Best 10 Eye Exercises for You

The eyes are the window of our body, and it is our top priority to keep them healthy. We perceive from what we see. As a result, the eyes are an important sense of our body, and eye exercises function to maintain it to ward-off vision problems.

Our continuous working body requires a good body workout to maintain its physical fitness. Similarly, constant fluttering and gazing eyes require the best eye muscles to sharpen vision, and only the best eye exercise can make it possible.

Medical experts advise eye exercise to help with various eye conditions, eyestrains, and maintaining an eye’s overall healthiness.

1. Why Is Eye Exercise Important?

Eye exercise has proven helpful in the following criteria:

• Eyestrain
• Weaken eye muscles
• Eye focus deterioration
• Double vision (Diplopia)
• Astigmatism
• Amblyopia
• Eye injury
• Farsightedness
• Nearsightedness
• Strabismus (cross eyes)
• Eye surgery

In the racing digital world, eye strain is the prime concern of people due to the extensive usage of computers, and mobile phones, and watching TV for long hours. As a result, the resort to glasses and contact lenses is highly increasing with the accelerating rate of eye problems.

Digital eye strain triggers:

• Migraines
• blurred eyesight
• dry eye
• eyestrain

To avoid falling into the trap of digital eye strain and other visual impairments, eye exercise stands out to be the better solution for it all.

2. Best 10 Eye Exercises

2.1. Blinking

Well, yes. Something as easy as blinking is one of the prime remedies for eyesight challenges. Loads of work induce your eyes to concentrate on the computer for hours after hours without blinking, consequently leading to eye strain and lack of focus. It functions to obtain your mental focus back.

Instructions to follow:

• Set a timer of two minutes on your phone.
• Every four seconds, blink your eyes.
• Repeat this exercise whenever you feel an eye strain building up.

You’ll notice the reduced pressure on your eyes and feel relaxed.

2.1.1. Benefits of Blinking:

• Protects and Cleans the Eyes:

Blinking follows the task of protecting and cleansing out assimilated dust particles that irritate the eye. The teary membrane formed after each blink moisturizes the eyes, clearing the image perceived on the retina, and making your eyesight keen.

• Enables Brain to Absorb Information:

Blinking allows the brain to clearly accumulate the seen image as it releases attention from the external stimuli and emphasizes cognitive tasks. It enhances the visual storage unit.

2.2. Focus Change

The seated position is best suited for this simple eye exercise as it serves to reduce digital eye strain and enhances eye focus.

Instructions to follow:

• At some distance away from your eye, hold out your thumb or any other finger.
• For about three to five seconds, concentrate solely on your thumb finger.
• Without breaking the focus, gradually retreat your thumb from your face.
• Divert your attention from the thumb for a few seconds.
• Retrieve your attention on the thumb of the extended hand and slowly drag it back towards your face.
• Again divert your attention for a few seconds.
• For best results, do the exercise three times daily.

Focus change facilitates toughening up the eye muscles, simultaneously improving vision.

2.3. Near and Far Focus

People with glasses find this eye exercise very soothing. Unlike the previous eye exercise, this exercise can be done in any position, standing or seating.

Instructions to follow:

• At a distance of 10 inches from your face, hold out your thumb.
• For 15 seconds, center on it.
• Deviate your attention on an object 20 to 30 feet away from you.
• Center your attention on it for 15 seconds.
• Revert your focus to the thumb.
• Repeat it at least five times.

Much like focus change, this too functions to strengthen the eye muscles and reduce eye strain.

2.4. 20-20-20 Rule

The crowd of people working on the computer the whole day deals with the nuisance of eye strain. To slack off your eyes from digital eye strain, the 20-20-20 rule comes in handy.

The 20-20-20 rule is easy to remember

• Every 20 minutes
• Stare for 20 seconds
• On an object 20 feet way

Instruction to Follow:

• Fix an alarm clock every 20 minutes.
• Locate a specific item about 20 feet away from you.
• At a certain point of 20 minutes, gaze far away for 20 seconds at some 20 feet away.
• Every 20 minutes, relax your eyes by closing them.
• Every 20 minutes, take a walk around the room.
• Redo this chain every 20 minutes.

This rule works wonders taking your eyes off the computer screen and making you stretch your arms and legs, proving it beneficial for both eyes and body as sitting for hours tends to have adverse effects on health.

2.5. Eye Movement:

Eye movement does the trick in reducing digital eye strain. The more you move your eyeballs, the less strenuous it will be.

Instructions to Follow:

• Gently shut your eyes close.
• Casually move your eyeballs in an upward and downward direction.
• Repeat it thrice.
• Slowly look from left to right using your eyeballs without moving your head.
• Do the same eyes three more times.

