Thursday, April 3, 2008

Health> 10 ways to soothe your eyes

Text by: Tanya Munshi
In a normal day to day routine, our eyes are exposed to numerous forms of media – right from the time we wake up we begin with a newspaper, then we read a book or a magazine while traveling. At work we spend the whole day working on our PCs, and evenings or late nights are spent in front of the television. Have you thought of giving your eyes a break?

What causes eye strain?
o Prolonged glare from the computer monitor/ television screen
o A sudden doze of bright light like a car head light from the opposite direction
o Sitting too close to the computer monitor or reading a book too close to your eyes
o Trying to read fine print, or word documents with tiny fonts
o Trying to work on your computer or read a book in poor light.
Here are some easy eye soothing tips that you could try at home or office.

Look at greener pastures
Looking at anything, other than you computer screen helps a lot. Especially looking at plants and greenery refreshes your eyes and your mind. Rahil Mahtani, an instructional designer says, “When my eyes feel tired and weary, I go out and look at some greenery. Luckily for me, there are hills right outside my office. All I have to do is just walk to the window or up to the terrace and look around.”
Psychologist, Prachi Vaish adds, “One of the tactics I do is take my eyes off the screen every 20 minutes, look around and close them for a few seconds. I repeat this as and when required.”

Drink water
One of the basic remedies for tired eyes is to drink lots of water. Especially in an office environment you tend to get dehydrated faster, due to sweating or the air conditioning. You need to replenish all that you loose, by drinking lots of fluids like water or juices. Also, whenever your eyes feel tired take a break and splash some water on your face and eyes.

Soothe with eye gels
Choose eye gels that contain organic aloe vera, chamomile and plant proteins. Apply night or day eye cream which will have a soothing effect on your eyes and active vitamins and minerals will nourish, moisturize and refresh the delicate skin around the eyes. Plant proteins help reduce puffiness, chamomile has anti-inflammatory properties to help restore the sensitive skin around the eyes. Shadaab Razak a television anchor and a fashion consultant says, “I use Clinique eye gel, which helps reduce the puffiness in the delicate area around the eyes.”

Palming
One of the oldest, tried and tested formulas for relaxing tired eye muscles is palming. This can be done anywhere—in office or at home. Rub the palms of your hands to generate warmth by friction. Then gently place your palms over your eyes and keep for about a minute. Repeat this as often as you like. Palming is known to relax the tense eye balls thereby soothing weary eyes.

Eye drops
Shadaab adds, “At work I normally use Genteel eye drops as advised by my doctor and is readily available in most chemist outlets.” She continues, “I use these eye drops as and when my eyes feel tired and it cools my eyes immediately.”

Rose water
Shadaab offers a tip on how to prepare a rose water pack at home. “Since rosewater is present in every household, it’s the easiest to make. Keep a bowl of rosewater with cotton swabs and refrigerate it. Once you return home, place the cotton swabs over your eyes for about 10 minutes and relax.” This is a good remedy to reduce dark circles and soothe tired and weary eyes.

Try strawberry
Refrigerated strawberry slices if kept over the eyes are equally effective. Strawberries are rich in alpha-hydroxy which is instrumental in keeping the skin young and refreshed.

Chilled cucumbers
Prachi vouches that cucumber slices are a huge de-stressor for eyes! “I use them as often I can. In fact, potato slices can be used for dark circles and under eye bags.” Cucumber is known for its cooling, anti-inflammatory, skin tightening and astringent properties. Keep two slices of cucumber over your eyes, as the cooling effect of cucumber can soothe puffy eyes and dark circles.

Tea bags
Refrigerated tea bags if kept over the eyes for about 10-15 minutes can help reduce soreness of the eyes. Especially go for green tea bags as they contain anti-inflammatory properties that help reduce under eye circles, dark circles and puffy eyes.

Chilled milk
Drop two cotton balls in a bowl of chilled milk. Once you’re home you can give a cold compress to your eyes with chilled milk.

It is important to remember, that most of the times, when we try to concentrate on reading a document on paper or on the computer monitor, our brain works along with our eyes to help us comprehend and retain information. At times, headaches can occur due to over straining our eyes to read fine print or trying to rack our brains to understand something complex. In such cases, taking frequent breaks every half an hour to an hour, where our eyes get defocused and giving a breather to our brain, can help us in relieving eye strain.

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