Astigmatism is a refractive error that occurs when the cornea’s shape affects how light reaches your eye. However, astigmatism differs from other refractive errors like myopia (nearsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness) because it can affect your vision at near and far distances.

Most people have some degree of astigmatism, but it can become more apparent if you develop another refractive error alongside it.

Aside from blurry vision, astigmatism may also cause eye strain and headaches.

Astigmatism Symptoms

Symptoms of astigmatism may include:

• Blurry or distorted vision
• Eyestrain
• Headaches
• Trouble seeing at night

Symptoms of astigmatism are squinting to see clearly, seeing glares or halos around lights at night, headaches and eye fatigue. The possible symptoms of astigmatism are listed below.

• Squinting to see clearly: Squinting to see clearly is a symptom of astigmatism because the eyes are attempting to focus harder to overcome the vision disruption caused by astigmatism.
• Seeing glares or halos around lights at night: Seeing glares or halos around lights at night is a symptom of astigmatism because the misshapen cornea or lens disrupts the eye’s ability to perceive light, causing visible halos and glares.
• Headaches: Headaches are a symptom of astigmatism as this condition may cause eye strain and eye fatigue, leading to headaches.
• Eye fatigue: Eye fatigue is a symptom of astigmatism because as the eyes squint and increase in focus in order to overcompensate for the compromises in vision caused by astigmatism, they become more exhausted and fatigued, causing eye strain and eye pain.
• Blurry vision: Blurry vision is a common symptom of astigmatism, caused by the misshapen cornea or lens not bending light correctly.

What improves astigmatism?

Glasses or contacts can correct almost all cases of astigmatism. But if you have only a slight astigmatism and no other vision problems, you may not need them. If you have a common level of astigmatism, you'll probably have corrective lenses, like glasses or contacts, or surgery.

Can vision therapy improve astigmatism?

Even though vision therapy can't help correct astigmatism and how it affects your visual acuity, it can help address some of its more uncomfortable symptoms while also strengthening the relationship between your eyes and brain share.

Vision therapy is a doctor-led treatment program specifically designed to help strengthen the relationship between your eyes and brain. We typically recommend vision therapy to patients with amblyopia (lazy eye), strabismus (crossed eyes), or sports vision problems, but we can recommend this treatment to anyone who may want to enhance the visual skills they use in everyday life.

Some of the most common visual skills vision therapy can help support include:

• Hand-eye coordination
• Eye-tracking
• Binocular movements
• Visual memory
• Focusing

What causes astigmatism?

Astigmatism occurs when the front surface of the eye (the cornea) or the lens inside the eye is more oval or cylindrical than round. The cornea and lens are mostly responsible for properly focusing light entering your eyes. This allows you to see things clearly. Astigmatism is caused by small differences in the growth and alignment of the components of the eye. Genetics may play a role in the development of refractive error. Astigmatism may also result from such factors as pressure of the eyelids on the cornea.

Sometimes astigmatism develops following an eye injury or eye surgery. In rare cases there is also a condition called keratoconus that may occur. Keratoconus is a condition in which the cornea becomes progressively thinner and cone shaped. This causes a large amount of astigmatism resulting in poor vision that cannot be effectively corrected with glasses. In these cases, the clearest vision is achieved with contact lens wear. Corneal transplants or other corneal treatments may be considered, depending on the case

Astigmatism often occurs early in life, so it is important to schedule children for a comprehensive eye exam with an optometrist to avoid vision problems in school from uncorrected astigmatism. eResearch by Navid Ajamin -- winter 2024

No.1) Here are our top 5 eye exercises for astigmatism:

1.Rectus muscle relaxation

The rectus eye muscle can come into considerable strain over time, and astigmatism might be the result of a weak or tight rectus muscle. The rectus muscle relaxation exercise is done by gradually and gently relaxing the eye rectus muscles. The exercise should be done in the following steps:

• Put your thumb in front of your face just above the nose (about 10cm)
• Move your thumb as if it is running on a clock. First slowly move your thumb to 12 o’clock where it will disappear and leave it there for 2-3 seconds.
• If you experience tension here, that’s okay. Return to the initial nose spot and move back to 1 o’clock then again to 3,5,6,7,9, 11 and back to noon.
• From the center out, don’t forget to breathe. Exhaling slowly will help relax your muscles.

