Effects of yogic eye exercises on eye fatigue in undergraduate nursing students.

[Purpose] This study was performed to investigate the effects of yogic eye exercises on eye fatigue in undergraduate nursing students. [Subjects and Methods] The study used a pretest-posttest design with a non-equivalent control group. Forty undergraduate nursing students were selected by convenience sampling, with 20 assigned to an exercise group and 20 assigned to a control group. The yogic eye exercise intervention was performed for 60 minutes, two days a week for 8 weeks. It consisted of 8 steps: palming, blinking, sideways viewing, front and sideways viewing, rotational viewing, up and down viewing, preliminary nose tip gazing, and near and distant viewing. Eye fatigue was measured using a questionnaire for evaluating ocular fatigue. [Results] The exercise-group measurements revealed a significantly decreased eye-fatigue score compared with that of the control group. [Conclusion] These findings indicate that yogic eye exercises could reduce the eye fatigue score in undergraduate nursing students.

KEYWORDS: Eye fatigue; Eye yoga

PMID: 27390422 DOI: 10.1589/jpts.28.1813