I've been thinking about this for some time and the idea came to me on the middle of school.

Alright, heres my theory to a possible cause of myopia and hyperopia.

Everyone has latent inhibition, essentially the ability to block out things that are constant; air conditioners, your hard drive spinning (this is a very general summary, and it applies to all senses and how your mind works, I'd strongly recommend you read this and also read the low latent inhibition (scroll down) too before reading any further). Some people have a personality trait called 'low latent inhibition' which makes it more difficult to block things out, for people with lower than average intellegence, this can lead to mental illness and sickness, though for people with above average intellegence (people who can handle all the incoming data without having sensory overload) it will almost always lead to creativity and genius. Why I think this is a cause to myopia and hyperopia is because the person affected by this would have a hard time blocking out his perephials and focusing on one point and shifting, rather then trying to (or maybe subconciously trying to, since low latent inhibition is a personality trait) see the big picture all at once. Leading to strain, because even if your mind can handle all the signals at once, you would still be strained by it.

Feel free to elaborate or criticize, any kind of feedback is appreciated as long as it's polite. I did most of this on my phone because my parents think this is some kind of crazy conspiracy. I'm working on convincing my dad, my moms a lost cause though. Sorry about that, I'll be adding and improving to this later.

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9/18/2011 -4,00
12/12/2011 -4.25
1/21/2012 -4.50
2/2/2012 -4.50
4/10/2012 -??? (Its constantly changing)
4/20/2012 -4.00 (First hand knowledge that eyesight isn't genetic)

Skype- Altheren (add me!)

That's funny you bring this up. I've been thinking about this type of thing the last few weeks.

I haven't heard or read anything about latent inhibition before. But I did recently realize that I get sensory overload very easily, and it explains a lot. It seems like a neurological thing to me more than simply psychological, because I don't think it's ever gone away temporarily. Particularly loud sounds, or too many sounds like more than one person around me talking at once bothers me a lot. Bright lights or just lots of shiny things in the environment. Not necessarily because they're too bright, but just because they're there. I can't smell very well, which might be a copying mechanism too. I've always had to constantly retreat to silence and have trouble blocking out any sounds, but I wasn't aware that that was why I had trouble. I just knew that something was wrong, and other people didn't seem to have to retreat like that.

Anyway, obviously it hasn't prevented me from improving my vision, but I do still run into trouble when there are too many sounds or loud sounds, and I start shutting down despite trying to only pay attention to one.

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Webmaster of http://www.iblindness.org

"I conceive that the great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by false estimates they have made of the value of things." - Benjamin Franklin

Me too to everything David said, and I have a very acute sense of smell too. Waiting on line in the post office yesterday behind a woman who reeked of cigarette smoke, turning in every direction to avoid breathing in more than I had to (even toward the man in front of me who didn't smell that clean), I could feel the strain creeping in to my forehead and face (where I always feel it first). When I finally got outside I took big long deep gulps of air, then went for a walk at home putting my face in the pine trees and breathing to clean out my lungs. I've long realized I'm more sensitive than others and have a harder time "shaking off" things which hardly bother them. So, like David again, I need periods of solitude and quiet pretty often to cope with daily life and other people. But when I'm centered and calm and grounded, I can be so productive, and contribute so much to helping other people feel better or learn something new -- I get positive feedback in this vein all the time. But I have to manage my sensitivity or I'm no use to anyone else and am not happy. It may be ego, but I like to think of myself as a high-performance vehicle, very easily getting out of tune or alignment, needing the best quality fuel and handling, but if I'm treated like this I can give you more than most others can. Being sensitive is a gift, to me. Know yourself.

_________________
Nancy
2012: 20/45 on average, no glasses except for night driving
2001: 2/200, -10 hard contacts with -1.75 cylinder
Vision & dreams blog: http://dreamersight.wordpress.com/
Vision & dreams website: http://dreamersight.com/

Yes, I have experienced the same things as David and Nancy. A question worth investigating: Do these characteristics make myopia/hyperopia more likely or do myopia/hyperopia "create" these characteristics?

@Nancy: The last few lines of your post reminded me of a recent TIME cover story that was titled "The Power of Shyness" or something like that.

I think it's one of a few factors that contribute to it, though thats a vauge statement and I haven't given it much thought so I'll clear it up later XD. Unfortunately I can't edit the post after a certain amount of time so I'll just go ahead and add this here: for me, I have a hard time blocking out things like my computer fan or a tv, my cousin and I go to a little stretch of land his grandparents bought every few weeks (hunting, camping, fishing, getting away from my really angry neighbor) and we stay in a house they built with a few other family members, he and I usually end up in the downstairs futon because there's a tv in there. He can sleep with the tv on easily, while I can't even sleep with it on mute.

