National Sunglasses Day: Five Reasons You Can’t Have Too Many Sunglasses

I’m assuming National Sunglasses Day is another one of the hundreds of commemorative days intended to help improve our health and therefore, our quality of life. From what I learned on Twitter (you can see my research was extensive) it’s sponsored by The Vision Council and they hope to remind us that our eyes need as much protection from the sun as our skin does.

They say 75% of Americans are worried about UV eye damage but only 31% wear sunglasses consistently when outdoors. I’m proud to say I’m in the minority. I’m obsessed with sunglasses; I wear them all the time. Sunny days, cloudy days, summer days, winter days. But not because I’m part of the 75% concerned about protecting my eyes from the sun – although I’m not opposed to that – in fact it’s a fantastic side effect. But I wear sunglasses with no regard to sunshine; I find their purpose to be far from singular.

My passion for sunglasses correlates to my retirement. Before I retired I only owned one pair and I kept them in the car, usually buried somewhere deep in the console with two thousand napkins from McDonalds stuffed on top of them. These days it’s the opposite; I’d go so far to as to designate sunglasses as my official retirement accessory and at this point, I don’t even know how many I’ve accumulated.

No disrespect intended toward The Vision Council, but here’s five of the reasons why I’m obsessed with sunglasses and none of them have much to do with protecting my eyes from the sun:

• Sunglasses reduce squinting. While I may be late to the game when it comes to protecting my eyes, my face has been on my radar for a while. I went from working sun up to sun down to a retirement that involves being outdoors as much as possible. If wearing sunglasses helps me reduce squinting, and therefore, slows the explosion of wrinkles around my eyes, that’s reason enough to love them.
• Sunglasses make us look younger. Eyelids that droop a little more each year, under eye puffiness or dark circles become instantly invisible. Of course, it doesn’t help with the saggy skin and age spots everywhere else, but hey, I’ll take the assist where I can get it.
• Sunglasses can replace makeup. My life is pretty casual these days and when I can’t be bothered to put on makeup I just pull on a fun pair of sunglasses and a little lipstick and I’m good to go. It’s amazing how well this works; I can go days without makeup.
• Sunglasses provide privacy. You can go anywhere and don’t have to make eye contact with anyone. Perfect for avoiding people you’re not so crazy about or getting errands done without being sidetracked by chatty acquaintances.
• Sunglasses are instant camouflage. They’re perfect when you want to watch but not be seen. Nobody knows what you’re looking at when you have on sunglasses. You can stare at people and not get caught, kind of like Facebook but just out in public.

And then there’s the icing on the cake… the fashion statement. Endless styles and colors provide effortless flare to any outfit. Your look can go from sophisticated to quirky just by changing your sunglasses. There are times when I like that shady cool Ray-Ban look, but generally I lean toward ridiculous. I have tons of bold colored glasses with mirrored lenses and odd shapes and I wear them all. And I can’t resist buying more.

There you have it…health, function and fashion all align to make sunglasses the perfect accessory. That’s my pitch in support of The Vision Council’s National Sunglasses Day.