If you start and end your day with pouring over smartphone or laptop, then you may end up suffering from eye fatigue and itchy or dry eyes. To keep our bodies fit, we keep ourselves active and maintain a regular exercise routine. But, did you know that you can exercise your eyes as well? Apart from eating yellow, green leafy vegetables and antioxidant-rich diet, there’s a lot that you can do to boost your eyesight. Here are some of the best eye exercises that don’t take much time, require no equipment and are really easy to do.
You may do these exercises first thing in the morning, before bedtime, or any time your eyes feel fatigued. Before starting, splash your eyes with cold water a few times. Remember to keep the head and spine straight throughout the exercises.
Eye Exercises- EYE ROLLING
Eye rolling is effective and beneficial exercise. Do it on regular basis if you want to strengthen the eye muscles and enhance the shape of your eyes.
All you have to do is sit comfortably and keep your head still. Roll your eyes slowly and smoothly in a clockwise direction while keeping your eyes open. Do this for 30 seconds then take a break, and roll them in anticlockwise direction for another 30 seconds. Do it slowly and stretch the eye muscles as far as they can go.
The eye roll exercise will make your eyes feel relaxed. Do this exercise for about 3-4 minutes and you would be able to focus much better.
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FOCUS SHIFTING EXERCISE
Shifting your focus is very simple exercise which can help in strengthening the weakened eye muscles. Focusing also improves concentration power.
- Simply, hold a pen at arm’s length. Now focus your eyes on it, and slowly bring the pen closer until it’s about 6 inches away from your nose. Then slowly move it back, keeping your eyes focused on the pen. Repeat this process 5 times.
- At intervals, while doing work, look away from your screen to the farthest object/place that you can see. It can be the end of the corridor, the office room or the farthest building you see from a window. Keep on staring for 6 seconds, until it becomes clear. Then, shift your gaze to a close object for 6 seconds, until it becomes clear. Do this exercise repeatedly for five times.
The tiny eye muscles get a spurt of blood pumped in to, which is the natural way of improving their strength and making them more active and healthy.
BLINKING
Blinking is one of the best eye exercises which is good for tired, itchy and dry eyes. It keeps the eyes moist by coating it with a fresh layer of tears, and thus cleans the eye’s surface too.
Spending a lot of time on the computer, prolonged use of other digital devices or doing any other close up work, tend to slow down our blinking rate. But proper blinking can improve eye comfort, increase circulation and ease the strain on your vision.
Just close your eyes completely, pause for 2 seconds, squeeze them, then open and blink rapidly very softly and gently for 4 seconds. Right after close your eyes again, pause for two seconds, then open them and relax. You need to do this sequence five times.
The best part of eye exercises- can be done anywhere and any time!
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20-20-20 RULE
After a long tiring-day of working at a computer, if you experience headaches, watery, itchy, dry eyes or blurred vision, it’s likely the result of eye strain. You can get rid of this problem with a helpful trick called the 20-20-20 rule!
All you have to do is that every 20 minutes, look at something located 20 feet away for 20 seconds. That’s it!
These frequent breaks will relax your eye muscles and thus reduce the eye fatigue.
FIGURE 8 EXERCISE
This exercise is a great way to practice controlling the physical movement of your eyes. So, if you want to increase the flexibility of your eyes, here’s how to do it.
You just need to imagine a huge figure of ‘8’ on a blank wall or ceiling. The distance should be about 10 feet in front of you. Trace a path along this figure slowly with just your eyes, without moving your head. Trace it one way and then trace it the other way too. Do it times each way.
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PALMING
Palming is done in darkness with the palms cupping the eyes. This exercise relieves stress and boosts eyesight. Palming soothes and relaxes the optic nerve, which is often irritated. That is why this eye exercise is recommended even for people who have no noticeable vision problems, but just need a general release from tension.
Sit in a dark room with your elbows leaning on a table. Relax your back and shoulders, rub your palms together vigorously to generate heat. Now gently place them against your eyes for a few seconds or for as long as is comfortable. Don’t press the eye sockets. Repeat 5 times.
Practice daily to see better results within one month. Your digitally-strained eyes will thank you for these simple eye exercises!