Eyes are regarded as the most delicate organs of the human body. Without these there would be no difference between day and night; there would be darkness everywhere. It would be difficult even to move around and do the routine things without eyesight. Reading and writing become difficult if the eyesight is weakened. Thus, clear eyesight is essential for a happy and progressive life in general. Negligence of necessary hygiene of the eyes, over-straining, infection, injuries and lack of care after minor problems are the common causes of diseases of eyes, many of which result in eventual loss of eyesight.
Like several other health hazards, stress and tensions are found to perturb the normal functioning of the optical activities of the nervous system thus hampering the healthy vision. Anger, mental irritation, tension, frequent over-working on computers at continuous stretches of time, watching television programmes for long hours, reading despite fatigue in eyes or without proper light, etc are among the common causes of straining the optical nerves because of which myopia (narrow sightedness), or long sightedness and other kinds of weakening of eyesight occur.
The following shlokas (no. 1|25-27) from the "Uttar Tantra" section of Vedic Treatise "Sushrut Samhita" of
Ayurveda also cite these and some other common, but often ignored, causes of problems of the eyes:
Uinabhitaptasya Jala Pravesad Dureksanatswapnaviparyyacca |
Prasakta Sanrodan Soka Kopa Klesabhighatadatimaithunacca ||
Suktaranalmakulatthamasanisevanadvegavinigrahacca |
Swedadrajodharmanisevanacca Chardervighatadwamanatiyogat ||
Vaspagrahat Suksmaniriksanancca Netre| Vikaranjanayanti Do̳sah ||
Meaning: Immediate use of cold water or bathing with it after returning from hot sun or warm environment, excessive sleep in daytime, lack of sleep in night, constant attempt of seeing a distant object or similar straining of eyes to see something blurred or invisibly tiny, frequent crying, worrying, having tension, anger, and uncontrolled sex harm the health of the eyes. Apart from these, constant use of horse beans, acidic and acerbic substances like vinegar, etc, restraining the natural pressure of urination, stools or vomiting, forced control over tears, excessive perspiration, excessive vomiting, smoking, etc increase the doshas of vata and give rise to severe problems of eyesight and eye-sickness.
