Are you spending a lot of time in front of the screen every day? Have you ever wondered if your eyes also need some TLC?
If this is the first time that you’ve heard about eye massages, then you might be neglecting your eyes for a long time. With the demand for work and other activities that involves your eyes, eye fatigue is very common these days.
What is eye fatigue?
Eye fatigue sometimes called eye strain is generally tired eyes. Doing tasks in dim lights can increase eye strain. This can more likely occur in people who have had previous eye disorders including impaired vision or muscular imbalance. It can also be a result of stress and exhaustion.
What are the symptoms?
These are some of the common symptoms of eye fatigue:
- Sore or irritated eyes
- Dry or watery eyes
- Increased sensitivity to light
- Pain in the neck, shoulders, or back
- Headache
- Trouble focusing
- Blurry vision
- Double vision
Your productivity may be hampered by these symptoms and it may become worse especially if you work long hours at night. Hence, you must have enough sleep to avoid eye fatigue. Recurrent eye irritation may also result from lack of sleep.
How can you prevent eye fatigue?
There are many ways that you can prevent eye fatigue and keep your eyes healthy. One of which is giving them eye massages.
Eye massages can help relieve tired and dry eyes. It helps in increasing blood circulation to the eye area and releases muscle tension. Your eyes are composed of muscles and it is just as important to give them rest as your body.
Here are some techniques on how to massage your eyes:
Massage the Socket Bones
Keep your eyes closed and start massaging the eye socket using your middle finger down to the bridge of your nose. Repeat this motion 8 to 10 times. This motion can help in increasing the blood circulation in your face which gives more oxygen and nutrients around your eyes.
Press Your Temples
Under the brow bone, press on the pressure points and count to three. Then moving on your temples, do the same motion. Adding pressure on your temples will help stimulate the different areas of your facial muscles which helps them relax and function well such as blinking or squinting.
Relieve the pressure between your eyes
Gently press the area right about the inner corner of your eyes using your thumb. Press it gently then slowly release. Repeat the process five times. This will help relieve the pressure between your eyes.
Massage your temples
Next, massage the hollow in your temples on the side of your face with your middle fingers in an upward and downward motion. Do this for a minute. This can help you feel more relaxed and relieve any tension in your temples.
Rub the back of your head
Finally, once you are done with the whole process, gently rub or massage the region in the back of your skull, right behind the eyes, using the tips of your index fingers. Because this is a sensitive area, be sure not to put too much pressure when pressing. Do this for a minute.
Simple eye massages can greatly help relieve pressure and eye fatigue.
Eye Exercises
Additionally, you can also do some daily eye exercises to help relax your eyes and improve vision such as:
Blinking
To maintain your eyes healthy and to help them focus for extended periods, practice blinking. People who use computers and watch television tend to blink less, especially when they are paying close attention to something. Every time you blink, your eyes enter a brief period of darkness that keeps them fresh, flushes out old information to prepare them for new information, and eases eye strain.
Warm and cold compress
These compresses, whether warm or cold, are quick solutions to ease sore eyes and tense eye muscles. For this technique, lay a soft, clean towel over your eyelashes for a few minutes after dipping it in warm (not hot!) or cool water. Cool water (or even ice cubes wrapped in a cloth) will assist in lessening eye strain-related puffiness around the eyes. Warm water can relax your eye muscles.
Near and Far Focusing
Over time, this exercise will help to strengthen the muscles in your eyes, which will enhance your overall eyesight. To do this exercise:
While standing or sitting, place your thumb for about 0.25 metres in front of you and focus on it. Then look for something else to focus on which is about 3-6 metres away from you. Take a few long breaths and concentrate on looking at both of these objects alternately.
Palming
This exercise provides your eyes the much-needed rest which helps reduce stress around your eyes. To perform palming:
Rub your hands together vigorously for a few seconds to warm up the palms. Next, cover your closed eyes with a hand cup. Breathe deeply in and out while putting your cupped hands on the tissues that are covering your eyes. If you meditate while palming, you will be able to relax even more. Palm for five minutes at a time during your working day and see the difference.
Can you use eye massagers?
Aside from giving your eyes manual massages, you can also use eye massagers to help deal with eye fatigue.
These days, the eyes are doing a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to performing different tasks such as working, reading, studying, and the like. Luckily, eye massagers provide many benefits to help avoid eye fatigue and prevent other eye-related discomforts.
Check out our recommendations to see which best fits your daily needs.
Conclusion
Our eyes are very important. However, many of us take them for granted not knowing that they also need a lot of care and attention.
Hopefully, with these techniques, you will be able to apply them daily in your routine to make sure that your eyes will function well and prevent them from acquiring irreversible damage in the future!
Fun fact about Nicola: She owns a lot of sunscreens as she carries a mini sunscreen in each of her handbags and backpacks.
- How to Massage Eyes – Tips and Recommendations - July 1, 2022
- Do Eye Massagers Work? A Short Explanation - June 3, 2022
- 7 Top Benefits of an Eye Massage - May 13, 2022
