Reading is an inevitable aspect of life, and we all spend a lot of time working behind computer displays or reading printed material. The muscles that control eye convergence can get fatigued from constant use, leading to eye strain. The sole treatment option to avoid these kinds of symptoms is to regularly train your eye muscles.
Although vision therapy is a professional way to treat eye conditions such as convergence insufficiency, there are ways to help yourself without going to the doctor’s office. Today’s article will cover some of the most effective convergence insufficiency exercises that you can do in the peace of your own home.
Why Are Convergence Insufficiency Exercises Important?
While looking in front of us at a faraway object, our eyes line up. If we focus on anything up close, our eyes will shift closer together.
Typically, the closest distance that the eyes can converge to focus on an object is between 5 and 8 centimeters. More than 12 centimeters of distance is lost at this point, due to convergence insufficiency.
Convergence insufficiency occurs when the eyes have trouble working together to focus on things less than 10 centimeters from the nose. People who do a lot of close or computer work, or who have any kind of systemic illness, are more likely to have the weakening of convergence.
Poor convergence can be detected by a variety of symptoms, including some or all of the following:
- frontal headaches or eye strain caused by close work or computer tasks;
- blurred vision caused by close work or sufficient time spent in front of blue light displays;
- intermittent double vision
If you suffer from any, or all, of the symptoms mentioned above, there is no need to panic. What you need to do is continue reading as we will go through 4 convergence insufficiency exercises that can help you with your stressed state and relieve you from unnecessary stress around the eyes.
Best Convergence Insufficiency Exercises
Different orthoptic exercises have different goals, but they all have one thing in common: they help the eyes operate better together. Treatment is meant to have long-lasting effects and leave patients free of symptoms long after therapy has been completed.
Certain people may need to repeat the exercises at a later point in their life. Assuming you complete the exercises as directed, they will have a significant positive influence on your well-being. However, they are contingent upon:
- proper exercise form
- consistency and post-workout eye relaxation
- wearing corrective glasses (if used)
Here are some of the easiest ways to start exercising your eye muscles right now:
Pencil Push-Ups / Smooth Convergence
Material needed: a spatula with a small but noticeable item glued to its tip / pencil, corrective glasses (if used), and a bit of patience.
Steps:
- Maintain an upright posture and focus your gaze on a distant, tiny object.
- Raise a pen, or a spatula with a small object glued to its tip, to eye level and examine the tip.
- Bring the point slowly toward your eyes, maintaining it at eye level the whole time.
- When your eyes start to feel tired or strained, hold the tip there for around 10 seconds. The point shouldn’t start to seem cluttered or splintered, and it should maintain its single, distinct appearance.
- Then bring it back to arm’s length and keep it there for another 10 seconds.
- Again, do it gradually, until the point where you feel a strain on your eyes..
- Finally, start the process over again from the beginning for 10 times.
Jump Convergence
Material needed: a spatula and good will.
Steps:
- Keep the spatula at arm’s length and slightly below eye level, and aim it towards a target that is around 6 meters away.
- Lock your sight on the far target at 6 meters before moving on to the spatula target up close.
- If the near target is isolated, return your gaze to the faraway one while simultaneously bringing the near target closer to your line of sight.
- Try this at a variety of close ranges until you cannot maintain a single close target.
Dot Cards
Material needed: dot cards and a few minutes of time.
Steps:
- Tip the dot card gently downwards while holding it on the tip of your nose. (Hold the card with one hand at the top and the other at the bottom)
- Shift your gaze to a new location and hold it there for a count of 5 while you do so.
- You should test each one in turn, working your way up to your nose. Try to maintain concentration for the duration of a slow count of 5.
- If you find yourself unable to maintain single vision at a certain distance, try focusing intently on that location until you can, and if that fails, go back to the farther spot and try again.
Keep in mind that everything in front of and behind the point at which your focus is directed should seem twofold. It is normal and should happen!
Feed the Bunny
Material needed: VR Synoptophore app, a mobile device, VR glasses, and at least 20% of battery life.
Steps:
- Attach the virtual reality glasses on your smartphone’s display and put them over your eyes. You should see one bunny with a carrot and a tail.
- To succeed, you must keep at it until you come across two isolated pictures – a rabbit and a carrot.
- For this method to work, it is essential to keep only one image of the rabbit holding the carrot.
- If you notice the images beginning to drift apart, simply tap the screen quickly to halt the process.
- Repeat the process by tapping the screen again to begin the next workout cycle.
Aim for 7-10 minutes of activity every day for the first few days. The training duration should be increased to 10–15 minutes after a week. There should be a three-week period of everyday training.
Slight discomfort in the eyes is a common side effect of exercise. That’s a good indicator, because the work is being done correctly, and it should go away soon.
The Bottom Line
The main goal you should keep in mind when doing convergence insufficiency exercises is that nothing can happen if you are inconsistent and give your eyes no time to relax. Deciding to exercise your eyes is a great first step to maintaining your well-being and doing what’s best for your main source of information – your eyes.
If done correctly and often enough, great results can be seen (no pun intended) in a short span of time. So what are you waiting for? Start exercising today, sharpen your eyes and enjoy life without any discomfort!
