Eye Yoga: 5 Easy Eye Exercises To Prevent Eye Strain

Yoga expert explains 5 easy eye exercises to prevent eye strain and fatigue

With the COVID-19 outbreak, the number of employees working from home has increased dramatically across the world, with the UK alone seeing nearly half (47%) of its employees working remotely in the midst of lockdown. 

This new style of working has seen more of us spending large amounts of time staring at screens with very few breaks. We’re also less likely to have the appropriate working from home set up to protect our vision from digital devices and are therefore more prone to experiencing common eye conditions such as eye strain or eye fatigue.

To help combat this, we’ve collaborated with holistic therapist, yoga, and meditation teacher Phoebe Greenacre to reveal 5 exercises you can try at home to help reduce eye strain and eye fatigue.

Phoebe will also be hosting the first-ever eye yoga class on Instagram live on Thursday 24th September at 12:30 pm. You can tune in here, but in the meantime, here’s an example of some exercises you can try: 

1. Palming

1. Rub your hands together vigorously for 10 seconds to create heat and energy between the palms. 
2. Gently place your palms over your eyes and close your eyes. Take a few deep inhalations and longer exhalations as you start to relax. 
3. Feel the warmth and darkness start to slowly soothe and melt away any tension in the back of your eyes. 
4. Allow your hands to rest there until the warmth slowly disappears.

2. Blinking

This is probably the most straightforward exercise out of all the 5 exercises. In fact, blinking repeatedly can help release your eyes from dryness and overuse.

1. Sit or stand straight. Keep your shoulders relaxed, neck straight, and look ahead.
2. Blink your eyes very fast for 10-15 seconds.
3. Gently allow your eyes to close, settle, and soften.
4. Notice how the eyes feel. Try to repeat once at least every hour.
   

3. Zooming

This is a great eye exercise for focusing and strengthening eye muscles. Here is how you do it:

1. Sit in a comfortable position.
2. Focus on an object in the distance and stay there for a few seconds.
3. Move your focus onto an object closer to you and gaze at it for a few seconds.
4. Move your focus to something close to you like your thumb.
5. Reverse the gaze - first back to the middle object, then the far-away object.
6. Repeat this exercise several times over a 2-minute period.

4. Figure of Eight

This exercise should be done from a seated position - here is how:

1. Raise your hand in front of you at eye level.
2. Extend your thumb and focus on it.
3. Start to move your arm (keeping it straight) in a figure of eight shape.
4. Keep tracing for 30 seconds, then switch directions.

5. Eye Rolling

Eye rolling is a very effective exercise when done regularly. It can help strengthen the eye muscles and enhance the shape of your eyes. Here is the correct way to do it:  

1. Sit or stand straight. Keep your shoulders relaxed, and neck straight, and look ahead.
2. Look to your right and then slowly roll your eyes up towards the ceiling.
3. Roll your eyes down to your left, and from there down towards the floor.
4. Do this in clockwise and anti-clockwise directions.

We are at Lenstore are passionate about your eye health and we can offer the best contact lenses and coloured contact lenses on the market at great prices as well as offering all our customers free eye tests in association with our partner Vision Express.