Eye yoga
Yoga probably has no more secrets for you. But do you know eye yoga? This gentle practice is said to help alleviate eye fatigue, an increasingly common condition associated with excessive screen use.
In celebration of World Sight Day on Thursday, October 13, learn all about this decades-old gymnastics practice and its benefits against eye fatigue.
Computers, tablets, smartphones… You can no longer count the hours you spend in front of screens, much less the discomfort that can come with them.
If you sit in front of one of these devices all day, you’ve probably experienced discomfort in your eyes, especially at the end of the day, which can manifest as dryness, irritation, blurred vision, or even headaches.
These symptoms may indicate asthenopia, which is eyestrain. While this is not bad, it can cause discomfort in everyday life. For this reason, some ophthalmologists now recommend eye yoga, a practice with many benefits.
What is eye yoga?
Like any form of yoga, this type of eye exercise is based on a series of eye exercises designed to train and strengthen the muscles in this area. According to the Yoga School in Rishikesh, which specializes in refractive surgery, eye yoga is a technique inspired by traditional Ayurvedic medicine and developed by Dr. Bates and Dr. Agarwal in 1920 to improve visual function by relying on the anatomy of the eye and the natural functioning of the gaze and eyes.
Like other muscles of the body, eye muscles tire less quickly with exercise, which can reduce long-term eye fatigue and other symptoms associated with excessive screen use. Many health experts also agree that eye yoga promotes alertness and even more so, sleep.
Two exercises to combat eye fatigue.
Although it is advisable to practice eye yoga with an experienced professional, there are several exercises you can do at home to strengthen eye muscles or combat dryness, starting with blinking.
It may sound harmless, but forcing your eyes to blink can lead to a better distribution of the tear film on the surface of your eyes, making them better cleaned and protected.
The Yoga School in Rishikesh recommends the pencil exercise, in which a pencil is fixed at eye level between the index finger and thumb with the arm extended.
The pencil is then drawn closer to the face while exhaling, without taking the gaze off it, and pulled away again while inhaling. This movement should be repeated several times to relieve eye fatigue and prevent it from recurring too frequently.
Eye yoga does seem to work well for tired eyes, but it also seems necessary to look for the causes. If the problem keeps recurring, a visit to the doctor may be necessary to check if your vision correction is (really) optimal.