Taking care of your eyes is actually quite simple. While visiting the eye doctor is an important and necessary step, there are many things you can do on a daily basis to take better care of your eyes. Take these easy steps to keep your peepers healthy:
- Get enough sleep. In fact, eight hours of sleep regularty is a virtual guarantee of bright, beautiful eyes.
- Protect your eyes from sun glare (good quality sun glasses), bright lights and excessive television or computer use.
- Make sure there’s enough light while reading, doing embroidery or other fine work.
- Morning and evening, wash your eyes gently. You can fill a pan with clean water and dip your face into the water while blinking.
- Apply a good moisturizer to the eye area skin. However, make sure you apply it ever so gently.
- Blink as often as you can, but in strict privacy, please. A friend of mine decided to go through his blinking and eye exercise routine while commuting the office, and was slapped by an outraged woman travelling on the same bus who thought he was making eyes at her !
- Drink plenty — at least six to eight glasses of water daily.
- Wash your eyes with rose water once a day.
- Make sure that your diet includes green leafy vegetables and foods rich in Vitamin A, such as carrots.
In case you’ve got one of the common eye problems, here’s a rough do-it-yourself guide on how to take care of it :
FOR PUFFY EYES :
- Drink lots of water to cleanse your system.
- Keep to regular and adequate hours of sleep.
- Add a quarter of a teaspoon of boric powder to a cupful of tepid water and bathe your eyes in it.
- Add a pinch of salt (tears are salty, remember ?) to tepid water and bathe your eyes in it.
- Apply a couple of drops of fresh castor oil to the swollen area.
- Keep a witch-hazel solution at home and use on cotton wool eye pads to reduce puffiness.
- Prepare fresh potato juice and use on cotton wool eye pads. You can also cut a potato into slices and place them on your eyes, especially if your upper eyelids are swollen.
FOR DARK CIRCLES UNDER THE EYES :
- Apply fresh cucumber juice to the affected area or
- Apply a mixture of almond oil with a few drops of fresh lemon juice to the darkened area or
- Apply fresh mint leaf juice.
- For instant effect, you can use spoon. Put the spoon in the refrigerator for around 5-10 minutes, and press the spoon gently
FOR WRINKLES OR CROW’S FEET :
- Generally moisturize the skin around the eyes.
- Use a good eye cream with a lanolin base.
- Massage the skin around the eyes gently, with almond oil, apricot oil, coconut oil or Vitamin E oil.
- Gently massage a piece of fresh ripe papaya on the skin around the eyes.
FOR SPARKLING EYES :
- Get enough sleep.
- Drink enough water.