5 Eye Exercises for Better Vision in Elders
With old age, there are a few health issues that cripple up and one of them is eyesight. You may already have an existing eye condition or you may get one as you age – but, eyesight is an issue that elderly people have to fight with. For years, eye exercises to improve eyesight have been promoted as a natural way of curing vision problems. However, there is almost negligible credibility, suggesting the fact that eye exercises can cure vision; but, they can improve your vision and help you feel better. Exercises may not have many benefits on common eye conditions like myopia (near-sightedness), hypermetropia (hyperopia or far-sightedness), astigmatism, and so on. But, exercises to improve eyesight can have a great impact on common eye diseases like age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, heaviness in the eye, and so on. Adding to this, if your eye irritates a lot or they are watery most of the time, exercises will help in relaxing them and give you comfort. Not to forget, elderly people who were working on computers all day or use screen too much develop an eye condition that is known as digital eye strain. Because of this condition, one can develop issues like:
• Headaches
• Eyestrain
• Blurred vision
• Dry eyes
Eye exercises for eye strain come in extremely useful here, where the symptoms can be treated, leading to improvement in the vision. So, without any further ado, here are the five best eye exercises for elderly people to help improve their vision-
1. Blinking and Tracing
One of the foremost and easiest eye exercises to improve vision fast is blinking and tracing. For blinking, you have to slowly close both the eyes for a minute or two, and repeat it 15 times. Blinking helps in lubricating the surface of the eyes, strengthen and release tension that has accumulated in your eye muscles over the years. On the other hand, in tracing, you have to choose any object that comes within the field of your vision and focus on it while tracing the outline of the object with your eyes. Tracing is an eye muscle strengthening exercise and can be repeated a few times a day.
2. Focus Change
Yet another easy eye exercise for elderly people need to do is focus change. For this, you have to sit and keep your pointer finger a few inches away from your eye. Now holding the position, try focusing on the finger. Slowly, move the finger away from the eye while holding your focus. For a moment, look away into the distance and focus on the outstretched finger. Slowly, bring the finger back to its original position and look away to focus on something else in the distance. This is one of the best eye exercises and you can repeat this three times a day.
3. Figure Eight
One of the most effective and best eye exercises to improve eyesight for the elderly and senior citizens that helps them relax their eye strains and improve vision by a point or so is figure eight. This is again a seated and a very simple exercise. For this exercise to improve eyesight, all you have to do is follow the given steps –
• Select a point on the floor, which is about 10 feet in front of you, and try focusing on it.
• Now, trace an imaginary figure of the number eight with your eyes.
• Keep tracing for 30 seconds and then switch the directions.
It is said that this exercise for the eyes helps to get rid of glasses as well.
4. Near and Far Focus Tracking Exercise
The near and far focus is yet again a tracking exercise to improve eyesight. Here, you have to sit and stretch one arm out. Keeping the arm straight, right in front of your eyes, make the thumbs-up sign using the thumb. Now, focus on the thumb while slowly and steadily bringing it towards your face. Stop three inches away and keeping the focus, reverse the action and move the hand slowly towards its original position.
5. The 20-20-20 Rule
Lastly, the 20-20-20 rule exercise is your deal if you face a lot of eye strain and want to get relief from it. It is a very simple exercise where after every 20 minutes; you have to look at an object that is 20 feet away for 20 seconds. The 20-20-20 rule is one of the best eye exercises to improve eyesight.
Other than this, tracking side-to-side and near and far focusing are two more exercises that elderly people can practice to improve their vision and get relief from eye strains, and so on. Adding to this, there are yoga exercises for eyes to remove glasses that you can check out.
Emoha is a leading elderly in-home care service that takes care of all the needs that a senior citizen may have. Right from running errands to helping with lifestyle activities, at Emoha, it is always #EldersFirst.
