Tired Eyes
Have you counted the hours you spend staring at your screen? Whether it’s for work or pleasure we spend countless hours hunched over our smartphone, our laptop screens, or unwinding at the end of the day reading or binge-watching shows at the end of a stressful workday.
A few fun facts about your eyes:
- Your eye is the fastest muscle in your body – you can blink 5 times per second!
- Your eyes contain 107 million light sensitive cells called ‘rods’ and 7 million ‘cones’ that help you see in color!
- Your eye color is dependent on the melanin in your eyes. Brown colored eyes just have more melanin than blue ones!
As we age many of us can notice changes in our eyes and vision. We may notice our eyes feel tired and strained, or look puffy and red, or get irritated and prone to seasonal allergies. Our delicate eye muscles get weak and can fatigue easily. The anatomy of our eye is very complex, there are many blood vessels and muscles managing our eyes. The optic nerve connects our eyes to our brain. When we overuse our eye muscles, they become fatigued. The good news is that we can strengthen these muscles and increase blood supply to our eyes by doing some simple eye exercises.
Here are a few eye exercises to give your eyes a much deserved ‘re-charging’ and ‘re-energizing’ break.
Guidelines
A few guidelines and suggestions before you begin:
- Keep your hands clean and try not to rub your eyes directly.
- You can splash your eyes with cool water before starting any eye exercises if possible.
- It is a good idea to start and finish each exercise with the ‘palming’ eye exercise.
- Sit comfortably in an erect, straight position.
- Drink water, your eyes need water too just like the rest of your body.
- Do not do these eye exercises while driving.
An instant eye pick-me-up idea:
Cold thin cucumber or potato slices in summer or a self-heating eye mask for winters
1. Simple Eye Massage
Do this simple massage to rest your tired eyes.
Steps to follow:
- Place your index finger on your eyeballs and gently rotate
- Massage your eyebrows very lightly
2. Palming Eye Exercise
This exercise helps you relax your eyes immediately. It also allows you to help calm your mind and be more present. It allows your eyes to take a break from the sensory visual overload, leading to a calming mental state.
Steps to follow:
- Sit comfortably with your eyes closed and take a few deep breaths
- Rub your palms vigorously to generate heat, then place them gently over your eyes
- Stay in this position until the heat from your palms disappears
- Keep your eyes closed and repeat this exercise three times
3. Blink Eye Exercise
The easiest exercise in the world: Blink. On average a human being blinks 17 times per minute, 14,280 times in 14 hours, and a whooping 5.2 million times a year. But when we are busy surfing the social media sites we can actually forget to blink!
Steps to follow:
- Sit comfortably with your eyes open
- Blink 10 times, quickly
- Close your eyes for 20 seconds and take a few deep breaths
- Repeat five times
4. Point Eye Exercise
The aim of this exercise is to shift where your eye is focusing to give them a quick break. If you don’t mind putting on a show, an added bonus is the increase in oxygen level for those around you, as they enjoy your funny eye calisthenics!
Steps to follow:
- Sit up straight, extend your arm and gaze at your thumb or a pen for a few seconds
- Slowly bring your thumb (or the pen) towards the tip of your nose, and gaze for a few seconds
- Reverse this exercise, and repeat at least 5 times
- Variation to this exercise: Hold both arms in front and hold the two thumbs together. As you focus on the thumbs, slowly bring the arms straight to the sides following the tip of the thumb
5. Eyes in All Directions Exercise
Also known as the Up, Down, and Right, Left; is an eyeful as much as a mouthful to repeat.
Steps to follow:
- Look up and down 5-7 times without moving your head
- Look straight ahead and close your eyes
- Look right and left 5-7 times without moving your head
- Look straight ahead and close your eyes
6. Diagonal Eye Exercise
A quick and simple technique, akin to abdominal ‘woodchopper’ exercise, only done to make your eyes muscles strong.
Steps to follow:
- Look diagonally up to your right and down to your left, 5-7 times without moving your head
- Look diagonally up to your left and down to your right, 5-7 times without moving your head
7. Eye Rolling Exercise
You can do these eye rolls three times a day for optimal eye health and be assured that no one will mind!
Steps to follow:
- Sit up straight, keep your head still and look to your right
- Slowly roll your eyes up to the ceiling and down to your left
- Roll your eyes down to the floor
- Do this in a clockwise motion for 10 repetitions, then anti-clockwise
So, be a visionary and do these simple, easy-to-do exercises every day to enjoy great vision for years to come!