Gymnastics for the eyes in combination with other techniques will not only increase the tone of the muscles of the visual apparatus, but also help improve vision. It is only important not to forget about daily training and to perform the exercises correctly. Before starting gymnastics, you should visit a qualified ophthalmologist. The doctor will perform a diagnosis and evaluate the quality of vision. Today, several effective methods for non-surgical vision improvement have been developed, so it is better to entrust the choice of the optimal one to a specialist.
Rules for performing gymnastics
Despite the fact that in our time there are several proven and used for medical purposes methods of restoring vision with the help of gymnastics, they must be performed according to the same rules. Therefore, before choosing one or another recovery method for yourself, read the recommendations of ophthalmologists:
- Only gymnastics that is done regularly will bring benefits. The regimen must be followed. Choose a gym routine for yourself - twice a day, once in the morning or evening, once every few days. Remember that consistency and absence of gaps is the key to the effectiveness of the complex.
- Be patient when doing the exercises. You should not even start doing gymnastics if you are in a hurry to get somewhere. Then the opposite effect will occur. You risk not loading correctly or, on the contrary, overstraining the eye muscles and thus worsening the effect of gymnastics.
- Don't overdo it. Do not think that the more often you repeat the gymnastic exercises, the faster you will feel the healing effect. This is far from true, and with your futile efforts you will contribute to unnecessary strain on the visual apparatus.
- Keep intervals. You should not start each new exercise immediately after completing the previous one. Sit for about half a minute with closed eyelids and only then start doing a new exercise.
- Rest. There is no benefit in doing gymnastics and at the same time sitting 24/7 in front of the computer. If you decide to take on the task of restoring your vision, be prepared for the fact that you need to approach this process comprehensively - both from the point of view of nutrition and from the point of view of everyday life.
Palming according to W. G. Bates
Before starting gymnastics, you need to properly prepare for it. Just like in sports, you can't come from home to the gym and immediately put a lot of weight on your chest. The effect will be zero, and you risk tearing your muscles, stretching your back or getting a hernia. It's the same with the eyepiece. It must be properly prepared before moving on to a block of effective and complex exercises.
Ophthalmologists have developed a small complex that allows you to relax your eyes and properly prepare them for subsequent muscle loading during gymnastics. The palm is an essential part of any gymnastics to restore vision.
Palming is a fairly popular and simple exercise for relaxing the muscles of the visual apparatus. This exercise uses both palms. The principle of palming consists of the following steps:
- It is necessary to warm your palms. The best way to do this is to rub them together until they are slightly red and hot.
- Fold your palms so that they touch your inner ribs and lie flat.
- Bend your elbows, finding a support point (for example, a table or knees) and close your eyes with your palms so that only the fingers of one hand are on top of the other.
- Spend 5-7 minutes in this position. If necessary, repeat after some time.
The essence of palming is to cause so-called "lightning" in the eyes. However, you should not put pressure on the eyeballs.
This simple exercise can improve vision and is effective for nearsightedness and farsightedness. In palming, the heat from the palms affects the facial nerves as well as the eye muscles, relaxing them and ensuring blood flow to them. Such regular training can even change the angle of the eyeball, that is, you can count on a noticeable positive effect even with strabismus. You just need to squeeze your fingers as tightly as possible so that the light does not penetrate through them. It is important that when performing palming, you should relax as much as possible, take a comfortable and relaxing position.
At the initial stage of palming, you may experience not quite pleasant sensations in the eye area, pain and a feeling of pressure "from the inside". This is a completely normal condition, and after a few exercises the discomfort will disappear.
Exercise No. 1. I am writing to you…
Despite the fact that the previous exercise relieved the tension from the visual apparatus, the muscles did not completely relax. That's exactly what we're going to do now. Unfortunately, many people, trying to restore their eyes and relax them as much as possible, forget that in any exercise the neck is also involved, as it also needs attention. It is from the neck area that the blood flows to our eyes and in this way nutrition is provided. We will try to do everything to normalize this process, after numerous violations when working in front of the monitor. To perform gymnastics, you will need a chair or a mat, since it can be performed in two positions: sitting and lying down.
To get the right result from gymnastics, you need to:
- Take a comfortable position in a lying or sitting position.
- close eyes
- Relax.
- Imagine that there is a pen on the tip of your nose and you urgently need to write a letter.
- Now you can start drawing simple shapes or writing whole words, but certainly with your nose, without the help of your hands.
- The neck should also be involved in this process.
- Try to write the whole alphabet first.
- Increasing the difficulty, try to reproduce your favorite verse or at least a few lines from it.
Exercise No. 2. Look through your fingers
Another exercise can relieve your eyestrain. Its performance is also not limited to a certain pose. You need:
- Bend your elbows.
- Open your fingers.
