by Poor vision is usually a big factor contributing to the deterioration of life quality of seniors. While vision decline is natural with old age, it’s possible to slow down the aging of their eyes. One easy way to achieve this is to do eye exercises.
Here is a list of some of the best and simplest eye exercises seniors can do to support their vision in their golden years.
Slow Blinking
This is one of the easiest exercises seniors can do to keep their eyes healthy. It involves slowly opening and closing both eyes for a few moments and repeating it 10 times. Doing this releases tension in the eye muscles and keeps the eyes lubricated. It’s especially great for seniors who spend a lot of time reading or in front of a screen.
Tracing
As the name suggests, this exercise involves tracing with the eyes. You can ask your old parent to focus on a single object in their sights, such as a window or a chair, and trace its outline with their eyes. They can do this 2-3 times every day for 5-7 minutes.
Tracking Near and Far
Tracking near and far requires the person to stretch out their one arm in front of them and make a thumbs-up sign with their hand. Then, they focus on their thumb and bring it slowly towards their eyes. They stop at about 3 inches away from the face and reverse the action.
Tracking Side to Side
For this exercise, ask the seniors to take a pencil or other similar object in one hand and hold it around 20 inches away from their face. The object should be kept at eye level and slowly moved from left to right and back again. This exercise is great for promoting healthy peripheral vision in seniors. This exercise can be followed by exercises for carpal tunnel to keep their hands healthy.
Near and Far Focus
Do your senior loved ones read a lot or do close-up work like knitting for hours? If yes, this exercise will help them strengthen the eye muscles involved in changing the lens’s focus. It’s as simple as changing their focus from looking at their book to another house across the street.
Palming
It’s easy for seniors to quickly strain their eyes with a few hours of computer work or mobile usage. You can help them reduce the stress in their eye muscles by urging them to palm their eyes.
This involves sitting down with elbows on the edge of a table and covering both eyes with warm palms. Doing this for a few seconds every day improves blood circulation around the eyes and gives them the much-needed rest.
Scanning
For this exercise, have your senior companion sit in a room full of various objects. Then, ask them to start at one end of the room and move their eyes slowly across the room, looking at each object carefully. The idea is to scan and focus on each item as if they were looking for something. This can also help with Vertigo and help focus your senior’s attention.
Imaginary Tic-Tac-Toe
This is a fun exercise that involves imagining a tic-tac-toe board in the air. Your loved one should start by holding a finger in the air close enough to the eyes so they have slight double vision. Now, they have to slowly move the finger on the tic-tac-toe board such that the finger reaches each square on the board. Simultaneously, they must follow the finger with their eyes.
Conclusion
Whether you are a professional caregiver looking after a senior or a daughter caring for your old parents, you can easily incorporate these exercises into their daily routine. We hope this guide benefits your elders.
