sports or things like fairground rides I wear a sports strap thing that attaches to each arm. Like this https://amzn.eu/d/gBaSL3F

I know what you mean because I'm a long-term contact lenses wearer who used to think that I needed them in for yoga and pilates. When I was pregnant with my second I had to stop wearing contact lenses and realised that those activities were no problem whilst wearing glasses. They need to be well fitted so if they slip forward when you lean over then visit your optician to get them adjusted. Now I tend to remove my lenses before yoga and wear my glasses so I don't need to faff about removing them when I get home. I only take them off when I'm prone on the mat or using a bolster in child's pose and I put them on a spare yoga brick by my mat.

For swimming I've always just gone blind. I know my way around my pool well enough, and I find that with normal goggles on my sight improves under water so collisions aren't an issue! You're not really supposed to wear contact lenses in the pool anyway because of the risk of infection, and if you do you should remove them after you get out the water and insert a fresh pair. When my kids were little and I needed to keep an eye on them I'd wear an old pair of glasses that I didn't mind getting wet.

I was in this situation a few months ago, with the additional annoyance of having lost a lot of weight so my frames were suddenly too big for my face to the point they couldn't be made to fit. Luckily my prescription wasn't very strong (-2.5) so I could take them off briefly when they really wouldn't stay on (yoga was the main offender here), and I also found that a fabric headband/running buff type thing worn over my ears helped hold them on and stop them bouncing around for sweatier/jumpier activities.

If you only ever wear contacts, suddenly having to wear glasses full time is quite the adjustment, which full time glasses wearers won't understand.

You can get sports straps to hold them on closely at the back of the head.

Not so much for OP's activities, but there are also prescription sports goggles that are better for sports such as football which arw better designed for a risk of impact for the wearer and the glasses.

I always wear my glasses when exercising. A sports headband helps to keep them in place once you get sweaty or you can get sports straps that attach on.

I wear my glasses for pretty much everything. As a pp says put a hat on for running to keep the rain off.

I wear contacts for climbing so I can see properly all the way round - I guess I would probably wear them if I played squash or tennis? Otherwise I cannot see round the outside of my glasses!