Duration: 2 minutes

Repetitions: 2-4 times per day

2.Eye Massage

Eye massages are an effective and relaxing way to reduce strain for those suffering from astigmatism. This exercise is effective because it helps restore the shape of the lens as astigmatism is when the lens has been distorted.

• Close your eyelids and place two fingers on each lid
• With gentle pressure move your fingers from right to left, top to bottom in a circular motion
• Move clockwise and counterclockwise 10-15 times repeating both the right to left and circular motions

Duration: 1 minute

Repetitions: 2-4 times per day

3.Reading

Now we don’t mean pull out just any book and start reading chapter after chapter, this is to be done a certain way to improve the pressure and strain caused by astigmatism.

• Use corrective lenses and pull out a book
• Place a playing card or another object to the side and focus on that after you’ve read one paragraph
• Switch back and forth from the book to the object
• Continue off and on until your eyes start to feel tired

Duration: 10 minutes

Repetitions: 2-4 times per day

4.See a chiropractor

People who have astigmatism tend to tilt or position their neck and head in one position more than another. Because of eye strain, most people have an incorrect stature or tilted head. It is suggested to get an adjustment to relax the neck and spine while also correcting posture.

5.Paper and peripheral vision

Take a piece of paper that is long and wide enough to cover both of your eyes.

• Make sure the side is exposed so you are able to peek out, strengthening your peripheral vision.
• Grab your corrective lenses and attach the paper to your face at the bridge of your nose.
• Move your hand to the peripheral side of the paper one after another.
• Without moving the head, look to see the finger on either side
• Repeat

Duration: 5 minutes

Repetitions: 2-4 times per day

Each exercise is meant to improve the strain put on the eyes by astigmatism. Daily practice will absolutely help the damage that has been caused by astigmatism while giving your eyes new pathways of practice to improve your traction and span and reduce pressure. Consult with your eye doctor and ask if these exercises will help your case.

No.2) Eye Exercises for Astigmatism:

Astigmatism is a common eye disorder that affects your vision. The muscles around your eyes are affected which causes undue stress on the cornea which causes the cornea to lose its shape, which in turn causes blurry vision. Some of the other symptoms of astigmatism include double vision, eyestrain, eye irritation, and headaches. It can be prevalent at birth or could be a result of trauma, congenital conditions or eye surgery. It can be very annoying as it makes a simple task like reading a book complicated.

However, there are several natural ways to treat astigmatism and one of them is eye exercises. Benefits of eye exercises for Astigmatism It’s true that there are eye exercises to treat astigmatism. Just like the other muscles in our body, our eye muscles also work on a simple logic of keeping them in use them or else you lose them. Therefore, it is important that you keep your eye muscles active throughout the day. Other than by staring straight at the computer screen or at the road ahead while driving doesn’t exercise the muscles to their full potential, additional eye exercises are must. Here are some benefits of eye exercises:

• Help to reduce the stress.
• Strengthen the eyes and relaxes the eye muscles.
• Improve vision over time or in between 1 to 4 weeks.

6 Eye Exercises to Treat Astigmatism

1. Eye Massage This exercise restores the shape of the cornea

• Close your eyes and keep your two fingers on each of your eyelids.
• By applying gentle pressure, slowly move your fingers in a circular motion from top to bottom and right to left.
• Move your fingers clockwise as well as anti-clockwise and repeat it for 10–15 times, 2 to 4 times a day.

2. Reading It helps to release the strain and pressure caused by astigmatism.

• Pull out a book.
• Place an object on the side. Focus on the side object after reading a paragraph from the book.
• It is advised to continue this until your eyes start to feel tired, 2-4 times a day.

3. Vision Breaks It relieves eye pressure and strain.

• Take a short break from writing, reading, or staring at the computer.
• Focus for 20 seconds on other objects that are kept in the distance
• Repeat the exercise as many times as possible in a day.

4. Head Tilting It helps the extraocular muscles to regulate the force they exert on the eyeball.

• After looking in the mirror, find out if you tilt your head to one side.
• Spend time every day to tilt your head in the opposite direction.

5. Eye Yoga It strengthens eye muscles, sharpens focus and improves vision.

• Stand, sit in the chair or on the floor and keep your posture straight.
• Close your eyes and breathe while concentrating.
• Slowly and start moving your eyeballs from side to side.
• Do this exercise several times a day.

