Introduction to Eye Care and Eye Health
Ever wondered how it may feel to lose the ability to see?
Let’s make the imagination easier:
Remember the times you played “blindfold” as a kid?
Or when you got inspired by a visually impaired movie character and tried walking with your eyes closed?
While small games in these scenarios don’t pose actual harm to your vision, they may make you realise how crucial eye care is.
In this blog, we discuss eye care and eye health. You will read about the importance of eye care, Ayurvedic methods for eye care, causes of poor eyesight and more.
So, put on your reading glasses and read on.
Ayurvedic Treatment for Eyes
The Ayurvedic eye treatment takes a holistic approach to improve eyesight.
Ayurveda aims to manage health concerns from their root. While this may not show immediate results, the effects can be long-lasting and comprehensively rejuvenating.
Here are a few tips from Ayurveda for eyesight improvement.
1. Washing Routine
Ayurveda suggests maintaining an eyewash routine. When you wake up, wash your eyes with cool water while holding water in your mouth.
Ayurvedic wisdom also dismisses the use of too hot or too cold water for the eyes. Extreme conditions can always be harmful.
Maintaining this morning eye wash routine can help keep your eyes naturally healthy.
2. Practice Trataka
Stimulating your eyesight can improve blood circulation, eventually improving vision.
Trataka is an Ayurvedic eye health method in which we stare at a burning ghee lamp.
Take a ghee lamp with a cotton wick to practice this and light it up.
Now, shut all the lights inside your room, sit on the floor, fold your legs, place the ghee lamp on the floor and gaze at it. Place the lamp at a viewing angle of 30 degrees.
Practising this for ten minutes each day can help improve eye strength and lustre.
3. Ayurvedic Herbs
Several Ayurvedic herbs can help improve eye health.
For example, Amla, Punarnava, and Triphala can be dramatically nourishing for eye health.
Wondering how to add these to your eye care routine?
AR Ayurveda vaidya sala Triphala tablets are not only helpful to relieve constipation and gut health, it can also help you manage your eye care concerns.
AR Ayurveda vaidya sala Anu thailam is an Ayurvedic nasal drop that can help relieve allergies and sinusitis, but another surprising benefit of Anu thailam nasal drops is that it boosts eye health by balancing kapha dosha.
Importance of Eye Care
We discussed a few examples earlier to realise the importance of eye health and eye care. But that isn’t a comprehensive explanation. This section sheds light on why eye care is utterly crucial and why we can’t overlook it.
Primarily, the eye is one of the most vital organs of the human body. Our vision plays a crucial role in our social and intellectual development.Nearly 80% of the knowledge we gain is through our eyes only.
Apart from that, maintaining eye health is also crucial for a healthy brain. As our optic nerves connect the brain with our eyes, a healthy relationship is critical. Hence, if we keep our eyes healthy, we can also keep our brains healthy.
This helps us lead a healthy life.
Also, when our vision is healthy, we can be more athletic and fitter, can drive and travel with minor challenge, and our learning and comprehension abilities are also enhanced.
Hence, it’s crucial to take care of your eye health. Speaking in that regard, to avoid eye health hazards, we must also know them.
The following section discusses some of the most common causes of eye care concerns. This will help us be cautious.
Causes of Poor Eyesight
Poor eyesight can crop up because of many factors. Here’s a brief list of some common reasons to look out for.
1. Improper Nutrition
Amidst the fast-paced lives we lead today, often, we forget to pay attention to nutrition. As a result, our body suffers immediately or in the long run.
Just as the name suggests, fast foods are a category of edibles that are readily available. However, saving a few minutes on availing a healthy meal may lead to health-related consequences – poor eyesight being one of them.
Good eye health requires balanced nutrition, comprising vitamins A, E, C, B and proteins.
2. Infections
Dust particles and other pollutants can give rise to various infections and allergies. Therefore, whenever you step out in dusty and windy areas, it’s advisable to wear glasses to protect your eyes against dirt.
Similarly, one should wear a helmet with glass visors to cover the eyes while riding a two-wheeler.
Also, make sure not to touch your eyes with dirty hands. Hands can quickly transfer infectious germs to your eyes.
3. Unprotected Screen Exposure
As working professionals and students, we are often exposed to blue screens for prolonged hours. While this is crucial, to keep our work going, it adversely affects our eyesight.
To slow down the damage rate, it’s advisable to use protective eye care glasses while viewing screens, and every 20 minutes, take time out to look away from the screen for a minute or two.
4. Ageing
This is a factor that can’t be neglected. As we grow old, our bodies may experience a lack of eye strength and worsening eyesight. While ageing is inevitable, a proper diet and regular exercise can help keep eye care concerns at bay. Also, this can help slow down the natural damage process.
With ageing, one may have to face the following eye care issues:
- Presbyopia
- Glaucoma
- Dry eyes
- Age-related macular degeneration
- Cataracts
- Temporal arteritis
Connect with your eye doctor and practice natural eye care cautions to keep these concerns at bay.
Also Read: 7 Tips on How to Improve Eyesight at Home Naturally
Improve Eyesight Naturally With Yoga
Did you know that yoga for eyes can help manage various eye care concerns? In this section, we will discuss a few methods of yoga to improve eyesight.
1. Chakrasana
This is the posture in which you lie down on your back and fold your legs and knees to parallel your feet to the ground. Then bend your arms and body, making a bow with the ground. For clarity, see the picture:
This helps rush blood towards the face. As a result, it improves eyesight, brings a natural glow to the face and maintains healthy hair.
2. Halasana
Another yoga pose that can help increase blood flow towards the head.
In this pose, we lie down on our back, place our palms on the backside and slowly lift our legs first towards the ceiling and then all the way to the ground behind our head. Refer to the image for details:
3. Sarvangasana or Shirshasana
Yoga poses and exercises that increase the blood flow towards our head can help improve eyesight naturally.
Sarvangasana and shirshasana are two poses to do the same.
For sarvangasana, lie down on your back, hold your back area with your palms and lift your legs up towards the sky.
Sarvangasana demonstration:
Speaking of shirshasana, it can be considered a more advanced stage of sarvangasana. The English language also calls it the headstand. For a better understanding of the pose, please refer to the image below:
Shirshasana demonstration:
Preventive Measures for Better Eye Care
Yoga is a healthy practice for eye care in Ayurveda. While, being regular with yoga is a healthy lifestyle choice, it’s also advisable to take preventive measures for better eye health.
Here are a few such measures according to Ayurveda for eyesight improvement:
- Exercise daily
- Practice yoga
- Cover your eyes in dusty areas
- Wear protective glasses while viewing screens
- Maintain a balanced diet
- Wash your eyes first thing in the morning with cold water with water in your mouth
