We recommend practising these free eye exercises over a four-week period to improve the eye-sight and increase the efficiency of eyes.
However, persons with a large (or progressive) visual defect or severe amblyopia can prolong the training to their advantage. In fact, the exercises can be continued indefinitely by incorporating them as part of the daily routine.
After you have improved your eyesight as much as possible, you would like to keep it so or preserve it. Generally, performing ‘maintenance exercises’ once a week would prove adequate. They can, however, be undertaken more or less frequently, as per individual needs.
If at any time you feel your eye-efficiency or visual sharpness slipping, you can even go back to ‘week one’ of the original training programme.
Caring for your eyes is one of your most important and life-long responsibilities. Therefore, repeating the entire fourweek programme every six months or an year would be desirable.
General guidelines regarding maintenance
(1) Select any five or six of these free eye exercises of your liking and requirement. (2) Change the distance (at which an exercise is p~rformed) or the number of repetitions of exercises constantly so as to preserve interest and encounter a new challenge. (3) Incorporate the principle of visual training into your daily activities i.e. cultivate them as habits.
- Always be aware of the nature of your visual style and look for specific circumstances to improve it or make it more balanced. For example, during spare time a person with a fixated-central visual style should resist the temptation to read a magazine or a comic-book and instead go for an outing.
- Whenever possible (or following work which has required you to look concentratedly at a particular distance for a long time continuously) go through the free eye exercises routines on “focal flexibility”. If you have spare time, practise focal shifts from far to near and vice versa.
- Maintain good eye-hygiene.
- Insist on very good lighting while performing a visual task.
- Do not unduly tire your eyes.
(4) Make time without glasses a regular part of your daily routine. Albeit, it is necessary to keep the eyes relaxed and fully open when not wearing glasses. Making undue efforts to see clearly while not wearing glasses is self-defeating and invites eye strain.
(5) At least once a year, repeat the entire four-week programme of free eye exercises. Remember that eye and vision-care is a lifetime commitment.
(6) Get your eyes and vision examined by an expert at regular intervals, say every six months. Insist on a thorough examination. Remember that good vision is much more than mere reading of all the letters of the chart; it involves a whole spectrum of skills:
- How well can you use both eyes together?
- How well or accurately can you see objects in space?
- Can you shift focus from far to near objects (or vice versa) quickly and easily ?
- Do your eyes converge sufficiently ?
- Do your eye-muscles work in a balanced manner etc ?
(7) Periodically (say every fortnight or a month), assess your distant and near visual acuity as well as eye-efficiency and record the findings on a special card. This will give you an early clue of a change, if any.