6. Rectus muscle relaxation: It relaxes the rectus muscles and can be done in the following steps

• Place your thumb just above the nose, move it clockwise and leave it there for 2-3 seconds.
• Move your thumb back to the original position. Now, move it to 1 o’clock position, then to 3,5, so on and back to 12. You can do this exercise 2-4 times per day.
• Don’t forget to breathe while you are moving the thumb from the center out and slowly exhale to relax your muscles.

Daily performing these exercises will reduce the symptoms and eventually treat astigmatism. But make sure to consult your eye doctor to find out if these exercises will work for you.

Reference:

• Astigmatism | The Canadian Association of Optometrists opto.ca/eye-health-library/astigmatism
• Astigmatism: Definition, Causes, Symptoms, Risk Factors and Treatment (oscarwylee.com.au)
• 5 Vision Therapy Exercises To Reduce Astigmatism Symptoms (urbanoptique.ca)
• Astigmatism: Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment (webmd.com)
• centreforsight.net/blog/treat-astigmatism-with-daily-eye-exercises

See Also: Exercise benefits your eyes

BVD(Binocular vision dysfunction) and other binocular vision issues can have a huge impact on your life, both at work and at home, which is why it’s so important to understand what BVD is and the signs and symptoms to watch for.

In order for the eyes to work together as a team, they must be in perfect alignment. When they’re not, a number of unpleasant and sometimes painful physical symptoms can occur. Headaches, dizziness and balance issues are some of the most common indicators that BVD is present.

Other signs include:

• Reading problems (losing your place frequently, skipping lines), as well difficulty comprehending what was read.
• Severe light sensitivity and blurred/shadowed/doubled vision.
• Anxiety and apprehension when in large, open indoor spaces with tall ceilings.

Treatment can include any of the following:

• Custom micro-prism lenses that help realign the eyes, thus greatly reducing or even eliminating the symptoms of BVD.
• Prism contact lenses that treat BVD, as well as contact lenses for astigmatism.[8]

Binocular vision dysfunction (BVD) is a visual condition where the line of sight from one eye tends to be slightly out of alignment with the line of sight from the other eye (usually vertical) and this puts heavy strain on the eye muscles as they are constantly trying to correct the alignment to achieve single focus vision.

The cause can be secondary to: normal facial asymmetry, acquired facial asymmetry from aging or head trauma from sports or injury damaging the nerves to your eye muscles causing the imbalance.

Binocular vision dysfunction means you see two images that compete in the middle where their fields of view overlap.

There are three forms of BVD:

1. Vertical Heterophoria
2. Superior Oblique Palsy
3. Horizontal misalignment

Symptoms of BVD

Those who suffer from Vertical Heterophoria or Superior Oblique Palsy tend to have a small amount of vertical eye misalignment, which the brain corrects by directing the eye muscles to properly reposition the eyes. However, using the eye muscles in this manner overworks them and they become strained and fatigued, causing the many symptoms of Vertical Heterophoria and Superior Oblique Palsy:

- Anxiety in crowds or large open spaces
- Overly sensitive to light and glare
- Double vision
- Shadowed, overlapping or blurred vision
- Skip lines or lose your place while reading.
- Quickly fatigue while reading and difficulty with comprehension.
- Closing or covering one eye to make it easier to see.
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Lightheadedness
- Nausea
- Anxiety
- Motion sickness
- Poor depth perception
- Lack of good balance and drifting while walking
- Poor coordination and Clumsiness
- Aching eyes, especially with eye movement
- Neck, upper back or shoulder pain
- Head tilting [2]

There are a number of tests the doctor may perform to assess any difficulties with vision, including:

Developmental Eye Movement (DEM): Reading eye movements and assessing their accuracy.
Sensory Fusion Assessment: This is a series of four separate examinations to discover if suppression, which can be part of an overall binocular vision disorder, is present.
Near Point of Convergence (NPC): The test will find out if convergence and divergence dysfunctions are causing problems.
Accommodative Convergence/Accommodation (AC/A): Any evidence of accommodation which exists is discovered by the results of this test. [4]

Binocular vision is vision in which creatures having two eyes use them together. The word binocular comes from two Latin roots, bini for double, and oculus for eye. According to Fahle (1987), having two eyes confers six advantages over having one.

