Eyes are a very delicate and important part of the body. If you are even little careless regarding eyecare, you may lose your quality of vision. Poor vision is caused due to a number of factors – stress and strain on the eyes being the major factors. In this article, we will see how to reduce the strain and stress of eyes and maintain good eyesight.
1. Your morning eye regime
It is very important that our eye muscles should be stimulated to prevent any stress or redness in our eyes. One simple exercise that could be done in the morning while taking bath or washing the face. Wash your face with water and then splash cold water on to the eyes. The pressure exerted by the water in mouth will help stimulate the eye muscles and nerves. Remember warm or tepid water is very harmful for eyes as it may damage the blood vessels so only cold water should be preferred to wash the eyes. This exercise not only stimulates the muscles but also improves the vision.
2. Eyewashes considered miracle for eyes
- Triphala Wash: Triphala, an Ayurvedic medicine does wonders to our body including the eyes. If you suffer with any eye disease or you want to make an eye wash otherwise use triphala, Ayurveda practitioners say. Triphala is widely taken in the treatment of conjunctivitis, progressive myopia, the early stages of glaucoma and cataracts. It is also used to improve vision otherwise. To make this eyewash, soak Triphla churna or triphala tablets in water over night. In the morning strain the liquid and wash your eyes with it twice a day. This eyewash helps relax and relieve stress in the eyes.
- Pitta eyewash: Ayurveda explains that Pitta is a fire element in our body that governs our eyes. Impaired vision and eye problems are result of pitta overtaking body. As pitta rises in body, the person gets stressed, feels over worked, and eventually results in a burnout. The best remedy is to keep pitta cool and calm. This can be done with taking proper foods along with daily meditation. Use cool water or rose water and avoid commercial rose water as it contains chemicals that sting the eyes, instead use organic rose water which is chemical free.
- Cranberry eyewash: In meidcal terms, cranberry has been considered beneficial in treating and preventing eye diseases. Cranberry contains anthocyanin that improves eyesight by acting on the eye’s nerve capillaries and improves the blood flow to the retina. Cranberry is also used in treating certain types of retinal degeneration. For making cranberry wash, you can dilute cranberry juice, 3-5 drops in a teaspoon of distilled water and splash this solution onto your eyes.
3 .Massage over-worked eyes
People who often work on computer for long hours suffer with computer vision syndrome. For such people, exercising the eyes becomes very much necessary. They can practice this simple exercise. This will improve blood circulation and will relieve fatigue. Hold the eyebrows between the thumb and index finger, in such a way that the thumb is above the eyebrow and index finger below. Now, gently press and straighten the eyebrows, exerting gentle pressure on all the points. Then gently roll the thumb around the eye ball. Do this work out every three to four hours.
4. Exercise the muscles around your eyes
Exercise of eye includes rotating the eyeballs in a circular direction. To do this exercise, rotate your eyeballs, first to the right and left, then upwards and downwards. Do this in the clockwise and anti-clockwise direction both for about three to four repetitions.
5. Palming
This technique has originated from Ayurveda and is useful to relax the eyes and relieve stress. To do this, rub the palms of both your hands for 30 seconds till you feel warmth between the palms, then cover your eyes with the palm. Hold this position till the heat decreases. Slowly open your eyes, but avoid looking directly at bright light as eyes take time to acclimatise to the environment.
6. Maintain moisture
Dry eyes can be itchy, red and even painful. One can also retain and maintain the natural eye moisturiser by blinking. Try to blink frequently, even when you are focused on watching TV or working on your computer. Few people use eye creams or eye moisturiser to maintain the moisture but it should be remembered that these eyes product contain chemicals too so they should be aware of the safety usage and side effects of that particular product because anything used on the eyelids directly affect the eyes.
7. Sound sleep
You might have noticed that your vision seems blurry when you don’t sleep properly. It is because eye muscles also demand relaxation, so a good 7- 8 hours of sleep is required.
8. Use eye drops wisely
Eyes are very sensitive and any infection or any discomfort felt in eye should not be avoided, therefore one should keep the medicated eyedrops handy that could be used in case of any emergency. But there is a method to use eye drops. Eye drops are absorbed into the bloodstream therefore only a fraction is available for eyes. To minimise the absorption in blood and maximise it in eye, close your eye for one to two minutes after pouring the drops and press your index finger lightly against the corner of your eyelid to close the tear duct which drains into the nose. This may cause an uncomfortable burning or stinging sensation at first but will go away in few seconds.
- Care for increased Intraocular Pressure (IOP) – It is also important to visit the ophthalmologist if there is any discomfort with the eyes and cause is not known because sometimes it may be a danger sign. One such condition is increased IOP which people are oblivious of and they often ignore it. But this should not be avoided and should be detected and treated at the early stages because here optic nerve fibres are damaged gradually and there is a gradual loss of causing glaucoma. There are eye drops specially formulated for treating IOP problem only, careprost is a generic brand in market which is known for curing increased IOP alongwith some cosmetic use. Many females use it for growing long eyelashes because of its hair growing property.
9. Balanced Diet
By simply practising such easy tips you can improve eye vision, but as it is always said that any anomaly in our body starts with an unbalanced diet and can be therefore tackled with a balanced diet. A best diet that is considered helpful for eyes is one that incorporates fibre, vitamin A, E, antioxidants, beta carotenes. Almonds, raisins, figs, green vegetables, carrots, gooseberry and blueberries are natural elixirs for eyes.
If you found this article helpful, please share it with your friends as well to create more awareness on eyecare. Also, post comments in case you have any health queries.
Also Read: 5 Simple Eye Care Tips
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