4 Vision therapy exercises you can do at home to improve your eyesight.

4 Vision therapy exercises you can do at home to improve your eyesight

All of us have a unique pair of eyes and eyesight. And for most of us, there is room for improvement in our visual abilities. If you have a visual acuity less than 20/20, your doctor prescribes eyeglasses, contact lenses, or vision correction surgeries like LASIK. Vision therapy exercises are suggested for visual disabilities that cannot be treated with glasses, contacts, or surgeries alone. Several visual problems are improved with vision therapy exercises in adults and children. Vision therapy exercises generally strengthen eye muscles and improve the connection between the vision-related areas of the brain and the eyes.

Your doctor may prescribe eye exercises if you have:

Crossed Eye (Strabismus)
Lazy Eye (Amblyopia)
Double Vision
Depth Perception
Convergence Insufficiency
Eyestrain

Several easy-to-do vision therapy exercises can help those who suffer from these vision problems. Do you think you or someone you know could benefit from these exercises for the eyes and brain? Let’s dive in.

Sunning

Your pupils adjust themselves as the light varies. Sunning is an exercise to strengthen this ability of the pupils. Sunning is simply looking at the sun but with your eyes closed.

How to do this?

Find a spot where you can sit/stand with sunlight falling on your face. Try to do this in the early hours or late hours of the day when the sunlight doesn’t hurt your face.
Sit/stand with the sunlight falling on your face for some time.
When you feel ready, gently move your head from side to side. Make sure your chin is above your shoulders in each turn.
Do this 8 to 10 reps and rest for 15 seconds and repeat. Try to do this thrice a week.

Palming

Palming is a yogic eye exercise to relax eye muscles and reduce the effects of tension in the eyes. Anxiety & tension creates pressure on our optic nerve, corneas, and macula. Palming helps release this tension from our eyes.

How to do this?

Sit in a quiet and peaceful place with a table in front of you.
Start by taking some deep breaths and calm yourself with your eyes closed.
Rub your palms together until they are warm.
Place your elbows on the table and gently close your face with your warm palms.
Feel the warmth of your palms through your eyes. Focus your attention on doing this.
Repeat this 4-5 times.

Blinking

We are on our digital screens more than ever these days. Using digital screens, we forget to blink, and this can cause our eyes to dry out. Blinking exercise helps to keep our eyes moist and healthy.

How to do this?

Find a quiet place to sit and relax.
Look straight ahead and blink.
You can consciously squeeze your eyelids a little bit to boost the stimulation of the oil glands.
Repeat 10-15 times.

Near and far exercise

This exercise improves the movement of your eye muscles. This is especially good for those who wear glasses. Near and far exercise improves the focusing ability of our eyes as well.

How to do this?

Sit in a quiet place with both your thumbs in front of you.
Hold one thumb closer to your face and the other one farther.
Focus on the first thumb for 2 seconds and shift your focus to the other for the next 2 seconds.
Try to look at objects at different distances as well.

Do these exercises regularly and watch your eyes become happier and healthier. Suggest these eye exercises for your loved ones as well. Together, we can promote an eye care culture!

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