Do Eye Exercises Actually Work?

Perhaps you've heard that you should exercise your eyes so your eye muscles won't get weak. But is there any foundation behind these claims? What are eye exercises? Are there any benefits in performing them?

Eye exercises involve rotation of the eyeballs. Basic exercises include movements like looking all the way up, then all the way down, to the right and to the left. You are also advised to rotate your eyes clockwise and then counterclockwise.

On one hand it makes sense. These movements keep the muscles moving and cause them to stretch and contract. On the other hand these eye muscles are not designed to do all this stuff. Their primary function is to accommodate the shape of the eyeball.

The proponents of the eye exercises claim that you became nearsighted or farsighted because "you are not using your muscles", "your eye muscles became weak" and other similar reasons. In fact the opposite is true. You became nearsighted because a certain group of extraocular muscles became too tense and this tension became chronic. Chronic tension changed the shape of your eyeball, in case of myopia or nearsightedness your eyeball became elongated, in case of hyperopia or farsightedness the eyeball became too short. People with normal vision have a round eyeball.

Another reason to consider is that these eye muscles are much stronger than needed so all this talk about weak muscles is unfounded.

Your muscles became tensed on the verge of paralysis. So the thing to do, in order to relieve the anomaly of refraction that you have, is to relax or somehow alleviate this tension. This involves mental control that is very difficult to master but it is possible.

So while eye exercises will certainly do you no harm, there are no actual benefits in them either. It is much better to learn some relaxation techniques and correct visual habits. One of them is to turn your head in whatever direction you are looking rather than just turn your eyes only.

That said there is one exercise that does seem to have a positive effect on vision. It is near-far swing. Basically it involves looking at the far object and then at some close object. You can also look at anything in between. Do not strain while doing it and make sure you blink often and don't hold your breath. You should have glimpses of improved vision.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Do-Eye-Exercises-Actually-Work?&id=1670783

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