1. It gives a creature a spare eye in case one is damaged.
2. It gives a wider field of view. For example, humans have a maximum horizontal field of view of approximately 190 degrees with two eyes, approximately 120 degrees of which makes up the binocular field of view (seen by both eyes) flanked by two uniocular fields (seen by only one eye) of approximately 40 degrees.
3. It can give stereopsis in which binocular disparity (or parallax) provided by the two eyes' different positions on the head gives precise depth perception. This also allows a creature to break the camouflage of another creature.
4. It allows the angles of the eyes' lines of sight, relative to each other (vergence), and those lines relative to a particular object (gaze angle) to be determined from the images in the two eyes.These properties are necessary for the third advantage.
5. It allows a creature to see more of, or all of, an object behind an obstacle. This advantage was pointed out by Leonardo da Vinci, who noted that a vertical column closer to the eyes than an object at which a creature is looking might block some of the object from the left eye but that part of the object might be visible to the right eye.
6. It gives binocular summation in which the ability to detect faint objects is enhanced.

Once the fields of view overlap, there is a potential for confusion between the left and right eye's image of the same object.

This can be dealt with in two ways:

• one image can be suppressed, so that only the other is seen,
• or the two images can be fused.

If two images of a single object are seen, this is known as double vision or diplopia.

Fusion of images (commonly referred to as 'binocular fusion') occurs only in a small volume of visual space around where the eyes are fixating. Running through the fixation point in the horizontal plane is a curved line for which objects there fall on corresponding retinal points in the two eyes. This line is called the empirical horizontal horopter. There is also an empirical vertical horopter, which is effectively tilted away from the eyes above the fixation point and towards the eyes below the fixation point. The horizontal and vertical horopters mark the centre of the volume of singleness of vision. Within this thin, curved volume, objects nearer and farther than the horopters are seen as single. The volume is known as Panum's fusional area (it's presumably called an area because it was measured by Panum only in the horizontal plane). Outside of Panum's fusional area (volume), double vision occurs. eResearch by Navid Ajamin -- spring 2016

When very different images are shown to the same retinal regions of the two eyes, perception settles on one for a few moments, then the other, then the first, and so on, for as long as one cares to look.

This alternation of perception between the images of the two eyes is called binocular rivalry.

When different images are shown to the two eyes, awareness can alternate such that each is intermittently suppressed and only one image is seen at a time. For instance, a picture of a girl can be shown to the left eye and a picture of a house to the right. Perception can then alternate - swapping between seeing the girl and the house. This phenomenon is called Binocular Rivalry.

Binocular Rivalry has generated broad interest as it permits an opportunity to explore the relationship between changes in conscious vision and brain activity in the absence of changes to sensory input. However, the function of binocular suppression remains a point of contention.[7]

Binocular rivalry is a phenomenon of visual perception in which perception alternates between different images presented to each eye.

Humans have limited capacity to process an image fully at one time. That is why the binocular rivalry occurs. Several factors can influence the duration of gaze on one of the two images. These factors include context, increasing of contrast, motion, spatial frequency, and inverted images. Recent studies have even shown that facial expressions can cause longer attention to a particular image. When an emotional facial expression is presented to one eye, and a neutral expression is presented to the other eye, the emotional face dominates the neutral face and even causes the neutral face to not been seen.

Binocular depth perception arises as a consequence of the slightly displaced point of view of the two eyes. The horizontal displacement of image features in the two eyes (i.e. binocular disparities) makes it possible to reconstruct the depth relationships in the visual world.

The term depth perception refers to our ability to determine distances between objects and see the world in three dimensions. To do this accurately, one must have binocular stereoscopic vision, or stereopsis.

Depth perception is the ability to judge depth and distance. Depth perception requires binocular vision, but it may be assisted by monocular cues such as motion parallax, or how objects move in relation to the movement of the head; interposition, or object overlap; and color and contrast cues that suggest distance.

What causes depth perception problems?

There is not one answer, but in fact several conditions that can contribute to poor depth perception:

• Strabismus – This is a condition where both of the eyes cannot be aligned simultaneously. One or both eyes may turn outwards, inwards, downwards, or upwards. This is commonly referred to as being cross-eyed.
• Blurred vision – This is when one’s vision is not as sharp as normal and it makes it incredibly difficult to spot detail.
• Amblyopia – This is a condition where one eye cannot focus as well as the other and is often called a “lazy eye.”
• Eye trauma – Eye trauma is anything that disturbs or harms the eye. This prevents the eye or eyes from working as well as they should and can harm one’s vision.

