Eye yoga: a few simple exercises to relax your eyes

If you spend too much time in front of the screen, chances are your eyes are tired. Eyesight is connected to many other symptoms, like headaches or lack of balance.

Eye yoga is a set of exercises that can stimulate this organ's muscles and positively affect your eyesight. Healthline says yoga can help your eyes focus and relieve some strain symptoms. However, it will not improve or cure diseases like astigmatism or farsightedness.

The eyes are not only vital sensory organs. They are also one of the parts of the body with the most blood supply. Each eye has six muscles. And our eyes record about 10 million pieces of information per second, which they then transmit to the brain.

Several small muscles at the back of the eyeball help direct the eye in all directions. Training these muscles has positive effects.

According to Healthline, eye yoga can help you feel like you are seeing better because it makes you more attentive to what you are looking at.

A 2013 study of 60 participants, collected by the specialized outlet, noted that eye exercises helped the study group to identify what they were looking at more quickly.

So eye yoga can reduce symptoms, especially in those who have to work at a screen for hours or use glasses. Screentime can decrease the ability to move the eyes, while those who wear glasses develop a tendency to tunnel vision.

Another problem is overstimulation which can cause headaches, memory problems, or dizziness after a while. Eye yoga can provide relief from these symptoms.

Targeted exercises can relieve symptoms from chronic conditions related to strokes, concussions, Parkinson's disease, long Covid, or post-traumatic stress disorders.

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Everyone can practice eye exercises - or eye yoga - daily to reduce pain or train their eye muscles without special tools.

The German Sport University Cologne has published a guide to relax and train your eyes, prevent vision loss, and improve your health. Here are a few exercises.

An easy but very effective exercise to relax the eyes is to close them. Cover your closed eyes with your hand or another object until you no longer see a flicker of color, but only black.

Take a deep breath and wait about two minutes before opening your eyes. You can warm up your hands by rubbing them to relax your eyes.

With your fingertips, massage the bony end of your eye socket. Start at the nose and massage upward until you reach the eyebrow and temple. This exercise should last at least 20 to 30 seconds for tired eyes to regain strength.

Sit comfortably and rub the palms of your hands to warm them. Next, bend your hands in a hollow shape and place them over your eyes. Then close your eyes and wait a minute for the vision cells to deactivate. After opening your eyes, blink them several times.

When you read or work on the computer, regularly look away so as not to remain permanently fixed on a close object. You can do this gradually, staring at a point close to you, then looking at other issues or more distant objects. Transitioning from near vision to distance vision allows your ciliary muscles to relax.

Close your eyes and gently place your index and middle fingers on your eyebrows. Gently tap around the eye area for one minute. Do not exert too much pressure: the tapping should be pleasant. This exercise relaxes the eye and promotes blood circulation.

Look at the sun for about 30 seconds with your eyes closed. Do this by turning your head slightly so the light doesn't hit just one spot.

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Remember to blink more frequently and intentionally to prevent them from drying out when working in front of a screen. This little exercise also allows you to exercise your eye muscles.

As you swing, you work the outer muscles of your eyes while relaxing your shoulders. Extend your relaxed arm forward and turn it in a semi-circle from right to left, all without moving your head. Only follow your arm with your eyes!

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Anyone over 40 should practice this exercise. Indeed, several studies have shown that the lens loses elasticity between the ages of 40 and 45.

Focus on one object nearby and then another far away, such as going from a window handle to a tree outside. Repeat the exercise several times, but without excess, so as not to put too much strain on the eye.

This exercise allows you to improve your peripheral vision and your reaction time. Hold your thumb about 40 centimeters from your head and focus on it.

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Then place it around without taking your eyes off your thumb. At the same time, pay attention to the elements or movements in your field of vision.

Draw an elongated eight in the air with your finger while trying to follow it with your eyes closed about 20 times. You may move your head slightly while doing this. You can also do it with the nose.

Extend both arms about half an arm's length forward with your palms facing up. Follow your hands as you spread them apart for as long as possible without moving your head. Repeat several times.

Close your eyes and move your eyeballs. Change direction movement and move them up and down and left and right. Then do the same diagonal movement in both directions. Repeat the exercise five times, and remember to blink while doing it.

Despite how little research there is on the effects of eye yoga, a few studies have shown that it has benefits. It is also a harmless new thing to try. Healthline says there’s minimal risk and no minimum fitness level.

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