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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