Most of our work is done on computers, and there is usually no escape from it. It is a visually intensive task and, unfortunately, our work pressure and lifestyles do not give us the opportunity to be kind to our eyes.

Some of the simple and valuable tips in handy,

Exercise Your Eyes

Our regular work hours should be infused with short breaks. During such breaks, a small and easy exercise can be done:
"First, blink your eyes several times. While you keep your eyes closed, roll your eyeballs both clockwise and anticlockwise and take a deep breath. Gradually open your eyes while releasing your breath. This exercise lasts for a minute and you can repeat it three times before getting back to work."
It serves as a good workout for the eyes.

Look Away

While working for long hours, look at distant objects either in your office or outside. looking at a distant object and then returning to your task helps your eyes focus better. Try taking such visual breaks for about 5 to 10 minutes every hour.

Palming

Sit straight at your workstation and rub your palms against each other till you feel them warm. The warmth of your palms helps soothe and relax tired eyes. Then, lightly cup your eyes with your palms and relax for 60 seconds. Count the seconds in your mind. Repeat this exercise 2 or 3 times whenever your eyes feel tired, or as often as you want.

Splash Water On Your Face

During breaks, splash water on your face while closing your eyes. This has an overall relaxing effect and helps you feel refreshed.

Take A Walk

After you are done with lunch, take a stroll outside your office for a few minutes. this will give your eyes a much-needed break and get them some fresh air.

Use Tea Bags

Keep 2 used tea bags in the refrigerator before you leave for work. Once you are home, place the tea bags on your eyes for a few minutes as you relax. This not only soothes tired eyes, but also reduces puffiness.

Drink Water

Drink plenty of water. It helps reduces puffiness. When a person is dehydrated, especially in air-conditioned office, the body starts storing water as a defence mechanism. This adds to puffiness around the eyes.

Eat Healthy

Incorporate Vitamins A, C and E on a daily basis. Eat Citrus fruits, green leafy veggies, tomatoes, spinach, poultry and dairy products. Pack a box of chopped carrots, cucumber and fresh and munch in-between meals at the office.

Know Your Contact Lenses

Ideally, a person who uses lenses should wear it for not more than 10-12 hours a day and occasionally for 14 hours a day. Never wear your contact lenses while swimming. The pool water houses various micro-organisms as there are several people using it. This may lead to fungal infections in the eyes. In addition the chlorine in the water can damage your contact lenses.
Lenses are like sponge, making them susceptible to attracting dirt.

Wear Anti-glare Glasses While Driving Or At Work

Anti-glare glasses are mainly used for focused light -- such as full beam car headlights -- and serve well for night driving. These can also be used while working on the computer.
Using a pair of anti-glare glasses while working on a computer can reduce the strain on the eyes to a certain extent. If you wear contact lenses, wear a pair of zero powered anti-glare glasses for the same purpose.

• Eat a Brain-Healthy Diet. A diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids (commonly found in fish), protein, antioxidants, fruits and vegetables and vitamin B; low in trans fats; and with an appropriate level of carbohydrates will help keep your brain healthy.
• Stay Mentally Active. Activities such as learning a new skill or language, working on crossword puzzles, taking classes, and learning how to dance can help challenge and maintain your mental functioning.
• Exercise Regularly. Exercising often can increase circulation, improve coordination, and help prevent conditions that increase the risk of dementia such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
• Stay Social. Spending time with friends, volunteering, and traveling can keep your mind active and healthy.
• Get Plenty of Sleep. Not getting enough sleep can have a negative impact on brain health.
• Manage Stress. Participating in yoga, spending time with friends, or doing other stress-relieving activities can help preserve your ability to remember and learn.
• Prevent Brain Injury. Wearing protective head gear and seat belts can help you avoid head injury, which has been associated with an increased risk of dementia.
• Control Other Health Conditions. Maintaining a healthy weight, exercising, eating a well-balanced and nutritious diet, and controlling stress can help reduce your risk of diseases that affect your brain, including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and hypertension.
• Avoid Unhealthy Habits. Smoking, heavy drinking and use of recreational drugs can increase the risk of dementia and cognitive decline.
• Consider Your Genes. If your family history puts you at risk for developing dementia, work with your doctor to find ways to maintain your brain health to help avoid or slow the progression of cognitive decline.

Why do you need to breathe?

All the cells in your body require oxygen. Without it, they couldn't move, build, reproduce, and turn food into energy. In fact, without oxygen, they and you would die! How do you get oxygen? From breathing in air which your blood circulates to all parts of the body.


How do you breathe?

You breathe with the help of your diaphragm and other muscles in your chest and abdomen. These muscles literally change the space and pressure inside your body to accomodate breathing. When your diaphragm pulls down, it not only leaves more space for the lungs to expand but also lowers the internal air pressure. Outside, where the air pressure is greater, you suck in air in an inhale. The air then expands your lungs like a pair of balloons. When your diaphragm relaxes, the cavity inside your body gets smaller again. Your muscles squeeze your rib cage and your lungs begin to collapse as the air is pushed up and out your body in an exhale.


So, it all starts at the nose?

Yup. About 20 times a minute, you breathe in. When you do, you inhale air and pass it through your nasal passages where the air is filtered, heated, moistened and enters the back of the throat. Interestingly enough, it's the esophagus or foodpipe which is located at the back of the throat and the windpipe for air which is located at the front. When we eat, a flap -- the epiglottis -- flops down to cover the windpipe so that food doesn't go down the windpipe.


So -- back to breathing -- the air has a long journey to get to your lungs. It flows down through the windpipe, past the voice box or vocal cords, to where the lowermost ribs meet the center of your chest. There, your windpipe divides into two tubes which lead to the two lungs which fill most of your ribcage. Inside each of your sponge-like lungs, tubes, called bronchi, branch into even smaller tubes much like the branches of a tree. At the end of these tubes are millions of tiny bubbles or sacs called aleoli. Spread out flat, all the air sacs in the lungs of an adult would cover an area about the third of a tennis court.


What do these sacs do?

They help perform an incredible magic act. Your air sacs bring new oxygen from air you've breathed to your bloodstream. They exchange it for waste products, like carbon dioxide, which the cells in your body have made and can't use.


How does this exchange work?

With the help of the red blood cells in your bloodstream. Your red blood cells are like box cars on train tracks. They show up at the sacs at just the right time, ready to trade in old carbon dioxide that your body's cells have made for some new oxygen you've just breathed in. In the process, these red blood cells turn from purple to that beautiful red color as they start carrying the oxygen to all the cells in your body.


But what happens to the carbon dioxide?

It goes through the lungs, back up your windpipe and out with every exhale. It's a remarkable feat, this chemical exchange and breathing in and out. You don't have to tell your lungs to keep working. Your brain does it automatically for you.


Factoids

Your lungs contain almost 1500 miles of airways and over 300 million alveoli.

Every minute you breathe in 13 pints of air.

Plants are our partners in breathing. We breathe in air, use the oxygen in it, and release carbon dioxide. Plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Thank goodness!

People tend to get more colds in the winter because we're indoors more often and in close proximity to other people. When people sneeze, cough and even breathe -- germs go flying!