How to Exercise and Relax the Eyes For Good Vision By Brent McNutt At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

A lot of us keep our body fit through physical exercises such as jogging, going to the gym, or taking up a sport, but rarely do we think about exercising our eyes. Eye doctors in urbane scrubs suggest that eye exercises will help keep the eyes healthy and minimize strain. Eyes, after all, are also made of muscles and they need the proper work out to stay fit and healthy. Eye exercises are especially important for those who use a computer for long stretches of ours everyday (which most of us are guilty of). Eye strains can be also caused by watching too much television, reading, and too much light exposure. Below are some helpful eye exercises.

Relaxing your mind

We strain our eyes when we look or stare at something for long stretches of time without changing the distance of our gaze. When we do this, our eyes and mind becomes tense. The key to doing eye exercises is to empty and relax the mind much like what is done in meditation. However, relaxing and emptying our mind does not mean relaxing our gaze and having a “lazy eye” where we unconsciously blur our vision. Sitting comfortably in a chair in a peaceful environment is ideal for doing eye exercises. Your back and neck should be straight but not stiff.

Improving visual concentration

The next step is to improve your visual concentration at different distances. Once you are relaxed and in the proper posture, you can start with looking at short distances. In front of you, hold a pencil at arm’s length and lock your gaze on the pencil. Slowly, move the pencil to your nose and follow it with your eyes until you are able to keep it in focus. Repeat this exercise 10 times. Next, face a wall across the room and without turning your head, pretend that you are writing on the wall with your eyes. For example, “write” your name with as big letters as you can. For another exercise, focus on a distant object, about 150 feet away then slowly refocus to a nearby object that is less than 30 feet away but in the same direction as the first object. Focus for several seconds and shift your focus again, doing this five times. Finally, focus on the farthest object that you can see (if you are indoors, look out the window) ideally with a low contrast background. Do this for a few minutes every half hour or so, especially when you are working on the computer. This will help maintain your best visual level during the day and prevent further deterioration.

Using imagination

To help relax your eyes and balance your mental and visual focus, lie down on your back with palms facing upright and your legs shoulder-width apart. Close your eyes and do breathing exercises, expanding your belly and lugs as you breathe in and collapsing as you breathe out. Do this for a few minutes. Open your eyes and look at an object for a few seconds. Close your eyes again and retain the image of the object even with eyes closed. Do this a few times looking at different objects.

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