Immediate effects of eye yogic exercises on morphoscopic visual acuity

Abstract

Background: Various studies have been carried out on what yoga can do for eyesight improvement and for eye health. Numerous of them tested both subjective and objective parameters in different optical fields (myopia, presbyopia, resistance to optical illusions, etc.). The majority of them have tested long-term yoga training. In literature, we found no evidence of the immediate effects of yoga exercises on visual abilities. Aims: In this study, we tested some yoga exercises directly involving eyes in the improvement of morphoscopic visual acuity. Methods: Twenty participants have been examined for morphoscopic visual acuity on Snellen chart. After this, they have been invited to perform some yoga eyes exercise for 6 min overall. The exercises included ocular motility, focusing, concentration/purification (trātaka), and relaxation (palming). Finally, they have been subjected again to the Snellen chart examination. Each eye has been examined separately. Results: The results of the first and the second Snellen chart examination were compared, resulting in a visual acuity medium improvement of 2.28%. The differences between second and first examination ranged from −22.22% to +24.44%. Conclusions: In literature, we found some critical analyses of the effects of eye yoga exercises on eyesight. Some studies deny every form of improvement in this field. However, the results of our study and the evidence found in literature testify the effectiveness of improvements. Some more studies would be useful to determine the efficacy of yoga training – both short- and long-term – on visual abilities, on refractive errors, on presbyopia, and on most serious eye pathologies.