Not everyone sees optimally. People suffering from amblyopia, optic nerve hypoplasia and strabismus often have reduced depth perception. A person with an injury to one eye, or a person missing one eye, may not be able to tell where objects are in relation to others. Visual therapy may help improve these problems.

Depth perception plays an important part in many activities. Driving, sewing, threading a needle, watching 3D movies and even walking on uneven ground all require certain levels of depth acuity. People without functioning stereoscopic vision may not be able to perform these activities or may struggle with them.

Two-eyed, or binocular vision, allows each eye to see from different angles. The brain processes the information coming from each eye and forms it into one image—a process called convergence. If binocular vision is working as it should be, the brain can interpret the information, which is called stereopsis. Those that have vision in only one eye usually have to rely on other cues to aid their depth perception.

Binocular matching of local features in the retinal images may be used to obtain estimates of the absolute disparity (and distance) of objects or surfaces, as well as the relative disparity (or relative distances) between different objects.

Other phenomena of binocular vision include:

• utrocular discrimination (the ability to tell which of two eyes has been stimulated by light),
• eye dominance (the habit of using one eye when aiming something, even if both eyes are open),
• allelotropia (the averaging of the visual direction of objects viewed by each eye when both eyes are open),
• binocular fusion or singleness of vision (seeing one object with both eyes despite each eye's having its own image of the object),and
• binocular rivalry (seeing one eye's image alternating randomly with the other when each eye views images that are so different they cannot be fused).

When different images are presented to the two eyes, they compete for perceptual dominance, such that one image is visible while the other is suppressed. This binocular rivalry is thought to reflect competition between monocular neurons within the primary visual cortex. However, neurons whose activity correlates with perception during rivalry are found mainly in higher cortical areas, and respond to input from both eyes. Thus rivalry may involve competition between alternative perceptual interpretations at a higher level of analysis. To investigate this, we tested the effect of rapidly alternating the rival stimuli between the two eyes. Under these conditions, the perceptual alternations exhibit the same temporal dynamics as with static patterns, and a single phase of perceptual dominance can span multiple alternations of the stimuli. Thus neural representations of the two stimuli compete for visual awareness independently of the eye through which they reach the higher visual areas. This finding places binocular rivalry in the general category of multistable phenomena, such as ambiguous figures, and provides a new way to study the neural cause and resolution of perceptual ambiguities.

Binocular vision helps with performance skills such as catching, grasping, and locomotion.It also allows humans to walk over and around obstacles at greater speed and with more assurance.Orthoptists are eyecare professionals who fix binocular vision problems.[1]

Strabismus occurs when there are neurological or anatomical problems that interfere with the control and function of the extraocular muscles. The problem may originate in the muscles themselves, or in the nerves or vision centers in the brain that control binocular vision.

Grades of binocular vision

There are grades and methods of assessing binocular vision. The grades are the different steps in the development of stereopsis during the visual maturation. Testing of the grades is done by a synaptophore and graded as - no binocular single vision grade zero, simultaneous perception grade 1, fusion grade 2 and stereopsis grade 3. Limited form of testing can be done with worth four-dot test or Bagolini’s glasses.

The drawing at the left shows the view of two trees from the perspective of the eyes. The light green tree stands in front of the dark green tree. The right drawing shows a top view of the scene. When the eyes are focusing on the light tree, the image is projected on the fovea of the left and right eye. The angle between both projections is angle α. The images of the dark tree are projected on different positions of the peripheral retina in the left and right eye with angle ß. Because angle ß is smaller than angle α our brain interprets the dark tree as further away than the light tree. The size of the difference between α and ß represents the disparity. Large differences in angle indicate large differences in depth

Stereopsis is not present at birth but develops in the first months of life. That full-term and pre-term children develop stereopsis at the same age post-birth shows that the development depends on visual experience rather than biological maturation of the system.In the early months of life, we develop coarse stereopsis, which operates on high contrast lines and edges and enables us to align our eyes.

