If you, like me, spend a lot of time working on a computer, reading or watching TV you are putting a lot of strain on your eyes. In fact, optometrists point out that people who spend hours in front of the computer are more likely to suffer from myopia (become short-sighted).

This happens for three main reasons:

1. Repeated small eye movements while you are reading something or watching TV noticeably strain and disables eye function.
2. Because most of the time our eyes are focused on objects at arms’-length they become accustomed to seeing close objects, which weakens eye muscles and makes it harder for us to see things in the distance clearly.
3. When using the computer our blink rate decreases by 70 %! It means that instead of blinking an average of 18 times per minute, we are blinking only 4 times per minute, which puts an enormous strain on our vision.
Fortunately, there are few things that you can do in order to improve your vision and help your eyes cope with the work strain better:

1. Become aware of your posture.

A slumped, sitting position restricts blood circulation to the head, neck and eyes, which often causes tension headaches and weakens our vision. Notice your sitting position as you are reading this post. Are you slouching? Are you comfortable in your chair? Do your bones crack every time you stretch your body? Start paying attention to your posture and every time you catch yourself crouching over computer – sit up straight!

2. Refocus.

Every 40-50 minutes look away from your computer screen and shift your focus to any distant object (e.g. look out of the window or focus on something on the other side of the room).

Another great exercise for improving the focusing ability of your eyes:

• Hold your thumb in front of your face about six inches from your nose.
• Focus on your thumb.
• Take a deep breath and exhale slowly.
• Then focus on an object about 10 feet away.
• Take another deep breath and slowly exhale.
• Repeat back and forth 20 times

3. Relax your eyes.

There are two great ways to immediately take the strain off your tired eyes and help them to relax.
• Blink rapidly for about 30 seconds.

• Palming. This a great ayurvedic exercise that is now widely used by many vision improvement programs.
Here is how to do it correctly.

1) First, rub your hands together until they feel warm (about 15 to 20 seconds). Then place your cupped hands over your closed eyes, being careful not to touch your eyes with the palms of your hands (if you do it correctly, you should see pitch darkness even when you open your eyes). The fingers of each hand should overlap and rest gently on the center of your forehead. Rest your elbows on a table.
2) Sit quietly for one to two minutes with your hands over your eyes.
3) After you are done slowly open your eyes.

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