Most people seem to assume that it’s natural for your vision to decline as you get older. But it doesn’t have to be that way! In fact, with regular exercise of the muscles that control eye movement, you can reduce the strain on your eyes, and even improve your vision.
While these muscles are buried beneath the skin’s surface, they cannot be forgotten. These six different muscles play a huge role in the overall health of your eyes.
6 Muscles That Control Eye Movement
1. Lateral rectus – Primarily moves your eye outward, away from your nose.
2. Medial rectus – Primarily moves your eye inward, toward your nose.
3. Superior rectus – Primarily moves your eye upward.
4. Inferior rectus – Primarily moves your eye downward.
5. Superior oblique – Primarily rotates the top of your eye toward your nose.
6. Inferior oblique – Primarily rotates the top of your eye away from your nose.
If you have a job or hobby that requires you to sit in front of a computer for hours a day, your eyes can really take the brunt of the damage. One of the top reasons why people suffer from chronic eyestrain today is as a result of the sheer amount of time that we spend staring at electronic devices.
One of the biggest reasons that this is hard on your eyes is not from staring at brightly lit screens. The truth is, your eyes were designed to move frequently, which optimizes blood flow and nerve tone in your eyes. When you look at a computer all day, the images on the screen move, while your eyes remain stationary. Consider how much your eyes move when you look around outside or even read a book.
Simple Eye Exercises
Exercise #1
1. Look as far to your right as possible for 3-5 seconds, then as far to your left as possible for 3-5 seconds.
2. Rest for a few seconds, then repeat several times.
Exercise #2
1. Look as far up as possible for 3-5 seconds, then look as far down as possible for 3-5 seconds.
2. Rest for a few seconds, then repeat this sequence several times.
Exercise #3
1. Slowly roll your eyes in a circle, first clockwise, then counter-clockwise.
2. Rest for a few seconds, then repeat this sequence several times.
3. Be sure to roll slowly – it should take at least 3 seconds for you to roll your eyes in a full circle.
Exercise #4
1. Hold a pen in front of you, about an arm’s length away.
2. Concentrate your vision on the tip of your pen for 3-5 seconds, then shift the focus of your vision to an object that is farther away for 3-5 seconds.
3. The greater the distance between your pen and the distant object, the more this will help. If you are indoors, look out a window to find a distant object to focus your vision on.
4. Repeat this succession of going back and forth between your pen and a distant object numerous times.
When performing these exercises, make sure to carry them out with your eyes, and not your head and neck. Making a conscious effort to try these exercises on a daily basis can have huge benefits on the long term health of your eyes, so they are worth keeping up with.
Experts have theorized that spending more than four hours on the computer at a time can have huge impacts on your eyes, and many people spend much more than that if their job requires them to. Don’t give up, though. Protecting your eyes is easy!
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