Easy eye exercises for better vision

With little time or effort, you can protect your vision naturally with simple eye health exercises.

If your eyes are tired, or you are finding it hard to focus, it's time to give your eyes a little exercise. Like other muscles in your body, your eyes need regular exercise, particularly if your eyes perform repetitive activities like staring at a computer screen all day.

Age-related vision loss is common, and many are now turning to natural vision correction, or eye health exercises, to help alleviate their symptoms. Signs that eye health may be failing include:

• Blurred near vision (farsighted)
• Blurred far vision (nearsighted)
• Blurred near and far vision (astigmatism)

Here are some ideas for exercising those eye muscles.

Figure eight: This exercise helps with nearsightedness. Imagine a horizontal figure eight, and then trace it with your eyes. Repeat this several times in both directions.

Zooming: While holding a pen, stretch your arm out to full length. Slowly, pull the pen towards your nose until it is about 15 centimetres away. Slowly, move your arm back out to full length, focusing on the pen at all times. Repeat this several times.

Roll your eyes: Look up and then slowly circle your eyes towards the edges clockwise. Repeat the movement counterclockwise.

Focus: Hold out your hand about 25 centimetres from your face and extend your thumb. Focus intently on your thumb. Move your gaze to focus on something different that is 3 to 5 metres in front of you. Breathe comfortably and switch between the two on each breath. Do this for two or three minutes.

While eye health exercises can't fix all eye problems, many people tout the benefits of regular eye exercising, such as less fatigue and a reduced need for glasses.

You don't have to accept vision deterioration as a fact of aging. Improve your vision naturally, or preserve your eye health, with these easy-to-do eye health exercises.