Gymnastics for the eyes has been used for a long time. Now there are a large number of different exercises on the Internet. People promise that if you do these exercises, you will completely restore myopic vision. This is both true and false. Why? Sometimes vision worsens, but this is not myopia. It's just muscle spasm or weakness. In this situation, regular active eye exercises can really restore vision.
When does eye gymnastics help?
In true myopia, the eye retracts and the image is focused some distance in front of the retina rather than on it. Therefore, everything is blurred in the distance and the eye sees well up close. This is myopia or nearsightedness - from which one in three students in the 11th grade suffers. To prevent vision problems, exercise alone may not be enough. All children should visit the eye protection room once a year.
Gymnastics for the eyes will improve cell nutrition, strengthen the eye muscles and subjectively improve your vision. But, of course, exercise will not make it rounder than an elongated eye. By working the muscles, they can bring your image a little closer to the retina, that is, to the nerve cells.
From my point of view, eye gymnastics is necessary for modern people. It should become a useful habit for our children throughout life. Indeed, today we clearly understand that neither the telephone, nor the devices, nor the computer will disappear from our world. And they will only get more into our lives.
If your child faces the problem of visual impairment, or you suspect that the child's vision has declined -do not self-medicate, wasted time can lead to irreversible consequences. In this case, contact us immediatelypediatric ophthalmologist.
Where to start eye gymnastics?
I recommend starting eye exercises with morning exercises to prepare our eyes for the day at work. It is never recommended to get out of bed quickly on the eve of the alarm.
Why? Because when we sleep we are relaxed. And in a new way for the body, you need to enter gradually.
What should be done?
- 1. We open our eyes and close them tightly several times so that the circular muscle of the eyes works.
- 2. Forcefully raise our eyebrows as if we are surprised.
- 3. We often close our eyes.
These exercises last 5-10 seconds. After that, our eyes are ready for a new day. You can also smile - it will be just wonderful!
Eye muscle training
What is it about?
Every muscle workout improves nutrition and blood supply to cells, every cell. When a cell is properly nourished, its functions naturally improve. We train all the muscle groups that surround our eye.
The fact is that in ordinary life, when we need to look somewhere, for example, up, we simply raise our head. If we need to look to the left, we turn our head, but do not close our eyes.
Therefore, our muscles weaken somewhat over time. What doesn't work doesn't work!
How to train eye muscles?
We do each exercise 6-8 times.
- 1. We hold our head straight and make eye movements up and down with a maximum amplitude to a slight tension. At the same time, it is imperative to maintain a smile, attitude and good mood. We close our eyes often.
- 2. We are trying to look at the left and right ear. The rest is the same - we do it with a slight muscle tension, remember about the posture. Often we close our eyes in the end.
- 3. Draw a butterfly with a look at the sequence: from top to bottom, diagonally, from top to bottom, diagonally. Then we change the direction: from bottom to top, diagonally, etc. This is how our oblique eye muscles are trained. They closed their eyes.
- 4. Draw a large vertical figure eight and change the direction. Then we "put" this eight on its side and get the infinity sign. We also draw it in both directions. It blinked. We close our eyes often.
- 5. Draw a big-big circle with eyes. This exercise can be done at any time. It is undesirable to do it only when your eyes are tired. No extra eye strain required! We close our eyes often.
During the exercises, we definitely connect the psycho-emotional state - we try to feel that we have love inside, take care of our eyes. We must still have a very good mood inside, then the effectiveness of our training will only increase.
Exercise "Convergence"
This exercise is also very useful - here we train the inner muscles of the eye. They are very important for ensuring visual functions.
How do we do it?
Very simple. We look at the tip of our nose and look ahead. Everything in front of you will be doubled, and that's okay. We also note that in front, with double vision, vision improves, acuity increases. It blinked.
An analogue of this exercise can be such a simulator at home: take a strip of cardboard (about 20 cm) and draw circles of different colors on it at a distance of 1. 5 cm. Connect them to each other.
How to work with such an emulator?
If you or your child wears glasses, then this exercise can be done without glasses, because myopic people can see well up close. You put it on your nose, look at the far circle, count to three, look at the nearest circle, and so on to the last circle and back. You do this several times.
