Symptoms of weak eye muscles
1. Stress and strain near the eye sockets.
2. Watering eyes.
3. Frequent redness and pain.
4. Headache
5. Blurred vision.
6. Tendency to stress muscles around the eyes while reading, watching TV, or working on the computer – commonly referred to as suffering from eye strain.
Natural cures for improving vision
1. Diet
Foods rich in beta-carotene and Vitamin A (sources like oranges, carrots, papaya, pumpkins, spinach, bell peppers) play a crucial role in night vision as they help the eyes to adapt to varying lighting conditions. Vitamin C (sources like citrus fruits, green leafy vegetables and berries) enhances immunity and speeds up the healing process. It also protects ocular tissues from oxidative damage. Vitamin E (sources like nuts, cod liver oil and leafy green vegetables) is a very potent antioxidant for the eyes. It delays the formation of cataract and also acts as an effective anti-carcinogen.
2. Exercise
The following ten eye exercises help to strengthen, relax and refresh the eye muscles, which should help reduce the eye strain that can lead to headaches.
01. Vertical movement: Look up for 5 seconds, pause and relax your eyes. Look down for 5 seconds, pause and relax your eyes. Repeat 5 times. Blink your eyes a few times.
02. Horizontal movement: Look to the left for 5 seconds, pause and relax your eyes. Look to the right for 5 seconds, pause and relax your eyes. Repeat 5 times. Blink your eyes a few times.
03. Diagonal (A): Look up and to the left for 5 seconds, pause and relax your eyes. Look down and to the right for 5 seconds, pause and relax your eyes. Repeat 5 times. Blink your eyes a few times.
04. Diagonal (B): Look up and to the right for 5 seconds, pause and relax your eyes. Look down and to the left for 5 seconds, pause and relax your eyes. Repeat 5 times. Blink your eyes a few times.
05. Rotation (A): Look up and slowly rotate your eyeballs 10 times in a circular motion to the left. Blink your eyes a few times.
06. Rotation (B): Look up and slowly rotate your eyeballs 10 times in a circular motion to the right. Blink your eyes a few times.
07. Converging: For convergence look at your fingertip 10 inches from your eyes for a second. Then blink and look at a distance for a second. Then back to your fingertip. Repeat 5 times. Blink your eyes a few times.
08. Squeezing: While looking at a distance close your eyes as tightly as you can. Hold for 5 seconds, then open the eyes for 5 seconds and repeat 5 times.
09. Widening: While looking at a distance, open your eyes wide. Hold for 5 seconds, then pause for 5 seconds while you blink a few times. Repeat 5 times. Blink your eyes a few times.
10. Distance variation: Look at your fingertip 10 inches from your eyes for 10 seconds, then focus at a distance for a second and repeat 10 times. Blink your eyes as needed.
3. Home remedies
Dampen wads of cotton wool with pure organic rose water and place over closed eyes. Relax for 10 minutes. The cooling effect of organic rose water helps cool tired eyes.
Make a mixture of equal quantities of organic honey, organic white onion juice and organic lime juice. Make sure that each of the two juices are strained properly so that there is no fiber of the onion or lime in it. Now store it in a glass bottle and instill two drops in each eye, both morning and evening. This is an excellent remedy to cleanse eyes, activate lachrymal glands, and relieve dryness and itching.
Blink your eyes many times. At one go blink at least 30-40 times to lubricate the eye film. The best time though is the first thing in the morning or at the time you are working on the computer. The rule goes 20:20:20, which means after every 20 minutes blink 20 times or at least for 20 seconds.
Eat two teaspoons of Chyawanprash with hot water or organic herbal tea everyday to build immunity and overall eye health.
Place a warm washcloth on your closed eyelids for five to ten minutes several times a day to help open the clogged oil glands in the eyelids. Tears are made up of three components: water, oil and mucus. Artificial tears, the kind sold in eye drops form in drugstores, can replace the water component of your tears. But those drops don’t replace the oil – only your own eyes can do that. So the warm compress helps your eyes to do the work they’re supposed to.
Soak a thick round cotton pad in Ghee (Clarified Butter) and keep it over your eyes the last thing before going to bed in order to cool down and lubricate the eyes. This especially helps in relieving dry and itchy eyes.
Splash your face and eyes 10-15 times in the morning using cold water. While doing this fill your mouth with cold water. This is an excellent remedy to relieve fatigue from the eyes and to strengthen eye muscles.
Wash your eyes with Triphala water every morning. Take a teaspoon of Triphala powder and soak it overnight in a cup of water. Next morning, strain the water in super fine cheesecloth and wash your eyes with it using an eyewash cup.
