Better Health Through Better Eyes

Are you wearing reading glasses? It happened to me almost over night.

Last winter, I moved back to the States. In a matter of weeks, my eye sight started dwindling. I can still see far, no problem, but anything near was a problem

I was hyper-focused on getting back on my feet at the time, so I ditched all my healthy routines and most of my physical health declined noticeably.

This Summer, I jumped back onto all my routines and saw a quantum leap back to my old self. I feel like you can only do so much when you're building ourself back up, and that's what I did... taking it slow and steady.

The first thing I did was get back to exercising, then the skin care routine that I decided to push ahead with in the form of I Am Natural. 

Over the last couple of weeks I added my eye exercises back into the mix and I can definitely tell a difference. My pair of reading glasses broke the other day, and I went back to get another pair and realized I needed a lower strength than the ones that broke.

So if you feel like that's something you could use a little help with, I got some good news for you.

Have you ever heard of eye exercises?

Yeah, it's a thing.

I read a book about them and I'm gonna teach you a series of 6 exercises I do first thing in the morning before I roll out of bed.

You can also do them at night. All the eye ball movement relaxes the muscles in your face and also helps you sleep better. This takes about 5 minutes of your time and is a good way to slide into your day or dreams... or both.

Exercise 1 - The Warm-Up

Rub the pads of each hand just under the thumb together until they are nice and warm. Personally I count to 15, but I'm a big counter. Not sure why. Just get them nice and warm from the friction or rubbing them together, then gently place them over your eyelids.

Do this 3 times.

Exercise 2 - The Flutter/Rapid Blink

Blink your eyes really fast 20 times, then close your eyes for a 10 second rest.

Do this 3 times.

Exercise 3 - Around the World/Clock

Look up as far as your eyes will go like you're trying to stare at the inside of your forehead. Next, slowly move your eyes in a circular motion. It doesn't matter which direction. I do it counter-clockwise, but if you start the other way, that's fine too. Imagine that your eye socket is a clock face and your eyeballs are the second hand. Go from 12 to 12. Pause. Head back in the other direction.

Do this 3 times.

Exercise 4 - Forehead to Outstretched Thumbs

Stretch your arms out directly in front of you and hold the thumbs of both hands up. Space them out about a foot and a half apart.

Focus your eyes at the "back of your forehead" like the last exercise for three seconds. Just count slowly to three.

Next focus on one of your outstretched thumbs for three seconds.

Bring it back to the forehead, then back out to the opposite thumb. It doesn't matter which thumb you start with.

Do this 10 times. One rep is forehead, thumb, forehead, other thumb.

Exercise 5 - Around the World/Clock At "15 minute" Intervals

Again, imagine your eye socket is the face of a clock. Look directly up (Zero on the "clock"). Count to three.

Now, look directly left (15 on the "clock"). Count to three.

Next, look as far down as you can (30 on the "clock"). Count to three.

Next, look directly to your right (45 on the "clock"). Count to three.

Finally, look up again (Zero on the "clock"). Count to three.

Now, go back the opposite direction.

Repeat this 3 times.

Exercise 6 -  Nose to the Furthest Place in the Room.

Almost done. 

For the final one, focus on the tip of your nose for 3 seconds. Then refocus your eyes on the furthest part of your room for 3 seconds. That's one set. Do this 10 times.

If you spend a lot of time in front of the computer, all these exercises are great to do during the day, as well. You don't have to do them all.

I like the nose to furthest part in the room one the best. When we're on the computer, we're staring at a lit screen for long periods of time. It's a good exercise to readjust your eyes and give them a break from doing that one thing for so long.

I know this is hard for a lot of people to do, but try to cut down on the useless scrolling on the phone, too. When I was teaching overseas, several of the kids I taught had parents who were eye doctors. They refused to get their kids mobile phones until they were late in their teenage years, because of the eyestrain and the damage they do to the eyes.

I've gotten bad about this myself. And if I'm honest with myself, my eyesight dips when I find myself using my phone more. I try to use my computer as much as possible and skip anything on my phone that I could do on the computer. Hard to do when you're out, but something to be conscious of.

Give this a few weeks, two minimum and tell me what you think.

If you prefer video, I made a Youtube video demonstrating how to do these eye exercises.