Eye is a sensitive organ that needs constant exercising and careful preventive measures to keep it strong and fit for lifetime. Otherwise, it could cause serious infections and damage that could impair its functions and disturb the quality of daily of life of a person especially during old age.

Just like exercising the body to keep fit and strong, exercising your eye is needed to keep your eye muscles healthy, and also regulate and balance the vision by using both the eyes for normal functioning.

During young age, some of the kids may go through a phase called "lazy eye" which is a peculiar eye problem in visual coordination. One of the eyes may not be able to adjust and view the objects properly as the other one is overused. So, the lazy eye does not get to practice visual synchronization.

Visual errors are mainly caused due to stress and chronic tension that strains the eye muscles. Regulating eye movements and muscle contraction through simple exercises on a daily basis would make both the eyes active and synchronized, and may even correct visual inaccuracies like long or short sightedness.

Eyes should never become dry as the moisture in the eye keeps it lubricated and prevents harmful particles from entering. Constant blinking of eyes is important, as the tear glands that are located under the upper eye lids help in keeping the surface wet and clean.

‘Palming exercise’ of the eye relaxes it very well. Sit upright with your elbows settled on cushions that are highly raised. Cup your palms over your eyes, imagine darkness and do not allow light to enter your palms. Relax well and breathe very slowly and calmly. Pressure should not be applied on the eyes when performing this exercise. You can keep the cupped palms on your eyes for about 10 minutes and repeat this exercise twice or thrice every day.

The next exercise is useful for achieving good coordination among different body parts, and that involves your eyes also. Close your eyes and relax. Imagine a circle first. Then imagine this becoming an oval shape. Start drawing the number 8 around this by using your nose, eyes and head. You need to move your head and various other parts while you imagine forming the figures!

The next exercises give rest to your eye muscles. For this, you need to hang an eye chart on the wall. Your optician would be able to give you the eye chart. Close your eyes and rest for some time. Once you are relaxed, stare at the things written on the eye chart. Concentrate fully on the words written and the surrounding space. Read the sentences aloud. Focus on the sentences well and relax.

The following exercise is done for exercising the muscles. Close your eyes tight and remain in this position for about 3 – 5 seconds. Again open them for the next 3 – 5 seconds. This is like blinking your eyes by giving some pressure to the muscles. This can be repeated 7 to 8 times.