Legendary musician Paul McCartney has had an incredible career, and he's still writing and performing at the age of 78. That doesn't come naturally: There's a lot that goes into maintaining a healthy lifestyle that promotes longevity. Recently, McCartney discussed a strange exercise that he's been doing for years. Both Paul and his daughter, Mary McCartney, say this one technique has helped keep a key body part healthy over the years. There's even a video of Paul demonstrating the exercise on YouTube. Read on to find out what routine this music icon swears by.
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Paul McCartney advocates doing eye yoga to maintain eye health.
ShutterstockPaul McCartney is known for many things, and a quick Google search would rack up millions of results. According to daughter Mary, however, there are two things about Paul you need to get into above all else: his mashed potato recipe and his eye yoga routine.
While on the May 12 episode of the podcast Table Manners, Mary said that sometimes at the end of the night, after she's had a couple of drinks, she Googles her dad's eye yoga video from 2010. "When he was in India, he learned eye yoga, and he's actually filmed it and put it on YouTube for people," Mary said. She also noted that her dad still doesn't wear glasses.
Paul said that a yogi he met "explained that your eyes are muscles whereas your ears aren’t, so you can’t exercise your ears. But your eyes, you can."
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Eye yoga entails exercising your eyes by looking in different directions.
ShutterstockPaul said that to practice eye yoga, keep your "head still, and then you look up as far as you can, one, two, three, go back to the middle, then down, one, two, three, then back to the middle." You do this three times and then repeat it to the right and left. "Now you’ve got a cross, up and down, and sideways, now you do the diagonals," he continued.
Although they're both big advocates for eye yoga, the McCartneys are realistic about its effects. "I don’t know if it means that’s why I don’t need glasses when I’m reading a newspaper," Paul said. "It makes sense, you know? It’s a good idea." He also revealed that he once advised a friend whose daughter's eyesight was deteriorating to try eye yoga, and she didn't end up needing glasses for a few more years. Mary said that even if it doesn't work, it still feels good.
There are probably real benefits to eye yoga, according to an ophthalmologist.
ShutterstockTo check out Paul's claims, Today spoke with John Hovanesian, MD, clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. "We all age differently, and what works for one of us might not work as well for others. With eye yoga, the idea is to try to make the eye do things that are a little bit outside of the range of activities they normally do, like with normal yoga," he explained. "It certainly does not harm the eyes, and it probably has some benefits, but it's hard to study." Hovanesian added that doing eye exercises of any kind can potentially help delay the need for glasses that often comes with old age.
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Taking care of your eyes becomes more important as you age.
ShutterstockTaking care of your eye health is important, especially as you age. Hovanesian said that many people suffer from eye strain while working on screens all day. Exercising your eyes can help relieve some of that, which is why he suggests taking regular breaks when working with screens. "Take a few minutes off every 30 minutes," Hovanesian said.
And it's essential to get your eyes checked regularly, he stressed. As you age, you become more susceptible to eye conditions such as glaucoma or cataracts, but regular checkups can help you catch these problems early.
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