I also think that this (low latent inhibition) is related to tinnitus, that high pitched tone some people can hear, maybe because most people are always blocking it out and people with low latent inhibition can't as easily, which would also explain why some people hear it in different volumes, and why if you pay attention to it, it becomes louder.

Sorry that i'm deviating from eyesight to latent inhibition so much, it's pretty interesting to me and I think any information can help.

_________________
9/18/2011 -4,00
12/12/2011 -4.25
1/21/2012 -4.50
2/2/2012 -4.50
4/10/2012 -??? (Its constantly changing)
4/20/2012 -4.00 (First hand knowledge that eyesight isn't genetic)

Skype- Altheren (add me!)

For me calming the nervous system (with palming, meditation, etc.) is key to being able to focus, both visually and with my mind. If I'm all jangled and distracted, "all over the place", my vision is blurry at best. Many people I've worked with around vision have this hyper-alert distractible nervous system tendency too, and need to feel safe before they can really benefit from vision work. I'm sure this doesn't apply to everyone, but it's my case and I think it's more common than people realize.

_________________
Nancy
2012: 20/45 on average, no glasses except for night driving
2001: 2/200, -10 hard contacts with -1.75 cylinder
Vision & dreams blog: http://dreamersight.wordpress.com/
Vision & dreams website: http://dreamersight.com/

Interesting. For me, it helps to "silence" my thoughts or at least to lower its "volume". But I suppose thinking is a nervous process too?

Count me in on this one! I relate to everything said in this thread. I've always thought I was somehow 'less-equipped' to handle the normal sensory data of life - like David I have a need to retreat into silence often - and if it's accompanied by darkness then I'm in heaven. Sometimes the process of relearning how to see has been uncomfortable simply because I find myself thinking: 'ugh - i don't want to have to see/deal with all of that!'. I noticed recently that I can't accurately see and hear at the same time, it's just way too much information for me, so usually one of the senses is dulled to save me the stress.

It's good to know this is helping at least a few people!

This applies to more then just the senses, it applies to the way you think.
When you look at something like a brick wall do you think about the image of the wall or instantly start thinking about what it's composed of, what's holding it together, what's behind it or something along those lines? That's one sign of low latent inhibition. You have to be honest with yourself and think about to what degree do you do this, some people will go as far as trying to call up every bit of information they know about what their looking at. If I were to look at a disposable camera, I'd start thinking about the circuit in it more then any thing else because I've probably taken more then 200 apart for the high voltage parts in them.

_________________
9/18/2011 -4,00
12/12/2011 -4.25
1/21/2012 -4.50
2/2/2012 -4.50
4/10/2012 -??? (Its constantly changing)
4/20/2012 -4.00 (First hand knowledge that eyesight isn't genetic)

Skype- Altheren (add me!)

When I wrote the first post I was thinking the former, but the latter is definitely a possibility. I was going on the theroy 'all of the incoming data creates strain and strain creates the loss of good visual habits'.

_________________
9/18/2011 -4,00
12/12/2011 -4.25
1/21/2012 -4.50
2/2/2012 -4.50
4/10/2012 -??? (Its constantly changing)
4/20/2012 -4.00 (First hand knowledge that eyesight isn't genetic)

Skype- Altheren (add me!)

Over the weekend I was practicing energy medicine with a very distractable student who often looks to me for guidance on life issues, more than am comfortable with. She mentioned a woman getting annoyed at her for not listening, and how she felt guilty about not being able to handle the sensory overload (although she didn't call it that), because so many other things were going on at the same time she couldn't focus, and she wondered what she should have done. The idea came to me that the different flavors of sensory input, sounds or thoughts or sights or smells or body sensations, are like different-colored strands which a Master of Awareness (like Jesus or Buddha) can weave into a rich tapestry of experience. A Student of Life (and Vision!), like me and the woman I was with, has to FOCUS, to be selective, about which portion of input to pay attention to so as not to get overwhelmed, and as our mastery increases we can take in and process more and more. I see obvious parallels to vision. Blur is simply that I'm paying attention to too many "pixels" (whether looking at the computer or not) at once. As I get more skilled at vision (and awareness), my eyes' saccadic movements become faster and more precise, and I'll be able to take in more, faster, and see it clearly.

I told my friend she could have just said she couldn't process everything coming in at once and asked the woman to repeat what she'd said, with an apology if she felt that was necessary. I also talked about setting priorities (choosing where to focus) which is not easy for her. She's an under-focuser while I'm an over-focuser. Anyway, thanks Sypheren for starting this interesting topic.

_________________
Nancy
2012: 20/45 on average, no glasses except for night driving
2001: 2/200, -10 hard contacts with -1.75 cylinder
Vision & dreams blog: http://dreamersight.wordpress.com/
Vision & dreams website: http://dreamersight.com/