- Bring your palms close to your eyes so that the back of each palm is just below the eye.
- Now look through your fingers at all the objects in the room.
- The most important thing is not to focus on the fingers themselves, the purpose of the exercise is to see something beyond them.
The exercise can be complicated by trying to concentrate on moving objects in the room. Look in different directions, turn around without taking your hands away from your face. Do the exercise about thirty times, spending no more than five seconds on each attempt to see something in the distance. This exercise will seem difficult to you at first, but with time you will learn to concentrate on separate things without paying attention to your hands.
| Name of the exercise | lead | Number of approaches |
|---|---|---|
| Exercise No. 1 | 30 seconds | 3 approaches |
| Exercise No. 2 | No more than 5 seconds | 3 sets of 10 times |
| Warm-up | 30 seconds | 2 to 3 approaches |
Solarization: the life-giving power of light
Solarization is a set of exercises whose main active factor is bright light.
Solarization can be done using:
- the world;
- sun;
- candles;
- an incandescent electric lamp.
Sunlight solarization is considered the most effective, but it is not always possible to use a natural light source. Therefore, candles and incandescent lamps can also find useful applications.
Solarization is carried out in several steps:
- Position yourself in relation to the light source so that your face is directly opposite it. Eyes should be closed.
- Without squinting, try to get used to the bright light (your eyes should still be closed). If you feel pain in your eyes, you can cover them briefly with your hands, then remove them and try again.
- It is necessary to slowly turn your head first to the right, then to the left, so that the light can exert its influence evenly.
- After completing the solarization, do palming.
Solarization is effective in restoring vision. It improves blood circulation and also promotes rapid recovery of eye tissue, especially in the postoperative period.
Improving blood circulation with the help of gymnastics
Often a person loses vision due to the fact that blood circulation in a certain area is impaired. It does not reach the necessary muscles and nerves in the necessary volume, which is why myopia develops and the retina thins. The best thing you can do without surgery is to try to improve your circulation yourself. Massage movements are best for this.
| No. | Description | lead | Number of approaches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exercise 1 | With massage movements, go from the lower part of the eyelid of the right eye to the bridge of the nose, then along the upper part of the left eye and return to the bridge of the nose. It's like drawing an infinity sign or glasses | Do the exercise for one minute | The exercise is performed in 2-3 approaches |
| Exercise 2 | Move your eyes left and right as if moving your pupils along the horizon line. Do this at maximum speed, but so that when performing the exercise there is no pain in the eyes | Within thirty seconds | 2-3 approaches |
| Exercise 3 | Move your eyes up and down, moving the pupils in a vertical line at maximum speed | Within thirty seconds | 2-3 approaches |
| Exercise 4 | Close your eyes quickly and immediately relax your eyes | Completed 10 times | 2-3 approaches |
| Exercise 5 | Place your index finger on the bridge of your nose. Try to bring your eyes together as much as possible to see it. | Keep your attention on your finger for two to three seconds. | Five approaches |
| Exercise 6 | Blink very fast | Within twenty seconds | Three approaches |
| Exercise 7 | Look outside the window. Determine for yourself a specific object in the distance. Place a circle on the glass next to the object. Move your vision from a distant object to a sticker and vice versa | Within a minute | Three approaches |
After completing such a complex, the muscles of the visual apparatus will become toned and you will not only get a therapeutic effect after the first performed exercises, but also prevent various eye diseases associated with poor blood circulation.
Fighting myopia with gymnastics
It has been scientifically proven that the most common eye disease is myopia, and there are a number of reasons for this. Severe fatigue, constant contact with technical devices and lack of rest for the eyes have an impact. Someone loses their sight as a result of bad heredity, while others bring themselves to a sad result. But in the meantime, there are gymnastics that can partially restore vision, and also serve as a preventive measure against further vision loss.
To perform gymnastics, you need to take a sitting position and relax.
| No. | Description | lead | Number of approaches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exercise 1 | Close your eyes. Sit up straight. Try to lean back and take a deep breath. Without opening your eyes, lean forward and exhale | Perform for exactly one minute | Two approaches |
| Exercise 2 | Lean back on the seat back. Open your eyes. Lean your body forward and sharply close your eyes, then open your eyes and return to the starting position | Perform for exactly one minute | Two approaches |
| Exercise 3 | While sitting, put your hands on your waist and turn your head first to one side, then to the other, so that you can see your elbow | Perform for exactly one minute | Two approaches |
| Exercise 4 | Start rolling your eyes clockwise, then counterclockwise | Do thirty seconds in one direction and thirty seconds in the other direction. | Three trips |
| Exercise 5 | Hold out your hands. Look at your fingertips. Raise your hands, but keep watching your fingers. You can't move your head. Once your fingers are out of sight, relax your hands | Perform for exactly one minute | Two approaches |
Movement-based gymnastics
There are several types of basic exercises from which it is recommended to create individual gymnastic complexes:
- circular eye movements;
- describing geometric figures with eyes;
- focusing the gaze;
- leading lines (up-down, left-right);
- blinking/squinting.
