Taking care of your eyes is just another thing you should at to your list of ‘must dos’ as you get older.
A lot of people take their eyes for granted, and only sit up and take notice when they begin to fail. Your eyes need regular exercise to remain healthy, just like any other muscle in your body.
Even if you are already wearing glasses or contact lenses, regularly exercising your eyes can assist your vision.
Here’s how!
Blinking
You might do this one without too much thought, but when you spend a considerable amount of time looking at computer screens, smartphone screens, tablets, the television and books you blink less.
To regulate circulation in your eyes, close your eyes for 3-5 seconds and then open them. Do this several times. Then over a 2-minute period, blink every 3-5 seconds.
When you blink, your eyes are plunged — albeit briefly — into darkness and this helps keep them fresh. What this also does it dismiss ‘old’ information and prepare your eyes for new information, which in turn helps reduce eye strain.
Palming
A good way of alleviating the stress around your eyes is to place your palms over your closed eyes and allow yourself to relax for 1 minute. This activity also gives you an opportunity to relax your mind.
Near and Far
You can do this exercise almost anywhere. You want to sit (or stand) in a comfortable position and focus on something near in front of you and then allow your gaze to rest on something in the distance. Repeat this up to 10 times.
Over time this activity will strengthen the muscles in your eyes and improve your vision.
Zoom In, Zoom Out
Another good exercise to help strengthen your eye muscles — and give your focussing skills a good workout — is to take your fore finger (or your thumb) and stretch it in front of you as far as your arm will go. Focus on the finger and move it towards you until it is about 5cm from your face. Now move it away from you again until your arm is fully outstretched. Remain focussed on your finger at all times.
Figure of Eight
This exercise is designed to assist in controlling your eye’s movement. Focus on a point on the floor and imagine there is a figure of eight. Using your eyes only, trace around the figure of eight slowly. When you’ve traced in one direction, reverse it and trace in the opposite direction.