How do you do the Slow Blink eye exercise?
Before starting, relax your shoulders and neck muscles to get into a relaxed state. Ok, now you’re ready to begin:
1.) Inhale deeply from the stomach and blink normally on the in-breath.
2.) On the slow exhalation, gently close your eyes and keep them relaxed and closed for the duration of the out-breath.
Do this breath-based slow blink exercise for about 1 minute at a time. Considering a deep-breathing inhale/exhale cycle takes about 8-10 seconds, that’s about 6-8 repeats.
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Side note: Some people who teach eye exercises for recovering from myopia, like Brian Severson, do a variation of this method for when you are trying to clear up a blur (as opposed to just aiming for eye relaxation). If you’re reading a text and it looks a little blurry, you can use this slow-blink technique and then when you re-open your eyes, open them wide on purpose. You might notice that as you widen your eyes, the blur clears up a little.
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What does this slow blinking exercise do?
It does a few things:
- Relaxes eyes from strain as the chance to close them for a little while gives them a little break.
- Re-moistens the eyes and stimulates the production of tear fluid to help protect against dry eyes
- Oxygenates your body and the eyes as you combine the exercise with deep-breathing.
- Destresses: It helps your body relax in general and helps manage stress. Unmanaged stress can be another contributor to poor vision.
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How often should you do this exercise?
It’s up to you how often you’d like to use this technique but it’s probably good to use it when your eyes feel like they need a break, or if they feel a little dry.
For eye exercises in general some experts recommend refreshing your eyes in some way for a couple of minutes, once every 30 to 40 minutes of intense close-up work like computer work, reading or writing. You can relax your eyes with this slow blink method or alternate it with other eye relaxation exercises like palming, sunning or eye acupressure.
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Disclaimer: Everything in this article is material the author has learned from books and online articles and is not a substitute for help from a qualified eyecare professional. Any exercises or recommendations described are applied at the risk and sole responsibility of the reader. The author takes no responsibility for any consequences arising from a reader practising anything recommended on this website.