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Healthy Habits ~

Often as we age, our eyes lose some of their abilities to shift from focusing on close objects to focusing on distant objects and back.  This loss of ability is call presbyopia.  Often a strategy to compensate is wearing bifocals or progressive lens (bifocals with no lines), or even wearing contacts for one vision and reading glasses for the other.  But did you know that spending a full day at your desk focusing on the computer screen can also trigger this, even if only temporarily? 

This temporary in ability to shift between near and far objects, especially at the end of a long work day is part of the reason rush hour traffic accidents are worse in the "going home" rush hour than they are in the "going to work" rush hour.  First thing in the morning, your eyes are fresh and haven't "tightened up" from working on the computer all day.  By the end of the day, your eyes have spent so much time focused on the close work of your computer, their ability to quickly shift between close and distant items is diminished.  This also includes your ability to judge distances in traffic.

The best thing you can do to counteract the long day at the computer is give your eyes some time to rest and relax before driving home.  Take a walk, close your eyes, do a few eye exercises.  Just give them a chance to recover.  In addition, make sure you give them plenty of breaks during the day, as you work.  Every 30 minutes or at least every 60 minutes, stop and do five minutes of eye exercises.  You will be amazed at the improvement in your vision.

Eye exercises:

~ Head rolls
~ Palming
~ Open and close
~ Up and down
~ Left and right
~ Look away

Head rolls.  Take a deep breath, closing your eyes.  Relax you head forward so your chin is on your chest and roll your head clockwise for one full rotation, then repeat rolling counter clockwise.  Be slow and easy.  Repeat two to four times.

Palming.  Gently rub your hands together to warm them.  Close your eyes and gently cover them with the palms of your hands, making sure no light slips in. Imagine a deep blackness and relax into it.  When you only see blackness (no stray color memories), remove your palms.  Repeat.

Open and close.  Close your eyes very tightly for 3 to 5 seconds, then open them widely for 3 to 5 seconds.  Repeat 6 to 8 times.

Up and down.  Sitting still, move your eyes upward as far as you can, then downward as far as you can.  Repeat 4 times.

Left and right.  Sitting still, move your eyes to the left as far as you can, then back to the right.  Repeat 4 times.

Look away.  Find a window to look out of or another distant object to look at.  Focus on it, working your eyes to shift from close work to distance viewing.  Repeat every 30 to 60 minutes throughout the day.

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Last website updates ~~~ October 2007

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