Eye exercises that may assist your vision
We know we need to exercise our muscles and eyes have muscles, so these muscles also need to be exercised. Exercising your eye muscles can improve your eye health and if done regularly they may help delay the onset of some eye conditions for some people.
Eye exercises, that can be easily practiced by anyone, aim to increase muscle flexibility and improve focusing issues – such as lazy eye.
Please note that eye exercises will not correct eye conditions such as short-sightedness (myopia), long-sightedness (hyperopia) or astigmatism and won’t do anything for glaucoma or macular degeneration.
Near and far focusing
Place something in front of your eyes (a finger or pencil) approximately 20-30cm away and focus on it, then switch your focus to something in the distance (like on the other side of the room). Then look back at the nearby object and repeat this change in focus 5 times.
Zooming
Hold an object at arm’s length (a finger or pencil) in front of your face and focus on it. While still focusing on it, slowly move the object toward your nose and then slowly return the object to the full arm’s length again. Repeat this 5 times, while focussing the whole time.
Blinking
Sitting down in a comfortable position, blink your eyes quickly 10-15 times. Then, rest your eyes for approximately 20 seconds by closing them. Repeat this exercise 5 times, each time resting in between.
The Figure 8
Sitting down in a comfortable position, imagine a figure 8 in front of you and move your eyes in the path of the figure 8. Then move your eyes back the opposite way around the figure 8 path. Repeat this exercises 5 more times.
Palming
To heat your palms up, rub them together quite vigorously. When warmed up, place them gently over your eyelids (closed eyes) and allow the warmth from your palms to relax the muscles in your eyes. When your hands are no longer warm, remove them and repeat the process 3 more times.
Shifting
Sit or stand up right, still and look straight ahead. Then, without moving, move your eyes from the far right to the far left of your vision and focus on what you see on each side. Repeat this 5 times.
Then in the same position look down as far as you can, again while not moving, and then look up as far as you can and focus on what you see at the both top and bottom of your vision. Repeat this 5 times.
This shifting exercise can also be done again by moving your eyes up and down diagonally as well as moving them in circles.
Squeezing
Close your eyes and then tightly squeeze them closed for 2-3 seconds, then relax, still having your eyes closed. Repeat this tightly closed to relaxed closed method 10 times.
Massage
Close your eyes and gently touch your eyelids with your fingertips and massage them in a circular motion. Make sure you press lightly, not hard. Make 10 circular motions in the clockwise direction and then in the anti-clockwise direction.
As previously mentioned, these exercises won’t make your glasses redundant, but doing the exercises can lead to improved muscle flexibility in the eyes; and are ideal for people who spend a lot of time in front of screens.
Interested in similar articles? Why not check these out:
Inactivity, the silent killer?
All content and eye exercises were obtained from the following sources:
www.hdfchealth.com/knowledge-center/health-and-living-guide/eye-exercises.aspx
www.specsavers.com.au/help-and-faqs/how-do-eye-exercises-work
