Try these simple eye exercises to treat eye fatigue and blurry vision brought on by overexposure to brightly lit screens.
In this digital era of computers, smartphones and television, too much screen time has become a common pitfall. Over-exposure to these devices makes our eyes more strained than ever before.
We often keep track of our full body workouts but fail to give appropriate care and attention to our eye health. In recent times it has become a public health emergency whose ill effects might take some time to become visible, but in the longer term, it can do more damage to our eyes than we imagine, if left ignored.
Research shows that on an average adults in India spend 4.4 hours a day in front of screens, outside of work or education. The average usage of smartphones by Indians has also shown a considerable rise and has gone up by 25 per cent to almost 7 hours a day.
On a brighter spectrum, a study involving office workers in India showed that daily yoga practice can remarkably reduce the chances of blurry eyes, pain and dryness that trouble computer users.
What is Eye Yoga?
Yoga for the eyes or eye yoga involves certain movements that help in strengthening, relaxing and conditioning the eye muscles. Our eyes are made up of muscles, and just like other muscles, yoga helps in improving muscle strength.
It also treats several eye-related symptoms like dry eyes and blurry vision and reduces eye strain. Its effectiveness on astigmatism, nearsightedness, or farsightedness is still in the grey area as there is no concrete research to support the claim.
However, that doesn’t mean eye yoga is useless. There is a shred of evidence that shows eye yoga helps improve the focus of your eyes and helps relieve eye strain symptoms.
Eye yoga consists of movements like moving the eyes in different directions without moving the head or neck. It is occasionally necessary to focus the eyes on objects that are close up or far away.
You may not feel the need to exercise your eyes today, but if you want to protect yourself from the blurry vision in the future, these simple eye yoga exercises are an incredible way of maintaining long-term health for all age groups.
Here are a few exercises you may try to do every day to avoid discomfort in your eyes.
Eye Yoga Exercises To Maintain Healthy Eyes:
1. Bhramari Pranayama (Humming Bee Breath)
It relaxes the eyes and alleviates symptoms of migraine. Regular practice of Bhramari pranayama also improves concentration and memory, besides working to promote ocular health, making your eyes brighter and lustrous.
- Sit upright in a comfortable, relaxed posture
- Seal your ears with your index fingers and extend your elbows slightly on each side
- Inhale, exhale and hum loudly as if emulating a bee
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2. Blinking and Cupping
This yoga technique cleanses debris from the eyes, protects eye tissues, and prevents infection. It also stimulates circulation within the eyes and the surrounding nerves.
- Rub the palms to warm them up
- Cup your eyes placing your warmed up palms over the eyes for ten seconds
- Remove the palms
- Blink your eyes while looking up, down, left, right, and forward, atleast 10 times in each direction
- Repeat the same steps for upto two or three rounds
3. Left and Right Eye Movements
Moving your eyes along a line or a moving object strengthens and stretches the muscles of the eyes. This technique also helps in curing myopia (short-sightedness) and hypermetropia (far-sightedness).
- Sit in a comfortable, relaxed posture
- Extend your right arm straight in front with your hand in a thumbs-up position
- Direct the gaze on the thumb as you move it towards the right till it comes in line with the shoulder
- Bring the arm back to the centre
- Repeat with the left arm
4. Tratka
Also known as Yogic gazing, Trataka helps in improving vision, focus and memory. It also strengthens concentration and develops willpower just like meditation.
- Keep the lights in the room dim and sit up straight in a comfortable, relaxed posture
- Place an object, preferably a candle, in the front at a distance of two feets
- Continue breathing, focusing the gaze on the object without blinking for as long as possible
5. Figure Eight
The figure eight technique is a great exercise to strengthen eye muscles and improve flexibility. It also sharpens your eyesight and brings complete relief from tiredness.
- Focus on an imaginary figure of 8 on the wall in the front
- Moving your gaze in clockwise direction, slowly trace the shape of 8
- Repeat this technique in the same direction at least 10 times
- Switch directions, and start tracing 8 moving the eyes in counter-clockwise direction
- Repeat the same step for atleast 10 times
Consistently following an Eye Yoga regimen with these five exercises will help you overcome blurriness, dryness and fatigue that follows a few hours after exposure to digital screens.
It’s important to keep track of your ocular health especially if your work demands you to be near the screen.
Staying hydrated and having nutrient rich foods will further enhance your vision and also maximize the rewards you get from a regular Eye Yoga routine.
Get started today to get clearer and brighter vision.
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