Eye exercises have been used for a long time. There are now a variety of different exercises on the Internet. People promise that if you do these exercises, you will completely restore vision with myopia. This is both true and false. Why? Sometimes vision deteriorates, but this is not myopia. It's just muscle spasms or weakness. In this situation, active regular eye exercises can really restore vision.
When does eye gymnastics help?
In true myopia, the eye is pulled out and the image is focused some distance in front of the retina, not on it. Therefore, everything is blurry in the distance and the eye sees well up close. That's myopia, or short-sightedness — which affects one in three 11th graders. Exercise alone may not be enough to prevent vision problems. All children must visit the eye protection room once a year.
Eye gymnastics improves cell nutrition, strengthens the eye muscles and subjectively improves vision. But of course, exercises won't turn an elongated eye into a round one. By training the muscles, they can bring your image a little closer to the retina, i. e. to the nerve cells.
From my point of view, eye gymnastics is necessary for modern man. It should become a lifelong useful habit for our children. In fact, we now realize that neither the phone, nor the gadgets, nor the computer will disappear from our world. And they are only introduced more into our lives.
If your child faces the problem of visual impairment or you suspect that the child's vision has decreased -do not self-medicate, loss of time can lead to irreversible consequences. In this case, contact us immediatelypediatric ophthalmologist.
Where to start with eye gymnastics?
I recommend starting eye exercises with morning exercises to prepare our eyes for the working day. It is never recommended to get up quickly after the alarm.
Why? Because when we sleep, we are relaxed. And in a new mode for the body you have to enter gradually.
what should be done
- 1. We open our eyes and close them tightly several times so that the sphincter muscle of the eyes works.
- 2. Powerfully raise our eyebrows as if surprised.
- 3. We blink a lot.
These exercises last 5-10 seconds. After that, our eyes are ready for a new day. You can also smile - it will be just wonderful!
eye muscle training
What is it for?
Every muscle training improves the nutrition and blood supply of cells, every cell. When a cell is properly nourished, its functions naturally improve. We train all the muscle groups that surround our eyeball.
The fact is that in normal life when we need to look somewhere, say up, we just lift our heads. When we need to look to the left, we turn our heads but do not squint.
Therefore, over time, our muscles become a little weaker. What doesn't work, doesn't work!
How to train eye muscles
We do each exercise 6-8 times.
- 1. We keep our head straight and make eye movements up and down with maximum amplitude to a slight tension. At the same time, maintaining a smile, poise and good humor is essential. We blink a lot.
- 2. We try to look at the left and right ear. The rest is the same - we make it a slight muscle tension, think about posture. We often end up blinking.
- 3. Draw a butterfly with a look in order: diagonally from top to bottom, diagonally from top to bottom. Then we change direction: from bottom to top, diagonally, etc. This is how our oblique muscles of the eyes are trained. They blinked.
- 4. Draw a large vertical eight and change direction. Then we "put" that eight aside and get the sign of infinity. We also draw it both ways. Blinked. We blink a lot.
- 5. Draw a big big circle with your eyes. This exercise can be done at any time. It is undesirable to do this only when your eyes are tired. No extra eye strain required! We blink a lot.
During the exercises we definitely connect the psycho-emotional state - we try to feel that we have love in us, take care of our eyes. We must still be in a very good mood internally, then the effectiveness of our training will only increase.
Convergence exercise
This exercise is also very useful - here we train the inner eye muscles. They are very important for ensuring visual functions.
how do we do it
Very easy. We look at the tip of the nose and are happy. Everything in front of you will double, and that's okay. We also find that double vision improves vision and sharpness increases. blinked.
An analogue of this exercise can be such a home simulator: take a strip of cardboard (about 20 cm) and draw circles of different colors on it at a distance of 1. 5 cm and connect them to each other.
How do you work with such a simulator?
If you or your child wear glasses, this exercise can be done without glasses, as short-sighted people can see up close. You put it to your nose, look at the far circle, count to three, look at the closer circle, and so on to the last circle and back. You do that multiple times.
I draw your attention to the fact that there will be a little double in your eyes. We make slight tension. We often end up blinking.
