15 Eye Exercises To Relax And Strengthen Your Eye Muscles

 

1. The Eye Roll

The eye roll exercise is very effective, and when done regularly, it can help strengthen the eye muscles and enhance the shape of your eyes. So, the next time you hear something and roll your eyes, feel good about it and roll your eyes in the other direction to complete one rep. But since it’s an exercise, you must know the correct way to do it. Here’s how.

How To Do Eye Roll Exercise

1. Sit or stand straight. Keep your shoulders relaxed, and neck straight, and look ahead.
2. Look to your right and then slowly roll your eyes up towards the ceiling.
3. Roll your eyes down to your left and from there, down towards the floor.
4. Do this in the clockwise and anti-clockwise directions.

2. The Rub Down

This is a personal favorite. You can do this exercise even while wearing contact lenses. This means that it can be done whenever you feel eye strain and need a quick, refreshing exercise. Here’s how to do it.

How To Do Rub Down Eye Exercise

1. Sit or stand comfortably and briskly rub your palms together until they feel warm.
2. Close your eyes and place a palm over each eyelid. Imagine the warmth seeping into your eyes.
3. Remember not to press down with the palms on your eyeballs.

Time – 3 minutes

3. The Moving Finger

This exercise is prescribed by doctors for people who have poor eye muscles. Here’s how to do it correctly.

How To Do The Moving Finger Eye Exercise

1. Sit on a chair. Relax your shoulders, keep your neck straight, and look ahead.
2. Take a pencil in your right hand and hold it in front of your nose. Focus on its tip.
3. Extend your arm fully.
4. Bring it back to the starting position.

Time – 2 minutes
Sets And Reps – 1 set of 10 reps

4. The Eye Press

Having a bad, stressful day at work? Here’s one exercise that will soothe your eyes and relieve stress – all in a jiffy! Here’s how to do it.

How To Do Eye Press Exercise

1. Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and take a deep breath.
2. Place a finger on each eyelid and press very lightly for about 10 seconds.
3. Release the pressure for about 2 seconds and press slightly again.

Time – 1 minute
Sets And Reps – 1 set of 10 reps

5. Eye Massage

This exercise reduces eye strain and dryness. Follow the steps mentioned below to do it correctly.

How To Do Eye Massage

1. Sit straight with your shoulders relaxed.
2. Tilt your head back a little and close your eyes.
3. Place your index and middle fingers gently on each eyelid.
4. Move the right fingers in the anti-clockwise direction and left fingers in the clockwise direction.
5. Repeat 10 times before changing the direction of the circular motion.

Time – 2 minutes
Sets And Reps – 2 sets of 10 reps

6. Blink

Constantly staring at the computer or mobile screen can lead to both eye and mental fatigue. In fact, it happens because we often forget to blink. Here’s an easy eye exercise to solve this problem.

How To Do Eye Blink Exercise

1. Sit comfortably on a chair, keep your shoulders relaxed, and neck straight, and look at a blank wall.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Hold for half a second and then open your eyes.
4. Do it 10 times to complete one set.

Time – 2 minutes
Sets And Reps – 2 sets of 10 reps

7. Flexing

Just like you need to flex your biceps to strengthen them, you must flex your eyes to strengthen the eye muscles. Here’s how to do it.

How To Do Eye Flexing Exercise

1. Sit comfortably on a chair and look straight ahead.
2. Look up without moving your neck and then look down.
3. Do it 10 times. Then, look to your extreme right. Keep your neck straight.
4. Look to your extreme left.
5. Do it 10 times.

Time – 3 minutes
Sets And Reps – 4 sets of 10 reps

8. Focusing

This is an excellent exercise for your eyes and has the potential to resolve focusing issues. Follow these steps to do it.

How To Do Focusing Eye Exercise

1. Sit 5 feet away from a window, look straight, and keep your shoulders relaxed.
2. Extend your right arm in front of you, stick your thumb out, and focus on the tip for 1-2 seconds.
3. Without moving your hand, focus on the window for 2 seconds.
4. Focus on a distant object out of the window for 2 seconds.
5. Focus back on the thumb.

