5 Eye Exercises to strengthen and relax your eye muscles

We live in an age where our eyes are highly exposed to all sorts of screens. Times are tough on our eyes. Eyesight problems have become more common than ever even in the young generation. If you don’t consciously make efforts to care of your eyes, you will be at higher risk of developing several eye diseases.

Like every other organ in our body, our eyes are also made of muscles, blood vessels, and millions of cells. Doing regular eye exercises will strengthen the eye muscles and increase blood circulation. Doing so might even help you delay the need for spectacles.

Benefits of Eye Exercises

Improves your vision
Prevents eye dryness
Reduces strain on the eyes
Improves peripheral vision
Enhances concentration
Lowers and delays the risks of developing eye diseases
Improves coordination between both eyes

We spend a lot of time passively checking out screens. It wouldn’t be hard to find a few minutes to do these very simple eye exercises.

1. Palming

Palming is a very common and easy eye exercise you can practice from anywhere. It is developed by Dr. Bates, an ophthalmologist who believed eye exercises improve vision. Palming helps in soothing the optic nerve.

How to do this?

Warm up your hands by rubbing your palms against each other and cover your eyes with your palms.
Ensure the hands are properly positioned on your face. The palms should cover your eyes, the fingers should be on your forehead, and the base of your palm should be resting on your cheekbone.
Don’t put pressure on your eyes. Just relaxingly cover your eyes with your palms. Your eyes should be able to blink freely.
Continue in this position for 2 minutes.

2. Flexing

Yes. Just flex your eye movements. This is a great eye exercise that will help to stretch and strengthen the ocular muscles. This exercise is very easy to do as well!

How to do this?

Sit with your face forward and look straight ahead.
Look up and look down without moving your head. Your eyeball should be the only moving part. Do this 10 reps.
Now, look to the right and look to the left without moving your head. Do this 10 reps.

3. Blinking

In this digital era, we are constantly staring at computer screens or mobile phone screens. When we are looking at screens, we tend to forget to blink our eyes. Blinking is super important to keep our eyes moist, and the absence of blinking causes eye problems like dry eye syndrome. By doing blinking exercises, our eyes will stay moist, and it will help to maintain focus for a longer time.

How to do this?

Face forward and blink every 3-5 seconds.
Do this exercise for 2 minutes.

4. Focusing Near and Far

Let’s stretch those eye muscles a little more with this simple exercise. This exercise helps in improving your focus.

How to do this?

Sit or stand comfortably and face forward.
Bring your thumb in front of your eyes at about a 10-inch distance and focus on it.
Now shift your focus to something else in 10-20 feet distance.
Switch focusing between your thumb and something else for 2-3 minutes.

5. Figure of Eight

If you have trouble tracking things with your eyes, let’s train those eye muscles.

How to do this?

Sit or stand facing forward and find a blank wall in 10 feet distance.
Now, imagine a figure 8 in that wall and trace it with your eyes without moving your head.
Do this for one minute and reverse trace it for another minute.

The 20-20-20 Rule

For every 20 minutes you spend looking at screens, look at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

These 5 exercises and the 20-20-20 rule are great for your eyes. Try to practice them regularly to keep your eyes fit and healthy. If you are facing any problems with your eyes, don’t try to ease them with only exercises. Seek professional help to keep your eyes healthy.

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