Exercise "Palming"
Another very important exercise is palming. You can find it in Chinese medicine, in many oriental directions. It's a little meditative. This is a relaxation exercise. It needs to be done more often.
You sit at the table, rub your palms together to keep them warm, and cross them. Form a triangle between them. Make your palms into boats and place them on your eyes, elbows on the table. We do not bend the cervical spine, we cover our eyes under the palms. Light must not go through the hands.
Bring your attention to the center of the palm and imagine some color.
Which color is best represented? The most perfect is black. You appear to be painting over your entire field with black paint.
Why? Because at that moment you see gray colors, some flashes and so on. You can also imagine blue and green colors. These are relaxing colors. They can represent the sea or the forest. Most importantly, your head should be blank at this moment. This is very difficult. To do this, direct your attention to your breath: inhale - cool, exhale - warm.
How often do "palming"?
It is ideal to do it for two minutes every half hour, with any visual load nearby. I'm not talking about television. That means you should do it often enough. Don't let your muscles become overstretched. If you do it right, you will immediately see that your eyes have rested and the world around you has become brighter.
Good viewing habits
What good habit should you develop and definitely teach your kids?
Under no circumstances should you bend down while reading and writing!
Everyone has their own distance from the eyes to the writing surface. This is the "Jamon distance" - from the elbow to the fingertips touching the temple region. This is the ideal distance for the eyes. As soon as you start bending, your muscle is overloaded. In addition, the speed of loading this muscle increases exponentially.
This is the example I always give to the kids when I teach the School of Insight: When you're sitting properly, it's like walking down the street. But when you lean even a little bit, it's like walkingYou put 50 kg on your shoulders, ie a sack of potatoes, this is the load that our ciliary muscle experiences.
So you should never bend down when reading or writing. This is a basic viewing habit!
If you are at a computer, phone, tablet, or any device, please post a picture somewhere far away. It should be small enough, but you should be able to see it clearly.
For example, it can be a calendar with numbers that you should see or an emotional picture that you want to look at. Every 15-20 minutes at close range, stare at this image for 5-10 seconds.
So, if you study, read, write, sit at the computer for an hour, you should look into the distance 4 times and touch your palm 2 times. These are the true viewing habits.
When I ask, "When you do eye exercises, " most people say they are sick and tired.
That is not completely right! They have to be one step ahead, which means they mustn't get tired.
How to track the result of eye gymnastics
I had an exemplary case in practice. I asked a teenager
-Did you do eye exercises?
-Yes I did, but I've given up
-Why?
-I haven't seen the result.
This is very important - to see the result!
Why? Because short-sighted people who have not seen very well still do not see very well. But if your eyesight doesn't deteriorate, if it doesn't diminish, isn't this the result? I think that's a very good result.
How to understand - there is a result or no result? There is a very easy way to do this. It is called "determine another point of clear vision". It is measured once a month, it is not necessary to measure it every week. It is determined for each eye separately, without correction, i. e. without glasses, under the same conditions. The resultmust be held somewhere.
They take small text. This could be a note about medication, for example, or any other finely-written text. And the text you use is always the same. Close one eye with the palm of your hand and move the text far away if you don't see it. And you slowly begin to approach.
If you can get the sheet just far enough to see it, you need to establish the distance from the inferior orbital bone (below the eye) to the text - this is your further point of clear vision.
If your further clear vision persists from month to month, your vision is not deteriorating. If it increases by 1 or 2 centimeters, subjectively your vision improves. However, if your visual point is approaching quickly, you are doing something wrong and should definitely consult an ophthalmologist! This will be your signal to do so.
What does the result depend on?
If you master this gymnastics, what else does the result depend on?
The first is your mood as you do this gymnastics. Make sure you do it in a good mood. Because at this moment, endorphins or pleasure hormones are released in our body, which help to put everything in your body in order.
The second, of course, is regularity. If you don't do it every day, it will never become a habit. And eventually you just stop doing it.
What else does our success depend on? From desire and from knowledge. If you have a desire and you know what to do, you will be doomed to the result!
Health.