Four basic types of Da Vinci stereopsis cues

Alignment then permits the development of fusion and fine stereopsis. Fine stereopsis works over a much shorter range of disparities but enables us to make very fine depth judgments even in densely textured surfaces, such as grass or tree bark, where there are few or no depth cues monocularly.

important binocular visual skills:

- Tracking: the ability to move the eyes across a sheet of paper
- Fusion: the ability to use both eyes together at the same time
- Stereopis: binocular depth perception
- Convergence: the ability of the eyes to move and work as a team
- Visual Motor Integration: the ability to transform images from a vertical to a horizontal plane [3]

Reference:

1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binocular_vision
2. city-optometry.com
3. children-special-needs.org
4. rebuildyourvision.com
5. intechopen.com/books/visual-cortex-current-status-and-perspectives/...
6. deskarati.com/2014/03/10/binocular-rivalry
7. psy.uq.edu.au/~uqdarnol/Rivalry.htm
8. vision-specialists.com/articles/the-causes-symptoms-of-binocular-vision-dysfunction-your-questions-answered
9. shopfelixgray.com/blog/understanding-depth-perception
10. nearsay.com/c/670447/515154/a-guide-to-depth-perception
11. eyehealthweb.com/depth-perception
12. wisegeek.com/what-is-depth-perception.htm
13. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/8602261
14. eyewiki.aao.org/Stereopsis_and_tests_for_stereopsis
15. opticianonline.net/cet-archive/4723
16. allaboutvision.com/conditions/strabismus.htm

See also:

• BINOCULAR VISION webeye.ophth.uiowa.edu Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences
• Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD) -- dizziness-and-balance.com

Eye exercises to improve vision are very simple but very helpful. Each exercise just takes a few minutes and can be done anywhere you want. Here are easy exercises for your eyes.

Benefits of Eye Exercises

Exercise for your eyes, traditionally in the form of vision therapy, can help to ensure that the two eyes work together effectively. There are common symptoms that may indicate that eye strengthening exercises may be useful. These include skipping lines or words while reading, closing an eye, eyestrain, and headache. Vision therapy can address problems with eye turn (strabismus) and lazy eye (amblyopia), eye tracking (saccadic dysfunction), and eye teaming (convergence insufficiency). Lazy eye exercises have been shown to be particularly helpful in correcting this condition, especially when it’s caught early.

“Do eye exercises really improve vision?”

Aid or Crutch?

The first group says visual aids, like prescription glasses and contact lenses, are a crutch for your eyes. They claim you can reduce or even eliminate your need for vision correction by following a regimen of eye exercises.

The idea behind this is that most people are born with good eyesight but around 70 percent of Americans have vision problems. Therefore, most of these issues are acquired through regular life events. If you did something to create them, they can also be undone through training the eye muscles. For this reason, eye exercises tend to focus on reversing myopia, or nearsightedness.

Does it Make Sense?

That kind of makes sense though, right? If your arms are weak, you get a gym membership and some barbells, and gradually increase the weights until your muscles are strong.

The problem here is that, yes, you can make muscles stronger through working out, but your eyes aren’t muscles; they are controlled by them. Each eye has six muscles on the outside which control your line of sight and one inside which moves your focus in or out. This last one, called the ciliary muscle, is what eye exercises for myopia are usually targeting. The exercises suggested are really getting you to relax this muscle. This is based on the idea that if myopia is acquired through strain and tension of the ciliary muscle, relaxing will undo it.

But vision problems like nearsightedness are refractive errors. These happen when light doesn’t reach the correct part on the inside of the eye (the retina) due to the eyeball itself being the wrong shape. Exercising the muscles in and around the eye can’t really do anything for these problems. In myopia, the eye shape is too long for the focusing muscle, regardless of how relaxed it is.

Exercise 1: Use Small Objects

Many ophthalmologists recommend people with vision problems to use small objects like a pencil for vision exercise. The goal of this exercise is to fix binocular visual especially strabismus. In fact, this exercise is very simple and everyone can do it. First of all, hold a pencil in front of arm's length. Next step is to draw the pencil slowly towards the nose. Follow and focus on the pencil with his/her eyes. Draw the pencil away from the nose once the image of the pencil is getting double. The exerciser should practice this exercise several times a day.

Exercise 2: Blink More Often

Eye exercises to improve vision also can be done by blinking. The aim of blinking is to keep your eyes fresh and lubricated. Another benefit of blinking is to minimize eye strain and to prevent eyes from getting too dry. That is why blinking is quite helpful for your vision health. When you focus on certain objects like computer screens or televisions for a long time, you tend to blink less often. This condition can cause eye fatigue. Blinking is a very helpful exercise for your eyes. Once you have eye stain or eye fatigue, try to blink as often as possible.

