Blink exercises for dry, tired eyes (the squeeze blink)
Short answer
Close your eyes, squeeze them gently shut, then open: 15 times in a row, three times a day. In a 2025 study from Aston University, this close, squeeze, open cycle was the routine that worked best among the ones tested, and the squeeze mattered. Symptoms eased while people kept doing it and went back to where they started within two weeks of stopping.
Why exercise a blink
During screen work you blink less, and more of your blinks stop short of closing. Incomplete blinks leave the tear film less stable. Practising full, firm blinks is a way to make them a habit.
What the studies found
Wolffsohn and colleagues at Aston University randomly assigned 98 people with dry eye to different blinking exercises for two weeks. Close, squeeze, open, 15 times, three times a day came out best, and routines with a squeeze did better than blinking alone. A second study with 28 people measured how well it worked. Symptoms improved while people did the exercises and went back to their earlier levels within two weeks of stopping.
An earlier study by Kim and colleagues had people do a 10-second blink exercise every 20 minutes for four weeks. Incomplete blinks fell from 54% to 34% and symptom scores fell too, though without a control group it can’t rule out other causes.
How to do the squeeze blink
- Sit back and relax your face.
- Close your eyes as you would in a normal blink.
- Squeeze them gently shut for a moment. Firm, not hard.
- Open your eyes and relax.
- Repeat 15 times. Do a set three times a day, for example mid-morning, after lunch and mid-afternoon.
BlinkPause offers a guided squeeze set three times a day, in place of a break. A low tone tells you to close and a high one to open, and a voice on your computer counts you through it, so you can keep your eyes shut. It’s about a minute.
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Sources
- Aston University (2025), on Wolffsohn et al., Optimisation of blinking exercises for dry eye disease
- Kim et al. (2021), a 10-second blink exercise every 20 minutes, without a control group
- Loss of blink regularity and its impact on ocular surface exposure (Diagnostics, 2023)
- Wolffsohn et al. (2023), TFOS lifestyle: impact of the digital environment on the ocular surface
This page explains research for general interest. It isn’t medical advice, and BlinkPause is a reminder, not a medical device.