I draw your attention to the fact that in your eyes there will be a little double. We do to relieve tension. Often we close our eyes in the end.
"Palming" exercise
Another very important exercise is Palming. You will find it in Chinese medicine, in many oriental directions. It's a bit meditative. This is a relaxation exercise. It should be done more often.
You sit at the table, rub your palms together to keep them warm and cross them. Form a triangle between them. Make boats with your palms and place them in your eyes, elbows on the table. We do not bend the cervical spine, we cover our eyes under our palms. The light should not pass through the hands.
Direct your attention to the center of your palm and imagine a color.
What is the best color to represent? The most perfect is black. You seem to paint your entire field black.
Why? Because at this moment you can see gray colors, some flashes, etc. You can also imagine the colors blue and green. These are relaxing colors. You can represent the sea or the forest. Most importantly, at this moment your head should be empty. This is very difficult to do. To achieve this, bring your attention to your breath: inhale - cold, exhale - warm.
How often should Palming be done?
It is ideal to do it every half hour for two minutes, with any visual load nearby. I'm not talking about TV. That is, you need to do it quite often. Don't let your muscles get too long. If you do it right, you will immediately see that your eyes have rested and the world around you has become brighter.
Good visual habits
What good habit to develop and instill in your children for sure?
In no case should you bend over when reading and writing!
Each person has his own distance from the eyes to the written surface. This is the "jamon distance" - from the elbow to the tips of the fingers that touch the temporal region. This is the ideal distance for the eyes. As soon as you start to bend, then your muscle is overloaded. Moreover, the speed of the load on this muscle increases exponentially.
I always give this example to children when I teach them the School of Insight: when you sit properly, it's like you're just walking down the street. But if you lean back a little, it's like putting 50 kg on your shoulder, i. e. a sack of potatoes. This is the load experienced by our ciliary muscle.
So, in no case, under no circumstances should you slouch while reading or writing. This is a basic visual habit!
If you are sitting next to a computer, on a phone, on a tablet, on any gadget, please hang a photo somewhere far away. It should be quite small, but you should be able to see it well.
For example, it could be a calendar with numbers that you need to see, or some emotional picture that you want to look at. Every 15-20 minutes of work at close range, you look at this picture for 5-10 seconds.
Thus, if you study, read, write, sit at the computer for an hour, you should look into the distance 4 times and clap your hands 2 times. These are the true visual habits.
When I ask, "When do you do eye exercises, " most people say it's when they're sick and tired.
This is not entirely correct! You have to be one step ahead, that is, don't let them get tired.
How to track the result of gymnastics for the eyes
I had an exemplary case in practice. I asked a teenager
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This is very important - to see the result!
Why? Because short-sighted people, as they saw not very well, continue to see further not very well. But if your vision does not deteriorate, if it does not fall, is this not the result? I think this is a very good result.
How to understand - there is a result, or not a result? There is a very simple way to do this. It's called "determining another point of clear vision. "It is measured once a month, it is not necessary to measure it every week. It is determined for each eye separately, without correction, i. e. without glasses, under the same conditions. The result must be recorded somewhere.
You get small text. It can be a note about medicines, for example, or some other well-written text. And the text you use is always the same. Cover one eye with your palm, move the text into the distance when you can't see it. And you slowly begin to approach.
When you bring the sheet close enough to see, you need to adjust the distance from the lower orbital bone (under the eye) to the text - this will be your further point of clear vision.
If your further point of clear vision remains in place from month to month, your vision does not get worse. If it increases by 1 or 2 centimeters, then your vision improves subjectively. But if your closest point of vision starts to rapidly approach, you are doing something wrong and you should definitely contact an eye doctor! This will be your cue to do so.
What does the result depend on?
If you master this gymnastics, what else will the result depend on?
The first is in your mood, how you do this gymnastics. Be sure to do it in a good mood. Because at this moment, endorphins or pleasure hormones are released in our body and they help regulate everything in your body.
The second, of course, is regularity. If you don't do it every day, then it will never become a habit. And, eventually, at some stage you just stop doing it.
What else does our success depend on? From desire and knowledge. If you have a desire and know what to do, then you will be doomed with the result!
Be healthy.