Insights · Eye Care
Long screen days tire the eyes. Simple acupoint massage and palming, paired with rest habits and cooling kitchen tea, can support comfort between visits.
In brief
Chinese eye exercises for digital eye strain: wash your hands, palm the eyes for about 30 seconds, then massage Feng Chi (GB20), Jing Ming (BL1), Tai Yang (EX-HN5), Si Bai (ST2), and the orbital rims about nine times each. Rest every 20 minutes by looking into the distance. Leafy greens, orange produce, omega-3 fish, and a cool chrysanthemum-wolfberry steep may support comfort. Book if strain persists or vision changes.
01 · Screen strain
Sight carries almost every daily task. Long stretches on phones, tablets, computers, and consoles leave many people with digital eye strain: physical discomfort after two or more hours at a screen. Common tells include tired or dry lids, fewer blinks, temple ache, and brief blur when you look up. Dry-eye discomfort is also rising in adults and children.
02 · Eye exercises
A few minutes a day of palming and gentle acupoint massage can support comfort between visits. Wash your hands before you massage around the eyes. Soft pressure only; never press into the eyeball. Stop if the press turns sharp or vision changes.
| Move | Where | How |
|---|---|---|
| Eye palmingWarm palms over closed eyes. | Both eyes, seated or standing. | About 30 seconds. |
| Feng Chi (GB20)Base of skull, nape hollows. | Lateral to trapezius tendons. | About nine times each side. |
| Jing Ming (BL1)Inner eye socket. | Where nose bridge meets brow. | Pinch and slide up-down ×9. |
| Tai Yang (EX-HN5)Temple depression. | One finger lateral to outer canthus. | About nine times each side. |
| Si Bai (ST2)Below the pupil. | Infraorbital foramen hollow. | About nine times each side. |
| Eye socket massageUpper and lower orbital rims. | Both eyes closed together. | Slow circles ×9 each rim. |
Exercise 1
About 30 seconds
Warm the palms, then rest them over closed eyes so the mind and the eyes can quiet.
Exercise 2 · GB20
About nine times each side
Feng Chi sits in the soft depressions at the base of the skull. It supports eye comfort and often eases neck tension that travels with screen strain.
Exercise 3 · BL1
About nine times
Jing Ming sits in the indentation of the inner eye socket, where the nose bridge meets the eyebrow ridge.
Caution
Skip over cuts, rashes, or active styes. Stop if pain sharpens or vision changes.
Exercise 4 · EX-HN5
About nine times each side
Tai Yang sits in the tender temple depression, about one finger lateral to the outer canthus and the outer end of the eyebrow.
Exercise 5 · ST2
About nine times each side
Si Bai sits in the depression at the infraorbital foramen, directly below the pupil on the cheekbone hollow.
Exercise 6
About nine times · both eyes
Work both eyes together with the lids closed. Gentle orbital work may also support the look of dark under-eye circles when local tension sits there.
Caution
Stop if the press turns sharp. Socket massage supports comfort; it does not replace care for fatigue, anaemia, or other causes of dark circles.
03 · Good practices
Exercises help most when screen posture and lighting support them.
Long screen or focus time often means fewer blinks and more fatigue. Take a break about every 20 minutes and look at distant objects.
A deliberate blink refreshes the tear film when the surface feels scratchy or sticky.
Aim for about 50 cm from monitors and about 30 cm for reading. Keep an upright posture so the neck and eyes share the load.
Read and write in light that is bright enough without forcing a squint.
Avoid harsh glare on the screen. Match display brightness to the room so the eyes are not fighting the backlight.
TCM for dry eyes covers tear patterns, acupuncture, and matched kitchen steeps when screen dryness is the main picture.
04 · What may help
Kitchen habits support Liver-linked eye comfort. They do not replace optometry or a physician visit.
Spinach, kale, and broccoli are everyday supports for eye comfort.
Carrot, sweet potato, apricot, and mango round out a colour-rich plate.
Salmon and tuna are common kitchen choices when screen strain sits with dryness.
