Exercises for the eyes help to fully or partially restore vision with myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism and some other eye diseases. The key principles of this technique are laid down by Dr. W. Bates, an American ophthalmologist. His system for restoring vision through relaxing exercises has been known since the first half of the 20th century. Professor Zhdanov, based on the principles of Bates, developed his own methodology, consisting of sets of exercises and recommendations on visual hygiene. Gymnastics Zhdanov can be used both for treatment and for prevention. In order to achieve a significant effect, classes should be held daily for a long period of time – at least two months. 

Effective exercises for strabismus

To improve vision with strabismus, techniques are used that relax the eye muscles, relieve tension and promote good eye relaxation. Such techniques include palming, solarization and psychological relaxation through pleasant memories and views.

Palming technique:

• Exercises are best performed lying or sitting at the table. For convenience, rest your elbows on the table.
• Connect the palms of the house, laying them on top of each other crosswise. The fingers of one palm should cover the fingers of the other.
• Cover your eyes with your hands, trying to completely protect them from light. Make sure that the light does not penetrate the organs of vision. To do this, turn to a bright source of light and open your eyes under your palms. If the rays make their way through the cracks, adjust the position of the palms by moving them more tightly or by connecting your fingers more tightly. Do not strain your hands, do not press on the eyeballs or pinch your nose. Find the optimal hand position and remember it for the future.

If your palms are cool, then before performing palming, you need to warm them: grind, knead, make a light massage. Having covered your eyes, you need to relax, breathe out gently, wait until the light images under the eyelids disappear. For complete psychological relaxation, the exercise “memories of pleasant things” is used. At the time of palming, you need to think about the happy moments of life, remember the most pleasant experiences and try to focus as much as possible on these thoughts. Deep psychological relaxation completely relaxes the eye muscles. This is important because eye strain is the main cause of visual impairment.

The next effective exercise is solarization. It is performed according to this algorithm:  

• Turn off the lights in the room. Light a candle or table lamp.
• Sit a meter (or a little further) from the light source.
• Turn your head from side to side (20 times). Keep your eyes open, but do not focus your eyes on the candle. He must move from the left wall to the right, moving with his head. The candle, accordingly, remains in the lateral field of view, either left or right.

A set of exercises for the treatment and prevention of myopia

With myopia, the eyeball can hardly focus on objects located at a distant distance. Zhdanov’s set of exercises can help with any degree of myopia – from mild to severe. The main thing is to make all movements in exercises smoothly and carefully, especially with severe myopia. If in the first few days of training according to Zhdanov’s technique, the eyes from the habit get very tired and painful sensations appear in them, you need to take a break for a couple of days.

A set of exercises:

1. Blink vigorously for one minute.
2. Squint tightly for three seconds. Open your eyes and squint again after three seconds. Repeat eight times.
3. Straighten your hand and look at the finger, which turned out to be in the center of the face. Slowly slide your hand toward you until it begins to double. Do 8 reps.
4. Gently press on the eyeballs for three seconds. Repeat four times.
5. Press your fingers to the eyebrows, close your eyes. Repeat ten times.
6. Look at the ceiling. Moving in a circle, look at the floor. Repeat this movement 12 times, moving your gaze now clockwise, then against it.
7. Turn your eyes to one and the other side. Repeat six times.
8. Take your right hand to the side. Lift your thumb and move your hand from right to left. Watch your finger, do not turn your head. Do 12 reps.

Farsighted Exercises

In the case of farsightedness, a person has difficulty in examining objects located nearby. The eyeball with hyperopia is flattened in the anteroposterior direction. With myopia, on the contrary, it is elongated. Hyperopia is especially common among the elderly.

The most effective exercises for farsightedness:  

• Imagine that you have a pencil lead on the tip of your nose and you can draw it through the air. Write in turn several letters of the alphabet, watching with your eyes how the lines are drawn. 15 minutes per day are allotted for the implementation of this element in the general complex of exercises.
• Raise your palms to your eyes. Arrange your fingers and look through them at the surrounding objects.
• Fold the fingers of the right hand so that the index remains straightened. Move your hand to your nose and set your index finger at eye level. Shake your finger from side to side. Then move your hand to the right about twenty centimeters. Go back, take it to the left. When swinging, you need to look away, and not on your finger.
• Squeeze the palm of your thumb. Straighten your hand in front of your face. Blink and look at your finger. Slowly slide it to your face at a distance of fifteen centimeters, again push it. Blink, look into the distance.

All these effective exercises will help restore vision only if systematically performed. You need to start with a minimum number of repetitions in each element of the set of exercises. The load should increase gradually. Palming can be done every hour, giving the eyes the opportunity to rest and relax. It is recommended to blink as often as possible. This relieves stress and moisturizes the lining of the eye.