Exercises that can be used to prevent and treat myopia include:
| No. | Exercise | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Focusing | You need to look off into the distance and aim it at the farthest point in your line of sight. Slowly move your gaze to the tip of your nose |
| 2 | Circular movements | Draw a circle with your eyes. Repeat 10 times. Then do the exercise in the opposite direction. |
| 3 | blinking | Blink rapidly for a few minutes |
| 4 | Squinting while sitting | Close your eyes for a few seconds, repeat several times |
| 5 | Eyelid massage | Close your eyes and massage your eyelids in circular motions with light pressure. |
| 6 | Eye contact | Look at the place where the eyebrows grow, hold it for 2-3 seconds, then return to the starting position and repeat |
| 7 | Head rotation with gaze shift | You need to slowly turn your head to the side, moving your gaze in the same direction. Then turn your head in another direction. |
Effective gymnastics for farsightedness:
- Focusing on a distant object. Place your finger at a distance of 30-40 cm from your face. Look into the distance, then focus your finger.
- Reading "between the lines". Pick up a book, read a few paragraphs of text, then focus on the white space between the lines.
- The head is spinning. Turn your head to the left, then to the right, looking forward the entire time.
- Observation of moving objects.
After each set of exercises, you need to give your eyes a break. You can relax the eye muscles with a light massage or compresses.
Preventive gymnastics
To ensure that visual acuity does not decrease, it is necessary to perform the following exercises from time to time:
- "Drawing letters". You must use your eyeballs to describe any number of letters of the alphabet. The exercise can be considered completely completed if you manage to describe all 33 letters.
- Open your mouth - close your eyes. At the same time, open your mouth, then open your eyes wide. Try to open your mouth and eyes at the same time.
- Blinking/squinting. It is necessary to alternate frequent blinking with 3-5 seconds of squinting.
- Massage the upper eyelids with light circular movements.
- Glance up and down.
- Move the gaze diagonally.
- pressure. You should close your eyelids and not press them too hard.
- Look through your fingers. Covering your eyes with your palms, spread your fingers a short distance, look through them for a few seconds and squeeze them tightly again.
- Narrowing. You need to close your eyes, touch the outer corner with your middle fingers and pull to the side. You should feel a slight tension in your muscles.
- Tilt your head down, relaxing your neck muscles and placing your chin on your sternum. Look at the floor. Then slowly tilt your head back, looking up.
Don't underestimate preventive eye exercises. After all, it is the eyes that are constantly exposed to the most harmful factors. Stress, bad habits, lack of vitamins, frequent illnesses and unfavorable environment often become the causes of sudden and rapid vision loss.
The table below presents three groups of exercises that provide a range of preventive measures.
| Exercise group | Initial position | An example |
|---|---|---|
| Exercises to strengthen eye muscles | When sitting, the head is motionless | Look to the side to the right, then to the left without changing the position of the head |
| Exercises to stimulate circulation and blood flow | sitting down | Alternate eye closure |
| Accommodation exercises | standing | Fix your hand with an outstretched finger at a distance of 30 cm from your face, focus your gaze on it. Without changing focus, slowly move your finger towards your face. When your finger appears to be doubled, you should smoothly move it back to its original distance |
For those people who spend a lot of time in front of the computer, working with paper and small print, preventive gymnastics is simply necessary.
Morning gymnastics for the eyes
Exercising in the morning allows the body to wake up quickly, tones the muscles and gives a good mood for the whole day. How about morning eye exercises? The sensations from it are no less pleasant.
Morning exercises can be done in several steps:
- Remaining in a horizontal position, stretch, relaxing the neck muscles.
- Open your mouth and eyes wide in sync several times.
- Do a few squints lasting 3-5 seconds.
- Then blink often, but not too fast.
- Close your eyelids and use your nose to describe each shape in the air. In this way you can "write" words, letters or "draw". The duration of this exercise is on average 2-3 minutes. The images that arise during such an exercise cause the brain to "wake up" faster and return to work.
- Raise and lower your eyebrows several times. Sometimes frowning, sometimes surprised.
- Lie on your back, do palming.
- Turn your head from side to side for 2-3 minutes. This relieves tension from the upper spine, which is especially important if you have to sleep in an uncomfortable position.
In general, eye exercises in the morning will not take much time, but will give a noticeable positive effect: after 1-2 weeks, visual acuity will improve significantly, the number of headaches will decrease, and there will be no signs of fatigue Face.
