Tips and exercises for improving eyesight

In  April I received a priceless package.  In it were two pairs of eyeglasses which have improved my vision considerably.  I have been wearing one pair of glasses all of the time. The other is strictly for working in front of the computer. All was well until I took a fall and since then I have been preoccupied with my vision again, as well as other concussion symptoms.

I’ve been doing some research on eyesight and vision and I have been doing some eye exercises that I would like to share with readers.  First, I’d like to invite you to try these tests and puzzles to see how good your eyesight really is.

Can you see clearly? Try your eye at these puzzles and quizzes.

• Disco Lights Maze
• Kaleidomaze

Which habits can harm your vision? Learn about them by taking this quiz.

• Eyesight Quiz (10 questions)

Tips and Exercises for Improving Eyesight

Keep your home and office cool
Turn down the heat in your house and your office. Heat dries out the air, which, in turn, dries out your eyes. In the winter, you might also try adding some humidity with a humidifier or even bunching a lot of plants together in the room in which you spend the most time.

Monitor Your Monitor
Move your computer screen to just below eye level. Your eyes will close slightly when you’re staring at the computer, minimizing fluid evaporation and the risk of dry eye syndrome, says John Sheppard, M.D., who directs the ophthalmology residency program at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia.

Changing Focus, Room Lighting
When indoors you should remain aware of the need for frequent change of focus. While reading, look up from the page at regular intervals say at the end of each long paragraph or each page and, just for a second, consciously focus on some distant object. While viewing television or a computer monitor, keep a light on in the room and frequently look away from the screen, take a moment to focus hard, whether on an object nearer or farther away, then relax your eyes and return to your viewing.

Trace writing with your eyes
Always keep your eyes moving. Trace the edges of objects- run over lines with your eyes- vertical lines, horizontal lines, while blinking. This will bring out the image. Scan round the edges of your computer screen, this document- your ceiling. Do this all the time. Go out into nature and do this. This is like the magnetic lasso tool on adobe photoshop or a similar program- where you follow around the edges of objects. This will bring out the contrast and the brightness and help you to see well. This works especially well with writing. Do it with writing all the time!

Swinging
This is a very effective way to break the habit of staring. Rotate your body from left to right and back. Eyes, torso and head move together. Turning mostly around your waist. Don’t look at anything as you swing. Let your eyes go, let your consciousness stay in front of you while you turn.

Blinking and Breathing
Practice giving half a dozen rapid and very light blinks, shut the eyes lightly for the space of two whole breaths, and repeat four times. This little routine, practiced regularly, twice or more a day, will, especially if followed by a brief spell of palming (warm your palms and gently cup them over your closed eyes), will help to establish the correct tone in the muscles of the eyelids and develop better habits of blinking. No more than a few seconds should pass between one blink and the next. As a very rough guide, between two and four blinks in each period of ten seconds is about right.

Sunning
Remember you have to get outside once everyday in the nature to exercise and improve your eyesight. It’s important to keep your eyes moving all the time. Go for a walk and observe closely what’s going on around you. Then find a quiet place to sit.

Sunning consists simply of taking sunshine on the closed lids. Face the sun, eyes closed. Allow the warmth of the sun to penetrate deeply into your eyes and forehead. In a relaxed manner gently turn your head from side to side. Keep breathing. Feel the position of the sun. In this way the retina is accustomed to progressively brighter light, until the stage is reached where the eye can function efficiently over the entire range of normally encountered light intensities. The warmth of the sun and the therapeutic properties of its rays also have a profound and beneficial effect on the health of the eyes and on the ability to relax them.

Wear Sunglasses
Wear sunglasses whenever you leave the house. When researchers examined the relationship between exposure to sunlight and cataracts or ARMD in Chesapeake Bay fishermen, they found that fishermen who protected their eyes from the harsh glare of the sun and its damaging UV rays were significantly less likely to develop these conditions than those who went bare-eyed. Wear the sunglasses even when it’s not sunny out, because they protect your eyes from the drying effects of wind. Wear a broad-brimmed hat along with your sunglasses. A wide-brimmed hat or cap will block roughly 50 per cent of the UV radiation and reduce the UV radiation that may enter your eyes from above or around glasses.

Car Precautions
Aim your car vents at your feet—not your eyes. Dry, air-conditioned air will suck the moisture out of eyes like a sponge. Aim the vents in your car away from your eyes, or wear sunglasses as a shield. Dry eyes can be more than an inconvenience; serious dryness can lead to corneal abrasions and even blindness if left untreated.

Seeing in the dark
Your eyes actually use different cells to see in the dark than when its light. So you must learn to see two times, once in the day and once at night. If you want to improve your night vision, here’s a technique. At first you will only see lots of blurry lights. Here’s what you do. When the lights are on in a car, learn to see the dashboard properly and then you will be training your eyes to be able to see in the dark. For example trace around the numbers on the speedometer while blinking.

References:
Improve Your Eyesight: A Guide to the Bates Method for Better Eyesight without Glasses by Jonathan Barnes, Souvenir Press.
10 Tips to Improve Your Sight
Blog Catalog discussion thread

Discussion question: Do you have any eyesight improvement tips to share?