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10 eye exercises to improve eyesight

Dr. SatabdiFeb 10, 2023

You may have heard that carrots are good for the eyes. Well, they are! But there is something else that is even better for your eyesight. Eye exercises! Experts say eye exercises are helpful in improving your vision and maintaining your eye health. Read on to know 10 eye exercises to improve your eyesight.

Contents

Top 10 eye exercises to improve your eyesight
What are the benefits of eye exercises?
Who needs to perform eye exercises?
Frequently asked questions

Top 10 eye exercises to improve your eyesight

Here are 10 simple exercises for better eyesight.

1. Near and far focusing

This exercise helps in improving the flexibility of your eyes and improves your focus. Follow these instructions to perform it.

Sit down on the floor of a room at least 6m by 6m.
Take a pencil and hold it at least 6 inches from your nose.
Glance at the tip of the pencil and quickly change the vision to an object about 10 to 20 ft away. Do this for a few seconds and then look at the pencil tip for a few seconds.
Repeat the process 10 times every day. You can start shifting to objects that are farther away as your vision improves.

2. Figure of eight

This exercise strengthens your eye muscles and increases their flexibility. Here is how you perform it.

Focus your eyes on a point that is about 10 feet away from you.
Trace an imaginary ‘8’ with your eyes along this point.
Repeat this for 30 seconds and then change the direction.

3. Palming

This exercise helps in relaxing your eye muscles and relieving your eye fatigue. Perform it as follows

Rub your palms vigorously against each other for a few seconds to warm them.
Close your eyes and place the arm over your eyes and hold it until the afterimages disappear.

4. Blinking

Blinking is an essential process that distributes oil across your eyes to facilitate lubrication. If you are someone who works on computers or has prolonged periods of screen time, you may not blink sufficiently. This can cause irritation, dryness and a burning sensation in the eyes. Here is how you can prevent this.

Take a small break to blink multiple times.
Close your eyes and pause for a few seconds before opening them again.
Repeat this multiple times.

Source: giphy

5. 20-20-20 rule

If you are someone who has prolonged screen time, this exercise would help you to reduce eye strain. Take a break every 20 minutes, and look at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

6. Zooming

This exercise helps in relieving eye fatigue. Here is how you can perform it.

Sit straight. Hold your thumb straight upwards and stretch your arm out in front of you.
Focus on the tip of your thumb for a few seconds.
Slowly bend your hand and bring the thumb closer to you until it is 3 inches away.
Now, slowly move it away to the original point.
Repeat this process at least 3 times.

7. Refocusing

Refocusing exercise helps in relaxing your eyes after spending prolonged hours in front of the screen. It is performed as follows.

Take a break away from the screen and focus on the farthest object across the corridor or a faraway building from your window for a few seconds.
Hold your thumb in front of your eyes and focus on it for a few seconds.
Repeat this exercise at least 5 times.

8. Roll your eyes

This is an exercise that helps in relieving eye strain. You can perform it as follows.

Look to your left and right side several times without moving your head.
Following this, look up and down several times.

9. Pencil push-ups

The ability to look in the same direction and obtain a three-dimensional view of the surroundings is called binocular vision. In certain cases, binocular vision may be defective. Pencil push-up exercises are useful for correcting such defects. This is how you do it.

Hold a pencil in front of your eyes at arm's length.
Slowly bring the pencil closer to your eyes until you see a double image of the pencil.
Draw the pencil to its initial position.
Repeat this several times during the day.

10. Around the world

This exercise helps to strengthen your eye muscles. It is performed as follows.

Sit comfortably in a place.
Look straight up for 3 seconds.
Look down for 3 seconds.
Look ahead to a point for 3 seconds.
Look to your left and right each for 3 seconds.
Look to the top left and top right for 3 seconds each.
Rotate your eyes clockwise and anticlockwise two times each.

What are the benefits of eye exercises?

Some of the benefits of eye exercises are as follows.

They strengthen and tone the weakened muscles of the eye and improve blood circulation.
Reduce eye strain.
Improve the functioning of the eyes and help you to focus better.
Reduce the sensitivity of eyes to light.
Improves various aspects of vision such as perception of depth, hand-eye coordination, etc.

With so many benefits, regular eye exercises are a must for eagle-sharp vision!

Who needs to perform eye exercises?

There is absolutely no debate on who needs to do physical exercises every day. The answer is, everyone. The same principle applies to eyes also. However, eye exercises may be of extra significance to people with certain conditions as follows.

Difficulty to focus the eyes for reading
Double vision
Lazy eyes (amblyopia)
Crossed eyes (strabismus)
Inability or decreased ability to focus on an object (convergence insufficiency)
Decreased ability to perceive depth (poor three-dimensional vision)
After surgery for improving muscle control

Frequently asked questions

Here are some of the frequently asked questions on eye exercises.

How frequently should I perform eye exercises?

Depending on your nature of work and eye fatigue, you may have to perform eye exercises three to six times a day to ensure eye health.

Will I be able to stop using spectacles if I do eye exercises?

You may not be able to completely stop using spectacles by just doing the exercises. However, eye exercises may help to prevent your eye conditions from worsening and would strengthen your eye muscles.

How long should I do the eye exercises?

The time taken for eye exercises depends on the type of exercise you are doing. The simplest of all the exercises is the 20-20-20 rule which can be performed in 20 seconds.

What are some yoga exercises for the eyes?

Palming and eye-rolling are some of the many yoga exercises for the eyes. In palming, you vigorously rub your hand and place it over your eyes until the afterimages disappear. Eye rolling involves shifting your eyes up, down, left, and right multiple times.

What are some other tips to protect the eyes?

In addition to exercise, it is also important that you sleep sufficiently and eat healthy food. You need to reduce your screen time and use blue light filters and night mode on your devices whenever possible. In addition, you should also drink plenty of water to ensure that your eyes stay lubricated throughout the day.

References

Di Noto P, Uta S, DeSouza JF. Eye exercises enhance accuracy and letter recognition, but not reaction time, in a modified rapid serial visual presentation task. PloS one. 2013 Mar 19;8(3):e59244.
Gupta SK, Aparna S. Effect of yoga ocular exercises on eye fatigue. International Journal of Yoga. 2020 Jan;13(1):76.
http://www.myhealth.gov.my/en/eye-exercises/
https://ors.od.nih.gov/sr/dohs/HealthAndWellness/Ergonomics/Pages/exercises.aspx

Disclaimer: The content on this page is generic and shared only for informational and explanatory purposes. It is based on several secondary sources on the internet. Please consult a doctor before making any health-related decisions.