INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Relax and refresh the eyes by making a conscious effort to blink every 3 to 4 seconds, over a 2 minute period. Use a watch to time yourself, if necessary. This will relieve some of the pressure on your eyes, leaving them ready to process new information. People have a tendency to avoid blinking when working on a computer, watching television or playing video games. This puts a lot of strain on the eyes. Place your right hand over your right eye, resting your fingers against your forehead and the heel of your hand against your cheekbone. Don't apply any pressure. Keep the hand in place for 30 seconds to a minute, blinking freely throughout. Uncover your right eye, then use your left hand to cover your left eye and repeat. Covering your eye with the palm of your hand helps to relax both the eye and the mind, relieving stress and allowing you to blink freely. Imagine a big number 8 on the wall in front of you, turned onto its side. Use your eyes to trace this number 8, without moving your head. Keep doing this for 1-2 minutes. If you're having difficulty imagining a sideways 8, draw one on a large piece of paper and stick it on the wall. You can trace this with your eyes instead. This exercise helps to strengthen your eye muscles and increase their flexibility, making them less prone to injury and high pressure. Find a relaxing place to sit, without any distractions. Hold your thumb approximately 10 inches (25.4 cm) in front of your face and focus your eyes on it. Focus on your thumb for five to 10 seconds, then switch your focus to another object, between 10 to 20 feet (3.0 to 6.1 m) away from you. Alternate between focusing on your thumb and focusing on the far away object for 1-2 minutes. This exercise helps to strengthen the eye muscles and improve your overall vision. Stretch one hand directly out in front of you, then stick up your thumb. Focus both eyes on the thumb, then slowly move your thumb towards you until it is about 3 in (7.6 cm) away from your face. Move your thumb away from you again, keeping both eyes on it at all times. Continue to focus on your moving thumb for 1-2 minutes.  This exercise improves your focusing skills and also helps to strengthens your eye muscles. Biofeedback teaches you to control normal bodily processes, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature. A biofeedback therapist can teach you proper technique so you can begin to practice on your own.

SUMMARY: Practice blinking every 3 to 4 seconds. Cover your eye with the palm of your hand. Trace an imaginary figure 8 with your eyes. Practice focusing your eyes on both near and faraway objects. Focus on your thumb and move it towards and away from your eyes. Look into biofeedback to alleviate eye pressure.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: The classic example is a old tire or empty gardening pot. Items such as these can easily collect and hold small amounts of standing water.  Discard tires properly or drill holes in them to allow water to drain. Stack and cover containers such as pots whenever they’re not in use. Steps such as this are especially important to take late in the winter, preceding mosquito breeding season. Piles of raked leaves, grass, or other brush can collect small pools of standing water that you may not be able to see. They can also serve as hangouts for adult mosquitoes during the day. Dispose of these piles before they are able to do so. If you compost, be sure to turn your pile weekly at the very least. Irregularly used kiddie pools are especially likely candidates for standing water. That said, many different toys can collect small amounts of standing water that may be less apparent.  Encourage and help your children put away their toys inside or in a covered area. Make sure to get the little things too: that shovel in the sandbox or that frisbee in the corner of the yard are both ideal for small deposits of standing water. Gutters can fill and clog quite quickly, and can readily collect standing water. While a gutter cover can help, you’ll still need to check gutters regularly. Similarly, your downspouts and the drains or erosion-controlling troughs they pour into can get clogged as well. Check and clean your drains after any large leaf drops in the fall, and again at the end of winter. Standing water can collect in the areas of your yard that you keep watered, such as your garden. If ever you notice that a certain spot remains wet, it is likely collecting water above and below the surface.  Add sand to the ground near the area to allow water to drain away from the spot. Alternatively, dig a shallow drainage trough from a frequently wet area of the garden to another lower part of the garden that dries out more quickly. If water collects in shallow parts of your yard, work to raise that area of the yard. The easiest way to do so is adding soil to the area to bring it up to grade with the surrounding ground level. Alternatively, you can dig a shallow ditch from the shallow part of your yard to an area the water will be able to drain. Tree stumps that haven’t been fully removed can collect standing water that may not be readily apparent.  Instead of allowing a stump to slowly decompose, continue chopping it until you can till it into the surrounding soil or remove it entirely.

SUMMARY:
Discard debris. Take care of collected yard waste. Have young people store their toys properly. Clean your gutters and drains. Drain your garden properly. Regrade your lawn if water pools in certain areas. Remove stumps.