Statistics are relentless. 95% of people working with a computer will experience vision problems. However, there are exercises that not only slow down changes, but will help to reverse them: eye yoga and the Bates method.
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Our life, both professional and private, is increasingly taking place in front of a computer screen. According to the State of Mobile report published this year, the average inhabitant of our planet spends 5 hours a day with a smartphone in hand. If we add computers to this - we get 6 hours and 47 minutes in front of the screen. This is as much as 40% of the time we have during the day. This lifestyle changes our work style and relationships, but above all, it adversely affects our vision. How can we help ourselves?
Proper organization of the workplace is a key issue. It is worth investing in a comfortable chair with a backrest touching the entire back. We sit with our feet on the floor, we do not cross them. If we barely reach it - we invest in a stool on which we rest our feet. The computer screen should not be less than 50 cm from our eyes. And it should not be too low or too high. If we tilt our head working with a laptop, over time we will have problems with the spine and recurring headaches. The screen should be at eye level or slightly below. If, which is rather rare, the screen is too high, we will expose our eyes to drying out. The eyelid should constantly cover about half of the eyeball. This is the case in most normal situations.
It is worth being able to look out the window without changing position. Let's avoid placing the computer against the wall. Our eyes then have no chance for a moment of relief. For every hour of work in front of the screen, there must be a few minutes of relaxation for the eye. Look for the farthest point out the window and stare at it relaxing the facial muscles. In stress, we tend to clench our jaws, forget to blink regularly, tense the muscles of the neck and neck. It is worth regularly focusing on relaxing these areas. A moment and a few deep breaths are enough. Some vision defects are exacerbated precisely because of such muscle tension. This group includes strabismus and near- and farsightedness.
Statistics are ruthless. 95% of people working with a computer will experience vision problems. It's not just about defects requiring corrective glasses, but a number of other troublesome ailments: itching, burning, dryness of the eyeball, photophobia, tearing.
You also need to properly adjust the brightness of the screen. And you need to do this every time the light changes. This is especially important in autumn and winter, because during these periods we start and finish work when it is dark outside. How to do it correctly? Take a regular A4 white sheet of paper in your hand and hold it just in front of the screen. Change the settings so that the white of the screen corresponds to the white of the paper. The lower the contrast, the better. Repeat this action every time you change the setting from overhead lighting to a lamp or from artificial to natural light. If you add regular sessions of 15 seconds of rapid blinking to this, you will reduce your chances of deepening myopia. It's worth a try.
Exercises for the muscles surrounding the eyes are also becoming increasingly popular. They are based on both traditional yoga techniques and the Bates method. Neither of these techniques is new. The Bates method was developed by American ophthalmologist William Horatio Bates, who lived just under a hundred years ago, whose basic assumption was faith in the ability to regenerate vision. Bates noticed a correlation between the strain of certain muscles and vision problems. The eye muscles are responsible for its ability to accommodate, i.e. adapt to changes in lighting, so if they become weak or tired, it affects the ability to see.
It is worth doing the exercises proposed by Bates prophylactically, even before the first signs of deteriorating vision. What to do? For example, look straight at the sun and close your eyes. This is exposure. Under the eyelids, we will see many colors. This exercise stimulates the retina of the eye. You can also do so-called palming. We sit comfortably at a table or work desk, put our elbows on the top and rub our hands together vigorously until they become very warm. We put our hands on closed eyelids so that the fingers are on the forehead and the palms cover them tightly. In this effortless position, we spend the next 10 minutes, recalling pleasant landscapes from memory. It is important to try to recreate every remembered detail. This exercise relaxes the muscles and the mind, and is also extremely pleasant.
The next exercise will make us seem a bit strange to our colleagues. If we don't mind, we proceed to imagine that the tip of our nose is a magic pencil. Then we try to faithfully trace something, leading with the imagined contour of the nose and eyes. We can also write in the air with the tip of our nose. The point is to make movements in different directions, gently and without haste. This exercise relaxes the muscles that we tense up leaning over the screen. It improves vision and reduces the chances of a headache.
For fans of dynamic exercises, Bates suggests rapid blinking. We blink at a dizzying pace for a minute, then close our eyes, put our hands on our eyelids, wait 30 seconds and repeat the exercise. Each time we blink at least 10 times. Repeat until bored. Or three times.
William Horatio also developed many other exercises, which are easy to find on the internet. Best on YouTube.
Vision problems, although associated with screens, are not a discovery of our times.
According to ophthalmologist Katarzyna Miękus - Morawiec, our eyes work flawlessly only for the first 30 or 40 years of life, unless we have congenital defects. Then the vision undergoes corrosion. Smoking cigarettes or working with a computer only accelerate this process, but not necessarily cause it. After the age of 40, the accommodation of the human lens weakens. People with myopia are lucky - thanks to the same process, they can experience self-correction of vision at this age, their defect then "zeros" itself. However, our distant ancestors already complained about vision problems.
Yoga was not popular in our geographical region at that time, it was brought to Poland at the end of the 19th century and Wincenty Lutosławski had a hand in it. Now yoga is one of the most popular forms of training. Few people know, however, that some asanas were developed with our eyes in mind.
Where to start? From the warm-up: we sit comfortably, preferably in a cross-legged sit, but a chair can also be. The spine is straight, but freely, without straining the muscles. Eyes open. We start leading the gaze from top to bottom and back, we look to the sides, we circle the gaze and semicircles. We do not move any part of the body at this time. The head remains motionless. Repeat this for a few minutes or two.
Then go to the window and look as far as possible. Look into the distance for about half a minute. Then quickly shift your gaze to the object placed as close as possible - a cup, a ring, anything. Take a close look at it. After a while, return to the first point. Look at the point located far away calmly, without straining your eyes. After a few seconds, quickly shift your gaze again. Repeat several times. This exercise supports the accommodation of the eye.
For people with myopia, such a training has been developed: close your eyes and gently move your gaze from left to right and back. When you reach the limit of movement, on each side, hold for a few seconds. Similarly, if you feel tension during this exercise - stop and wait until it becomes less or disappears completely.
And now, at the end of the killer workout, a massage. If you wear lenses, don't forget to remove them. Place the outer part of your left thumb on your closed left eye, and the right one on the right. Move your thumbs gently outward, pressing them slightly as if you were trying to push the eyeball a little deeper. Massage your eyelids. Repeat several times. Now you can honestly say that you practice yoga. Your eyes will be grateful for this, and your friends - full of admiration. You don't have to add that it's about eye yoga.
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