Tea · Liver and eyes
Steep about four to five chrysanthemum flowers with about 10 g wolfberry in boiling water for five minutes. Optional honey or rock sugar. Two to three cups a week is a classic rhythm for Liver-linked eye strain.
Chrysanthemum is cool-natured. People who feel cold easily should not drink it too often.
Make the chrysanthemum teaSeek urgent Western eye care for sudden vision change, severe pain, injury, or infection that is spreading. If strain persists despite breaks and home care, keeps returning, or sits with wider fatigue, a physician can name the pattern and decide whether acupuncture, herbs, or food shifts belong in your plan.
Clinically reviewed
Advisor (Science & Strategy) / Consultant Physician · TCMPB T1303003A
MOH-licensed TCM physician and biomedical scientist, with clinical work in digestion, pain, sleep or fatigue, and constitution patterns that show as Heat or dryness on the face and eyes.
View full profileEducational information based on clinical experience and TCM principles. Not a substitute for personalised consultation, optometry, ophthalmology, or urgent care. Speak with your physician before starting herbs or new self-care in pregnancy or with a chronic condition. Seek urgent care for sudden vision change, severe eye pain, injury, or infection that is spreading. TCM complements Western eye care; it does not replace it.
FAQs
Common questions on Chinese eye exercises, point locations, screen breaks, tea, and when to book.
A short home sequence used to ease tired eyes: warm palming for about 30 seconds, then gentle massage at Feng Chi (GB20), Jing Ming (BL1), Tai Yang (EX-HN5), Si Bai (ST2), and along the eye sockets, usually about nine times each. Wash your hands first. These moves support comfort; they do not replace optometry or prescription care.
Rub the palms until warm, close the eyes, and rest the warm palms over the eyes for about 30 seconds. The aim is quiet relaxation of the mind and the eyes, not pressure on the eyeballs.
Feng Chi sits in the soft depressions at the base of the skull, at the top of the back of the neck, lateral to the thick trapezius tendons. Massage each side about nine times. The same point is often used when neck tension sits with eye fatigue.
Jing Ming (BL1) is the hollow at the inner eye socket where the nose bridge meets the brow. Tai Yang (EX-HN5) is the temple depression about one finger lateral to the outer canthus. Si Bai (ST2) is the infraorbital hollow below the pupil. Soft circular or sliding press about nine times each; never press into the eyeball.
After long focus on a screen, take a break about every 20 minutes and look at distant objects. Blink more when the eyes feel dry. Keep monitors about 50 cm away and reading material about 30 cm away, with enough light and without harsh glare.
Gentle circular massage along the upper and lower orbital rims, about nine times with the eyes closed, is traditionally used to ease local tension and may support the look of dark under-eye circles. Stop if the press turns sharp. It does not replace care for fatigue, anaemia, or other causes.
A short steep with a few chrysanthemum flowers and about 10 g wolfberry, two to three times a week, is a classic kitchen habit for Liver-linked eye strain. Chrysanthemum is cool-natured; people who feel cold easily should not drink it too often. The white chrysanthemum and wolfberry tea recipe has the full steep method.
Book when strain persists despite breaks and home care, keeps returning, or sits with wider fatigue or sleep change. Seek urgent Western eye care for sudden vision change, severe pain, injury, or infection that is spreading. TCM complements optometry and ophthalmology.
Selected sources
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TCM ophthalmology for dry eyes, floaters, and lid-area Heat patterns.
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Insight
Patterns, acupuncture, teas, and periocular press for tear comfort.
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Periorbital darkening pathways, acupuncture, and Eye Gua Sha.
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Insight
Wind-Heat on the lid: do not squeeze, warm compress, when to book.
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Bite
Gentler steep when the Liver and the eyes feel strained.
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Treatment
Needle care that can include periocular points for eye patterns.
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Next step
Bring how long the strain has lasted, daily screen hours, and any optometry notes. We will name the pattern and decide whether acupuncture, herbs, or food shifts belong in your plan. The Eye Care programme is for ongoing dry-eye comfort and screen strain.