Eye Exercises to Improve Vision

It is generally believed that, after a certain age, glasses are a necessity for a person to be able to see clearly, but, is it true? When you start wearing glasses and contact lenses, does the buck stop there? No, you need to visit the optometrist regularly to know whether you need a new prescription for your glasses or not. This is true, especially for those people who work on computers for long hours while doing their job, or those who watch television for long periods at a stretch. Yes, it is true that there are people who must wear eyeglasses or contact lenses due to congenital problems or trauma, but not all. To aid them, there are certain exercises that they can perform to improve their eyesight.

Eye Exercises

The following vision exercises are simple to do and it takes only few minutes to go through them. If you can find some spare time and carry out the instructions in the exercises, it will definitely help you.

Blink your eyes: There are no special instructions about this because everyone knows how to blink. We blink unconsciously to keep our eyes moist and to protect them from the dust and floating garbage. The purpose behind blinking consciously is to relieve your eyes of the stress that comes from looking at a computer monitor, or a television screen intently. This exercise lasts for only two minutes and you are advised to blink your eyes regularly at the interval of 3-4 seconds. This will relax them and will also increase your span of attention considerably.

Palming: You can do this exercises to relieve the stress around your eyes whilst taking a break at your work place or while watching television at your home or sitting in your car at a traffic signal. It takes only a few minutes to do this:

• Sit comfortably and let your elbows rest on your knees. If you are sitting at a table rest your elbows on it.
• Close your eyes, take a few slow and deep breaths and let yourself relax.
• Place your right hand on your right eye such that the cup of its palm covers the eye and let its fingers rest on the forehead.
• The heel of the right palm should rest on the cheekbone.
• It is necessary not to allow your hand to touch the eye lids.
• No pressure should be exerted which will enable you to blink freely.
• Repeat the steps 3-6 for the left eye.

Well, it doesn't sound much but be assured that this can help you relax your eyes as well as your brain, in a simple and easy manner. The only way to know, how effective it is, is to try it when you feel whilst working that your eyes are stressed.

Trace a figure of eight: While doing this exercise you have to make yourself believe that you are sitting, at a distance of ten feet, in front of an exceptionally large figure of eight. The odd thing about the figure is that it is laying on its side. Now start the exercise by tracing the figure of eight with your eyes. Move them along the curves of the eight slowly. After a few minutes of tracing the figure from left to right, do it from right to left. This exercise is useful in improving the flexibility of your eye muscles.

Thumb exercise: Extend your right arm and position your right thumb in front of your eyes. Relax, breath slowly and train your eyes on the thumb in front. After a span of time lasting a complete breath, shift your focus to another object 10-12 feet away. Do the exercise for 3 minutes and don't forget to shift your focus between the thumb and the object. The basic purpose of the thumb exercise is to make you concentrate on the object that is near as well as distant. The exercise makes you employ different eye muscles and strengthens them.

Vision correction involves vision therapy which is a specialized field that has exercise programs to train whole visual system i,e the eyes, brain, mind and body. It can help in treating eye problems such as binocular vision, stereo vision and strabisums etc. The therapy can also help in lazy eye treatment, a condition which is referred to as Amblyopia.

It is believed that eyes help a person accumulate 95% of his or her knowledge. This fact is enough to make us review the eye care routine we carry out to ensure their safety. Including the above exercises in your daily routine, will definitely improve chances of having healthy eyes.