2.6.  Barrel Cards

Barrel Cards, a convergence technique, and characterizes to be a better choice of eye exercise for Strabismus, especially exotropia.

Instructions to Follow:

• Paint three red and green barrels in a rising order on either side of the card.
• Grip the card vertically, opposite to your nose.
• The big painted barrel should be away from your nose, and the smallest barrel near.
• Ensure that you can discern both barrels from either eye.
• Concentrate on the big one near you until it happens to be one picture with two colors.
• Look at it for about 5 seconds.
• So the similar activity with the remaining two barrels- middle and farther.

2.7. Figure Eight

Tracing an imaginary horizontal 8 is proven to be effective in impeding advancing myopia or nearsightedness. It functions as a good exercise for flexing your eye muscles. Reserve a seat to do the Figure-eight eye exercise.

Instructions to Follow:

• Imagine a horizontal 8 on a wall.
• Trail off your eyes on the imaginary eight.
• Outline it for around 15-30 seconds with your eyeballs.
• Then change its direction and do it again.

2.8. Pencil Pushups

Ophthalmologists usually suggest that pencil push-up eye exercise be the better option for patients with convergence insufficiency, and it constitutes good vision therapy.

Instructions to Follow:

• Outstretch your hand, holding a pencil vertically in front of your face.
• Intently stare at the pencil and maintain only one image.
• Drag the pencil toward your nose.
• As you draw the pencil near, follow it with your eyes until it appears to be a dual image.
• Draw the pencil away from the nose until it is a single image again.
• Repeat this exercise 20 times.

The pencil push-up eye exercise improves binocular visual disorders, particularly Strabismus.

2.9. Brock String

Medical advised that Brock string is a better visual exercise for people with conditions like Strabismus, Amblyopia, and Convergence Insufficiency.

It detects if the person is using either eye while focusing close or far.

To perform this eye exercise, you require a string along with a few colorful beads.

Instructions to Follow:

• Take a long string and fasten one of its ends to anything stable like a doorknob.
• Insert the colorful beads at an interval of around 2ft on the string.
• Pull the string and position it right below your nose.
• Center your gaze on the bead near you.
• Focus until the bead appears single.
• The string converges to form an X at the bead.
• Repeat the same with the middle and the bead near the doorknob.

2.10. Palming

If your eyes are exhausted by focusing intently on the computer screen, the palming technique is the best shortcut to ease off the tiredness from your eyes.

Instructions to Follow:

• Relax and gently close your eyes.
• Cover your eyes with your palms in such a way that no light passes through your fingers, and you can blink comfortably.
• For about 2 to 3 minutes, let your palm rest your eyes.
• Do this exercise 3 times per day.

To reduce eye strain, this exercise can be done multiple times.

3. Healthy Eye Care Tips

The most important sense of our body, the eyes needs dire attention to be fit and healthy. Below are some tips for maintaining your eyesight:

3.1. Balanced Diet:

Enrich your meals with an omega-3 fatty acid, vitamins C and vitamin E, and zinc along with lutein and zeaxanthin-rich nutrients to help fend off eye-related problems. Boost your diet with:

• Leafy veggies
• Fish – Salmon, tuna, and fatty fish
• Proteins – eggs, meat
• Citrus fruits or juices
• Oysters and Pork

3.2. No Smoking:

Smoking has detrimental effects on the eyes:

• Cataract
• Damages optic nerve
• Glaucoma and Diabetic retinopathy
• Macular degeneration
• Dry eye syndrome

3.3. Exercise Regularly

Health issues like high blood pressure, measles, liver disease, diabetes, and high cholesterol can put anyone at risk of eye and eyesight problems. Exercising regularly lowers these risks.

3.4. Cover your Eyes: (Sunglasses or Contact Lenses)

Go for sunglasses that are 99% resistant to UV rays, and they will work miracles in shielding your eyes from the blazing sun. Contact lenses, too, are helpful.

3.5. Don’t Stare At The Computer For Hours

Gluing eyes on the computer for a longer duration triggers the repercussions in the form of eyestrain, dry eyes, migraine, pain in the neck and shoulder, and backaches. It also causes dim vision and poor concentration issues.

3.5.1. Protection of Eyes from Blinding Computer Screens

• Put on the recommended spectacles and corrective lenses whilst engrossed in the computer or laptop.
• Apply an anti-reflective screen.
• Get comfortable on a comfy chair and lay your feet sole flat on the ground.
• Blink.
• Pursue the 20-20-20 rule.

4. Conclusion

Remember, if you experience any persistent eye problems or discomfort, seek advice from an eye doctor or healthcare provider.

Get the hang of eye exercises now until it’s too late to avoid vision problems. Visit an ophthalmologist every year to detect and improve your eye conditions.

Take care and see bright!

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Last Updated on July 29, 2024 by Sathi Chakraborty, MSc Biology