Effect of chakshu dhauti (yogic eye wash) in eye health among college students during covid-19 lockdown

Background: Being a developing country with maximum people under the middle-class category together with increasing urbanization, India is
on the edge of getting epidemic eye problems chiefly dry eye syndrome (DES) and asthenopia. DES occurs either due to excessive tear evaporation
or tear deficiency. Asthenopia is a general term used to cover a group of symptoms like headache, sore and itchy eyes, blurred vision, tears from
the eyes, etc. This study is aimed at proving the effect of Chakshu dhauti (yogic eye wash -YEW) in eye health among college students during the
Covid-19 lockdown.

Methods: Twenty-eight college girls age ranging from 17 to 23 years (mean age±SD, 19.96±1.70 years) were recruited to practice YEW for 2 weeks.
The study was conducted by the month of April 2020 when there was nationwide lockdown due to Covid-19. The girls were in the college hostel
only and thus the study was conducted in the lockdown period itself. A pre-post assessment of the twenty-eight subjects was done on the first and
last day of the YEW practice which lasted for two weeks. To assess DES, a slightly modified 5-Item Dry Eye Questionnaire (DEQ-5) was used and
for asthenopia, asthenopic symptom questionnaire (ASQ) was applied.

Results: The results showed significant improvement in the symptoms of DES and asthenopia (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The major finding of the present study was that a 2-week YEW practice improved the symptoms of dry eye syndrome and asthenopia
in college girls.