Exercise 3: Change Your Focus

If you work with a computer every day, it is understood your eyes are always tired. Your eyes are tired because of focusing at the computer screen excessively. You can solve this problem by having visual breaks. Try to look at objects at longer distances. This exercise can avoid eye fatigue and maintain your eyes healthy.

Exercise 4: Move Your Eyes

Another eye exercise is to move the eyes. The main goal of this exercise is to maintain the strengths of your eye muscles. Try to move your eyes upwards and then roll the eyes. At first you follow clock rotation. After you make one rotation, reverse the direction. Perform this exercise several times a day. eResearch by Navid Ajamin -- winter 2009

Exercise 5: Use Your Palm

You can use your palm for having eye exercises. This exercise is called palming. Palming is a popular eye exercise for avoiding eye stress as well as mind stress. This exercise just takes a few minutes. First of all, try to sit and relax. Then lean forward on a desk and put your elbows on your knees. Close your eyes and cover them with the palms. Try to relax and release pressure on the eye balls. Put your fingers on your forehead. The heel of your hand should be on your cheekbone.

It is common logic that exercise of the eyes will strengthen these organs just as exercise of any other part of the body will strengthen that part.

Improving your eyesight through eye exercises and massages is not only beneficial, it will also act as prevention toward any eye conditions that you might develop.

Most people will be surprised, even amazed, at the improvement in the condition of the eyes, resulting from two or three weeks of proper exercise of the eye muscles. This does not mean that you should keep up this work for only two or three weeks. If you make it a daily routine you can expect to enjoy strong eyes and good vision to perhaps the end of life.

Try to perform all eye exercises without turning your head.

Eye exercise 1. — Turn and stretch the eyes far to the left. Then turn and stretch them far to the right, continuing the movement back and forth from left to right ten times or more.

Eye exercise 2. — Turn your eyes upward, that is to say, look as far upward as possible without raising the head. Then, without moving your head, lower your eyes, looking as far down as possible. Continue raising and lowering your eyes ten times or more.

Eye exercise 3. — Raising your eyes, look upward diagonally to the left. Then lower them diagonally to the other side, looking downward toward the right. Repeat ten times or more.

Eye exercise 4. — Raise your eyes upward diagonally to the right. Then stretch them diagonally downward to the left. Continue back and forth ten times or more.

Eye exercise 5. — Roll your eyes around in a circle, to the left upward, to the right downward, so on around. Then reverse, rolling them the other way around. Continue until slightly tired.

Eye exercise 6. — Shut your eyes tightly and vigorously, squeezing your eyelids together as firmly as possible. Open and repeat ten times or more.

Eye exercise 7. — This is an exercise that should be performed without strain, and at first with only two to four repetitions at a time. Simply look cross-eyed as though trying to see the bridge of the nose with both eyes at once.

Eye exercise 8. - Starting from the left corner of your eye, moving down, trace an imaginary number 8 with your eyes. Reverse and repeat. Repeat ten times or more.

You will find that these exercises are very simple, yet very effective. You should practice them not once a day, but a number of times each day. You can practice them while dressing in the morning, while undressing in the evening, while out on your walks, while sitting in the car, or even while taking your meals. But you should set aside some particular time for this special purpose, whether it be morning or evening, else they are more than likely to be crowded out.

One of the most vigorous of eye exercises, and one extremely effective for gaining voluntary control of the muscles of the eyes, is the practice of looking cross-eyed.

The fact is that the ability to look cross-eyed voluntarily indicates a good muscular condition and good control of the muscles concerned, and a person with a tendency to involuntary squint will find the practice one of the best ways in the world to correct that condition.

What causes refractive errors?

• Myopia or Nearsightedness: When your eyeball is too long, light rays focus at a point before the retina, meaning your distance vision remains blurred more in comparison to near vision. This is called nearsightedness and is corrected using a system of concave or minus lenses.
• Hypermetropia or Farsightedness: When the eyeball is too short, you are unable to focus on near objects because light rays entering your eye, focus behind the retina, the light-sensitive portion of the eye. This is called farsightedness and can be corrected using a system of convex or plus lenses.
• Astigmatism: When the two meridians of the cornea or lens (both of which constitute the major refractive power of the eye) do not focus at the same point, the rays of light entering your eye focus at different points. This results in a visual blur and is corrected using a system of cylindrical lenses, which are denoted with a plus or minus power and an axis ranging from 0 to 180 degrees.
• Presbyopia: The natural lens of the eye has a remarkable ability to focus on both near and distant objects by changing its shape or curvature. Over time, usually after the age of forty years, the lens loses its ability to change its shape due to loss of elasticity, and can no longer accommodate focusing at different distances. It results in a visual blur for near vision, typically resulting in the need for near vision glasses around the age of forty. It is called presbyopia and is treated using a system of plus lenses, like hypermetropia, even though the reason for the visual blur is entirely different for both the errors of refraction.

