You may have heard of mindfulness or even tried it to help improve mental health and wellbeing. But how is it connected to eye health?
It’s well known that mental health can affect physical health, with improvements in mental wellbeing often leading to improved physical health. Of course, good mental health can’t solve every physical health problem, and it shouldn’t be considered a substitute for your doctor’s recommended treatments. However, it can lead to better sleep and a reduced risk of many chronic illnesses.
Where Does Mindfulness Come in?
Mindfulness is defined as the practice of being fully present and aware of our surroundings. It also requires an effort to avoid reactivity to whatever is happening around us, which can sometimes be the most difficult part!
How Does Mindfulness Help Eye Health?
Mindfulness and Digital Eye Strain
By forcing you to slow down and take in your surroundings, mindfulness can encourage you to blink more. This helps lubricate the eyes and reduce eye strain. Mindfulness may also help you reduce your screen time, which has similar benefits.
Digital eye strain has become an increasingly big issue in the modern world. Eyewear retailers like EZContacts now offer lenses that help reduce eye strain, which are made for people who use screens every day. You can learn more in this quick read on lenses for eye strain relief. Combining these lenses with less screen time can help your eyes.
Before you begin scrolling through your phone, pause and check in with yourself. Ask yourself why you’re going on your phone and if there are other activities you could do instead, like journaling or going for a walk. This mindfulness technique can help break an automatic scrolling habit.
Mindfulness and Eye Conditions
Additionally, a study called Mindfulness Meditation Can Benefit Glaucoma Patients found that mindfulness meditation exercises may help lower eye pressure in glaucoma patients. Glaucoma is a condition in which increased eye pressure causes damage to the optic nerves. Untreated, it can lead to permanent vision loss and even blindness.
The study found that patients who had daily hour-long sessions with a meditation teacher showed lower levels of intraocular pressure, or IOP. In fact, 75 percent of patients in the meditation group showed a 25% reduction in IOP, while those in the non-meditating group had no significant change in IOP.
Mindfulness and Sleep
Meditation can also help improve sleep, which in turn can help with eye health. A lack of sleep can sometimes lead to dry eyes, eye irritation, and eye strain.
If you’re struggling with sleep, you can also try using other tools along with meditation. One possible option is red light glasses. These glasses block blue and green light wavelengths that trick your brain into wakefulness. Learn how red light glasses work and when to use them.
Other Benefits of Mindfulness and Meditation
Practicing meditation can reduce stress and lead to structural changes in the brain. A Harvard study found that participants who spent more time meditating reported lower levels of stress and decreased gray matter in the amygdala, which is connected to anxiety. At the same time, they had increased gray-matter density in the hippocampus, which is associated with learning and memory.
How Do You Practice Mindfulness?
There are two main ways to practice mindfulness: meditation and everyday mindfulness.
Meditation
For a certain period of time, sit quietly in a comfortable setting and concentrate on your breath. Also, pay attention to other sensory input, such as sounds and smells, and to how you’re feeling. Do your best to experience these feelings without judgment or harsh reactions. Simply accept them.
If you get distracted, a good technique is to focus back on your breathing. At first, you may become distracted frequently, but with practice, these interruptions should lessen.
At the end of your meditation, take a moment to reflect on what you’ve experienced; again, without judgment or strong reactions.
How Long Should You Meditate For?
If you’re new to meditation, it’s best to start small. Begin by meditating for a few minutes; about three to 10 minutes is recommended. Then, work your way up to 20 or 30 minutes a day.
Everyday Mindfulness
Let’s face it: many of us could benefit from being more mindful in our daily activities, from doing the dishes to walking the dog. The best way to practice everyday mindfulness is to put your phone down and allow yourself to exist in your current experience.
For instance, instead of taking pictures of your meal, watching Netflix, or scrolling through Instagram, simply sit and enjoy your food. Take in the tastes and scents of the meal and consider how you feel.
Likewise, if you normally stare at your phone while you walk the dog or ride the bus, try taking in your surroundings instead. Notice what you see, hear, and smell. Allow yourself to experience any feelings that come up without judgment.
A final suggestion is to schedule digital breaks, where you set a timer and don’t use any devices during that time. As with meditation, many people start with five or 10 minutes, but you can also take longer breaks to appreciate your surroundings.
The idea here isn’t to give up your devices completely, but to be intentional with how you use your time and stay in the present as much as possible.
Other Options for Mindfulness in Daily Living
You can also take a brief mindfulness break at work. If you’re feeling stressed, set a 60-second timer and do nothing. Just breathe, experience your feelings, and accept them. If your work environment makes this difficult, try stepping outside for 60 seconds.
Another option for mindfulness in daily living is to “single task” instead of constantly multitasking. Okay, we know this isn’t always possible. Sometimes you’re in a hurry, and you really do need to do three things at once. But whenever possible, try to concentrate on one thing at a time and be fully present for it.
A final suggestion is to be more mindful during conversations. Try to dial in and think about what the other person is saying, without prepping a response in your head.
The History of Mindfulness
Although mindfulness has become more popular in recent years, it’s not a new idea. In fact, this practice goes back centuries and originates from the concept of “Sati,” or moment-to-moment awareness of present events. This was a part of Buddhism, which began in the fifth century BCE.
In 1881, a British magistrate in Sri Lanka named Thomas William Rhys Davids translated this concept of Sati into the term “mindfulness.” However, the practice did not become widespread in the Western world until the 1970s.
A professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, John Kabat-Zinn, founded the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine at the U of M medical school in 1979. Interest in mindfulness grew slowly at first, but by 2018, the CDC reported that meditation was the fastest-growing health trend in the U.S.