Time – 1 minute
Sets And Reps – 2 sets of 10 reps

9. The Eye Bounce

This is a fun exercise you can do at work, home, and even in bed. Here’s how to do it.

How To Do Eye Bounce Exercise

1. Sit, stand, or lie down. Look straight ahead.
2. You can keep your eyes open or closed.
3. Move your eyes up and down quickly.
4. Do it 10 times before stopping and resting for 5 seconds.

Time – 1 minute
Sets And Reps – 2 sets of 10 reps

10. Palming

This is a really nice relaxing and calming exercise. Here’s how to go about it.

How To Do Palming Eye Exercise

1. Sit on a chair and keep your elbows on a table in front you.
2. Cup an eye in each palm.
3. Breathe in and breathe out. Feel the tension release. Relax.
4. Do it for 30 seconds straight before releasing the pose.

Time – 2 minutes
Sets And Reps – 4 sets

11. Trace-An-Eight

All you need are a blank wall and a chair (optional), and you are all set to do this fun and effective exercise. Here’s how to do it.

How To Do Trace-An-Eight Exercise

1. Imagine a giant lateral (rotated sideways) number ‘8’ on a blank wall or ceiling.
2. Trace a path along this figure with just your eyes, without moving your head.
3. Do it 5 times.

Time – 2 minutes
Sets And Reps – 4 sets of 5 rep

This is simply an exercise for healthy eyes. Just don’t creep people out by doing it in a public place. Here’s how to do it.

How To Do Sidelong Glance Exercise

1. Sit, lie, or stand comfortably and take a few deep breaths.
2. Keeping your head still, try to look left as much as you can, using only your eyes.
3. Hold your vision for about 3 seconds and look in front.
4. Look right as much as you can and hold your vision there.

Time – 2 minutes
Sets And Reps – 3 sets of 10 reps

13. Writing Messages

No, I don’t mean Post-it notes or DMs. This is an exercise that soothes the eyes and tones the eye muscles. Initially, this might seem impossible, but when you do it regularly for a few days, you will experience a great difference in the agility of your eye muscles. Here’s how to do it.

How To Do Writing Messages Eye Exercise

1. Look at a blank wall at least 8 feet away and imagine you are writing on it with your eyes.
2. This makes the eye muscles move rapidly in different directions and exercises the weak ones.
3. Do it for about 15-20 seconds.

Time – 2 minutes
Sets And Reps – 2 sets

14. The Double Thumbs Up

Yeah, for you! And for this eye exercise that’s so easy and effective that it will almost feel like you are doing nothing. But let me tell you, its impact on the eye muscles is like no other exercise on this list.

How To Do Double Thumbs Up Exercise

1. Sit comfortably, keep your shoulders relaxed, and neck straight, and look ahead.
2. Hold both your thumbs at arm’s length, directly in front of your eyes. Focus your vision on the right thumb for about 5 seconds.
3. Shift your focus to the space between the two thumbs, preferably at a distant object, for another 5 seconds.
4. Finally, shift your gaze to the left thumb and focus on it for 5 more seconds,
5. back to the space between the two thumbs, and then the right thumb.

Time – 2 minutes
Sets And Reps – 3 sets of 5 reps

15. Treat The Eyelids

This exercise is based on yoga. It is extremely relaxing and stress-relieving. It also helps get rid of headache that is caused due to eye strain. Here’s how you should do it.

How To Do Treat The Eyelids Exercise

1. Sit comfortably and massage the lower eyelids very gently with your ring fingers.
2. Start with the inner edge of the lower eyelid and gradually move outwards.
3. You can go on to massage the eyebrows in a similar fashion after finishing with the lower lids.

Time – 5 minutes
Sets And Reps – 5 sets of 10 reps