How to Improve Eyesight - Best Eye Exercises

Palming

Palming is a yogic eye exercise, suggesting relaxing the muscles around the eyes, reducing eye fatigue.

To palm, start by rubbing your hands together to warm them up. Close your eyes and place the palm of each hand over the corresponding cheekbone. Cup your hand over each eye and breathe deeply for five minutes.

Blinking

When we spend time on digital devices, our blink rate slows down. This can cause the eyes to dry out, making them feel sandy, gritty, and tired.

Taking the time to consciously blink can restore the tear film. Blinking pumps the oil glands in the eyelids, stimulating their lubricating secretions. It also helps to spread the tears over the eyes.

A blinking exercise may involve closing the eyes, pausing for two seconds, then opening them again. While the eyes are closed, the eyelids can be consciously squeezed tight for extra stimulation of the oil glands.

Pencil Push-ups

Pencil push-ups are commonly used to train the eyes to move in toward one another or converge when looking at a near object.

To do a pencil push-up, hold a pencil at arm’s length while wearing your best near vision correction. Focus on the tip of the eraser. If there is a letter on the eraser, get it in focus, so it’s legible. Now slowly move the pencil towards your nose, keeping the eraser or letter single and focused. Once it goes double, draw it away from the eyes again. Repeat several times.

Near and Far Focus

Alternating between near and far focus helps to train your focusing system to engage and relax appropriately.

Hold your thumb 10 inches from your face and focus on it for 15 seconds. Alternatively, you can hold a near object with a letter on it to better engage your focusing system. After fifteen seconds, shift your gaze to a target 20 feet (6 meters) away, and again, hold your focus for 15 seconds. Return to your thumb. Repeat several times.

Figure Eight

Tracking an object with the eyes can be challenging for some. To work on this, one can practice doing figure eights.

Pick a point on the floor 10 feet away from you. With your eyes, trace an imaginary figure eight. Continue for 30 seconds, then switch directions.

20-20-20 Rule

When we use our eyes for near work, our focusing system can become fatigued. Our eyes can also dry out. Scheduling regular breaks can help to alleviate some of this strain.

The 20-20-20 rule is easy to remember. For every 20 minutes of near work, look at a target 20 feet away for 20 seconds. You can now return to your near activity.

Brock String

The Brock String was developed by Frederick Brock of Switzerland, a pioneer in vision therapy. It can be used for a variety of exercises to train the visual system.

To set up the Brock String, tie a loop on each end of the string. Attach one loop to a doorknob. Position the three beads. To do so, you’ll want to place the distance bead closest to the doorknob. The middle bead should sit 2-5 feet from you. The near bead should be 6 inches from your nose. Hold the string taught directly under your nose.

A sequence of exercises can be performed with the Brock String to train the eyes in tracking, alignment, and focusing.

Barrel Card

The barrel card trains the eyes to turn in together, or converge, to view a near object.

To begin, hold the barrel card parallel to your nose so the circles are aligned horizontally, and the largest circles are furthest away from the nose. Close each eye. One eye will see red circles, while the other will see green ones. Adjust as necessary to ensure that each eye sees the same amount of the card and there is no tilt. Now, focus your eyes on the circles furthest away from you. The two images should overlap, producing a single red-green circle. After 5 seconds, shift your gaze to the middle circle. Finally, move your gaze to the smallest closest circle. It is important to note that the circles which you are not focused on will appear double; this is normal. Once you have completed one cycle, relax your eyes. You should work up to completing 10 cycles, holding for 10 seconds on each of the three circles.

Reference:

• ezinearticles.com
• medicinezine.com
• eye7.in/can-eye-exercises-correct-vision
• smartvisionlabs.com/blog/eye-exercises
• kraffeye.com/blog/8-easy-eye-exercises-to-improve-vision-techniques-and-tips

See also:

• What are exercises for lazy eye?
• Natural Ways to Reduce Myopia