Evening exercises for the eyes
In the evening, gymnastics is mainly needed to relax the muscles of the visual apparatus from the tension during the day. That is why here the palm will be combined to a greater extent with exercises aimed at combating myopia and retinal diseases:
- Lie down for a while with your eyes closed.
- Without opening your eyes, rotate your pupils clockwise and counterclockwise.
- Open the left and right eyes alternately.
- Look at an object located two or three meters away from you. Move your gaze to a more distant object. Then again to the close one.
- If possible, hang a table with letters, like in an ophthalmologist's office. Every night look at the letters, studying the outline. Remember how much you saw initially, how much a week later, etc.
- Finally, use your fingertips to pull the eyelids apart, pulling the skin away from the eye. Do this on the bottom, top and sides for one minute.
Get into the habit of sleeping with a special medical eye patch. It allows you to get a sound sleep and your eyes will not react painfully to the morning sunlight that sneaks into your room.
Tibetan gymnastics
There are many techniques that include different sets of eye exercises aimed at correcting vision, preventing cataracts, and treating many eye-related diseases. Tibetan gymnastics is one of the most widespread and effective. It includes the following exercises:
- Peripheral vision training. With your arms outstretched in front of you, place your two index fingers in front of your eyes at a distance of 35-40 cm, bringing them together. Without changing your gaze, slowly open your arms with your fingers out to the sides. The goal is to look straight ahead but see the fingers in your peripheral vision. Then bring your fingers together in front of you again.
- pressure. Gently and quickly press your fingers on the closed eyeballs, then open your eyes and try not to blink for about 5-6 seconds.
- A square. Describe the square with your eyes: look down - left - up - right. Then repeat in the opposite direction: look up - right - down - left.
- Flashes frequently for about a minute.
- Light massage of the eyelids. Close the eyelids and with light massaging movements, move from the inner corner of the eye to the outer one on the upper eyelid, then on the lower one.
Each exercise of Tibetan gymnastics should be performed for at least one minute or at least 10-15 repetitions.
Yoga for your eyes
Many people have discovered that yoga is a treasure trove of health benefits. From year to year, the fans of this, more of a lifestyle than a sport, are becoming more and more, and this is justified. But few people know that yoga exists not only for the body but also for the eyes. Such exercises will help you keep your eyesight in excellent condition if performed systematically into old age.
All you have to do is take a comfortable position while sitting on the floor and straighten your back. Relax and think about something pleasant. Begin a set of exercises with a gentle warm-up, trying to direct your gaze from one side to the other, while trying not to move your neck and head.
Now that you've moved around a bit, you can start the exercises themselves.
- Exercise No. 1
Achieve even and smooth breathing. Try to direct your gaze to the space between the eyebrows, thus practically connecting the pupils in the area of the bridge of the nose. Of course, you will not succeed the first time, but with systematic repetition of the exercise you will achieve success. You should hold your pupils in place for at least two seconds, gradually increasing the delay time over and over. This exercise should be done ten times, giving your eyes a few seconds to rest after each approach.
- Exercise No. 2
Give your pupils a short rest after the first exercise, blink, close your eyelids for a while and open them smoothly. As soon as you feel that the tension has subsided, get ready for a new exercise. Your position remains the same. Eyes should be wide open and breathing should be even. Place your finger on the tip of your nose and try to see it with both eyes. Thus, the pupils will meet again at the bridge of the nose, but the gaze will now be directed downwards, unlike the previous exercise. Repeat ten times, giving your eyes some rest in between.
- Exercise No. 3
Now try to look to the right with both eyes, trying to look as far as possible, but without turning your body and head. Then look to the left. Now we repeat the same thing, looking up and down. The exercise should not be easy for you, the further you move your pupils, looking in one direction, the faster you will achieve the desired effect of the complex.
- Exercise #4
Still maintaining an even posture and observing smooth breathing, proceed to the next stage. Look down without lowering your head. Then start moving one pupil clockwise. Once you reach the place where you started the exercise, start moving counterclockwise. Then start making a circle on top. Do the exercise in twenty approaches, ten each for the position of the eyes above and below. Try to make a circle with your pupils slowly while trying to see as much as possible from each side.
- Exercise #5
Now you need to relax the eye muscles again so that they stop being tense and feel a surge of strength. To do this, close your eyes, think of something good and, observing your even breathing, rest for a few minutes.
This completes the yoga complex. Many ophthalmologists advise their patients to perform such exercises not only to maintain eye health, but also to experience the therapeutic effect.
Based on doctors' practice, daily morning and evening yoga sessions help strengthen muscles, relieve stress and generally improve retinal health. This means that you can try to restore lost units without the help of surgeons.
You don't need to follow one set of classes, because creating a gymnastics program for yourself is not that difficult. It may include exercise, massage, and exercises that relieve fatigue.