I HAVE never been more aware of my eye muscles since I started practicing 'eye yoga' a little over a week ago.

Paul McCartney, 78, recently revealed he began doing eye yoga after a trip he took to India in the late 2000s, and has since not needed glasses despite his age.

While I do not think I am prone to believing fads circulating on social media – I never bought into Gwyneth Paltrow's dubious Goop remedies – I thought, if it is good enough for Paul McCartney, then it is good enough for me

ALSO READ: 'Inadequate' GP surgery put its patients at risk

Influenced by the Beatles singer, I scheduled a few minutes into my daily morning routine to do the five exercises shown in a video on Lenstore.co.uk, which promises to prevent eye strain.

Like most of the UK population, I have been working from home since the start of the pandemic, and while I cannot report any complaints with my vision, my eyes get very tired after a day staring at the computer screen and I find myself spending more and more on under eye cream and concealer.

The exercises, which holistic therapist, yoga, and meditation teacher Phoebe Greenacre lists as essential, are quite straightforward.

They involve 'palming' – placing your warm palms on your eyelids for about ten seconds – blinking very fast for 10-15 seconds, 'zooming' – focusing on an object in the distance and then moving to a closer one like your thumb, and going back and forth – following your finger with your eyes as it draws the figure eight in the air, and eye-rolling.

I repeated this every morning for about a week.

ALSO READ: Dozens of patients have second Covid vaccines delayed at Oxford medical centres

While Ms Greenacre says that these exercises help reduce eye strain and eye fatigue, there is no scientific evidence yet that support any such claims.

My favourite exercise was palming as I breath in and out for a couple of minutes, but I did not enjoy eye-rolling too much – I had this completely irrational fear that my eyeball will get stuck in a certain position, which made me freak out a bit.

But just like with many other things that blow up on social media – astrology, crystals, a homemade turmeric mask that promises to eradicate acne – there was a very temporary fascination with eye yoga, which faded away.

I also cannot say that I was not sceptical – 'I bet white influencers on social media will try to appropriate this practice soon', is what I thought.

While I enjoyed taking five minutes of my day to focus entirely on myself, I stopped doing eye yoga as soon as the planned week ended.

ALSO READ: Man hospitalised with 'serious' injuries after assault by six men on Cowley Road

I am trying to substitute it with journalling, stretches and cold showers.

Glaring at the pictures that I took of myself, I keep thinking that maybe I see a difference – less dark under eyes, healthier look.

If I am not imagining this and you can see it too and you fancy giving eye yoga a try, then visit www.lenstore.co.uk/research/eye-yoga/