Growing up, I’m sure you were trained to brush your teeth every morning and evening, if not more! And to floss, and many other things.
But what about your eyes? Were you ever shown how to look after them? They are, after all, one of the most precious of the senses you have.
I was surprised when I began to learn about taking care of my eyesight and vision.
I was even more surprised when my own blurry eyesight started to improve.
A couple of years ago, my eyes were sore and strained, and my prescription was beyond -2.25 in both eyes-- this seemed to be getting worse. I used to rely on wearing contact lenses daily for up to 18 hours sometimes because I hated wearing glasses. But after slow and steady steps taken towards vision improvement, my vision has continued to improve gradually, first being able to read more easily and for longer lengths of time, then to dropping diopter prescriptions as I visited the opticians over the months.
No matter what state your eyes find themselves - even healthy eyes, there are many ways to begin a vision care routine, and many reasons why it's important. In this article I'll share three of the most simple, practical ways to start with.
It doesn't matter whether you've had surgery, or have major eye problems, near or far sighted - these simple principles are easy to apply and contribute to soothing, calming and restoring equilibrium in the eyes.
1 - Give your glasses or contact lenses a break whenever you can
It's important to remember that glasses are a prescription, and a prescription is usually a term used to describe the medicine/treatment you're being given to treat a problem.
We wouldn't want to be in a crutch either, for a weak leg-- we'd usually work on strengthening the leg so that we can walk again without a crutch.
The same principle should really apply for the way we approach wearing glasses.
Since they contribute to locking in a sense of strain, it helps to reduce the amount of time spent wearing glasses, and embedding some new vision habits and techniques to use when not wearing them.
2 - Allow your (closed) eyes to enjoy some sunlight
‘Sunning’ is a real technique, used by many natural vision educators. It is about allowing closed eyes to face towards the sun and turning the head gently from side to side.
I used to believe sunglasses were important for protecting our eyes from the sun, but it turns out, our eyes do need vitamin D, just as much as the rest of our body does.
It’s not a good idea to look at the sun, of course.
But it is a great idea to close your eyes and enjoy the warmth and rejuvenating nature of sunlight upon your closed eyes. Sunrise and sunset are good times to do this, not so much because of the brightness, but because when the sun is high up, you’ll have to tilt your head back so much to catch the rays! :)
3 - Blink more often: light, gentle, frequent blinking
Blinking, and even yawning, helps so much to lubricate the eyes, and provide vital fluids to them that are necessary for maintaining clear vision.
Often, poor eyesight is a result of straining/focusing for long periods of time, and the eyes are not getting the kind of lubrication they need.
This may take active effort for a while, until it becomes more natural to be blinking more frequently and more rapidly.
At the beginning of my eye improvement, I found using natural eye-drops helped to lubricate my eyes more and would remind me to blink.
Funnily enough, yawning more also helped boost the fluids reaching my eyes.
I like to use the Swiss brand “Similasan” eye-drops, and continue to use variations of these eye-drops even now.
Summary
It is empowering to learn that there are simple things we can do daily to prevent our eyesight from deteriorating, and that we can care for our eyes. The principles of good eye hygiene applies for all eyes, whether they've been through surgery or have deep strain and blur.
Blinking lightly and more frequently, giving the glasses a rest from time to time, and doing some relaxing sunning techniques, are all easy, simple ways to begin caring for your eyesight.
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