Eye Exercises to Improve Vision & Visual Awareness

A quick search, probably not unlike the one that’s brought you here, would reveal tons of companies who claim that their programs will improve your vision, whether you have nearsightedness, astigmatism, presbyopia due to aging, or any number of vision related issues.

The consensus among eye doctors is that while exercises can strengthen the eyes, they just cannot correct for the underlying physical discrepancies in size and shape that lead to these conditions. Still, strengthening the muscles around the eyes and increasing your visual awareness can make daily function with something like nearsightedness a little easier.

Think of the baseball player taking swings to help improve his hand to eye coordination. These eye exercises to improve vision will help strengthen some of the functions of your eyes to help offset those that are less capable for any number of reasons, and here are a few that can be done at home!

For Starters – A Simple Massage

 A quick and easy massage can help to stimulate the muscles and skin surrounding the eyes, and can be performed on its own or in preparation for some of the more complex exercises listed below. You will need to alternate between pressing hot and cold soaked towels (not too hot!) onto the eyes while they are closed, always ending with a cold press for better circulation.

Focusing Exercises

 What makes these exercises so effective is the alternation of focus from near objects to far away ones, and vice versa. It is easiest to focus first on a finger that’s less than a foot away from the eyes, and then on an object that is 10-20 feet away. For best results, hold each object for 10-15 seconds and continue alternating between the two.

A similar exercise involves focusing on a finger just 2-3 inches from the face and slowly moving that finger away until the arm is fully extended, without losing your focus. This exercise will help you to maintain focus on moving objects, even those much further or moving faster than the object in the exercise.

Strengthening Exercises

 These exercises involve using the muscles around the eyes to focus on different objects within the field of vision, without or hardly moving the head. Many of those we have spoken with are fine with simple repetitions of eye rolling and tracing imaginary figure eights on the ground, but we like to have a little more fun with our exercises.

Why not venture out into nature, tracing objects, animals, or plant life that you come across with your eyes? City dwellers can go in for spotting cars on a busy freeway, or anything else requiring the eyes to rapidly change their focus. These exercises not only strengthen your muscles, but help with coordination as well.

Whenever performing an eye exercise, keep in mind that it is best to rest the eyes after each workout. Another towel massage will do just fine, and simply keeping the eyes away from stimuli for a short period can be effective as well.

There is a lack of scientific evidence showing that these exercises correct for vision related issues, and certainly that they might serve as a replacement for eyeglasses or contact lenses. Still, they are recommended by some eye doctors as a helpful supplement to everyday eyewear, and we hope that you perform them with success!