Now, Glaucoma is a serious thing (WARNING: Boring definition) :
Glaucoma is a group of diseases of the optic nerve involving loss of retinal ganglion cells in a characteristic pattern of optic neuropathy. Although raised intraocular pressure is a significant risk factor for developing glaucoma, there is no set threshold for intraocular pressure that causes glaucoma. One person may develop nerve damage at a relatively low pressure, while another person may have high eye pressures for years and yet never develop damage. Untreated glaucoma leads to permanent damage of the optic nerve and resultant visual field loss, which can progress to blindness.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaucoma
I was skeptical, but I'm not a complete idiot, so I decided to look it up in case it was something to worry about. I did a quick search Google and picked the first 3 articles. Here's the headlines:
Lifting weights raises risk of glaucoma (MSNBC)
Weightlifting May Boost Glaucoma Risk (WebMD)
Weightlifting increases pressure within the eye (EurekAlert!)
Wow! Research has always shown that weight lifting helps the body to store energy efficiently, clear toxins and promote health. But according to these headlines - which is undoubtedly the ONLY source of information the radio personality used - weight lifting now might be the cause of Glaucoma!!
Then I read further...
It turns out that some research was performed in Brazil and published in the Archives of Ophthalmology. The research shows that pressure in the eye significantly rises when holding your breath when exerting the most pressure while weight lifting. If you know anything about exercising, you should know that proper breathing is essential. The original article can be found here: HTML or PDF.
The control exercise was the Benchpress (yes, just the one exercise) which is an exercise that most people perform incorrectly to begin with. The subjects did two sets of four repetitions at 80% of their maximum capacity. The first set the subjects exhaled normally on the last repetition. They waited an hour and performed the second set this time holding their breath on the last repetition. Their eye pressure was then measured while the subject still held the bar up. Their research showed that there was a 60% increase in eye pressure when breathing normally and a 90% increase when holding ones breath - which is a stupid technique.
The fact is that the research was conducted to measure the effects of weight lifting on eye pressure during weight lifting because all of the previous research had been done on the lingering, long-term effects of both aerobic and weight lifting training. And here's what will blow your socks off: the previous research shows that both cardiovascular exercise and weight lifting decreases eye pressure in the long-term.
Those articles published by the suppossedly respectable media had drawn the conclusion that weight lifting leads to a specific health risk. The research merely points out that eye pressure increases significantly when improper technique is used, even though the long-term result of weight lifting is lower eye pressure. Although there is a risk in developing normal-tension glaucoma due to repeated changes in eye pressure, the truth is that there is already plenty of research to show that regular weight training, along with cardiovascular exercise, improves all around health.
Proper technique, good nutrition and regular cardiovascular exercise is all that is required.
