04-08-2007, 02:50 PM
Hello,
First of all, I have to say that I'm glad I found this forum. This seems like a very friendly community to participate in while improving my eyesight.
Just a few things about myself (if you don't want to read all this crap, you can skip down for my question, which appears after the second dashed line :-) )
----------------------
I am in second year University Biochemistry in Canada. My eyesight is currently around ~20/60.
In grade 11, my biology teacher always put up small class notes in very small print on the overheads (too cheap to buy more transparencies and use larger font), and the entire class had to copy them down. I sat at the back of the class and it was very hard for me to see them. The teacher also went very very fast through the material and I had to write down as much as possible. As I had to read small print as fast as possible and copy it down, there was a HUGE amount of strain on my eyes and by the end of the school year, my optometrist gave me -0.5 glasses. This wasn't the only contribution to poor eyesight. Additionally, I became fond of a first-person-shooter action game, and as my computer was slow and laggy, my eyes strained as they attempted to stabilize the jumping image that was created as a result of slow computer. (For parents: Buy your kids good computers if they play many video games!!!) Not aware of the drawback of wearing glasses, I started wearing them during lectures and while in the car even though my eyesight was good enough without them. After a year, my prescription went up to -1.0 in both eyes. I was very upset and asked why my eyesight was degrading, and got the generic "its because of your genes" response, and when I asked if there is anything I could do to hinder the progression of myopia, I got the usual "nope, laser surgery is the only way" response. I realized that my -1.0 prescription was so powerful that I could read a newspaper posted over 20ft away!!! and as a consequence, considerable strain resulted and my eyesight worsened. I have never consistently wore glasses, except during lectures or when driving. Right now my eyesight is constant at 20/50 - 20/70 (day - night), but sometimes it is 20/30 in the morning on a sunny day.
I was very upset so I went out to do some research.
1. I found a program for $35 by an institution that was doing research on natural improvement methods
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.program-for-better-vision.com/">http://www.program-for-better-vision.com/</a><!-- m -->
That program consisted of 20-minutes of eye exercises each day. These exercises were very cheesy, boring and painful (psychologically painful, because they were boring!). Nonetheless, I finished the 8-week course and had absolutely no improvement. I got my money back and went on.
2. I looked at rebuildyourvision.com program, but it was more expensive and it appeared to me that the author was making too many definite claims, which probably means that he is lying. I found there are many websites and forum postings that promote that program, and none of those sites of forum users have any sort of contact information. Plus their "testimonials" are made of very common names, so there is no way of tracing those people and asking them whether the testimonial is true. I also e-mailed the optometrist that supposedly "promoted" the program -sent a very nice e-mail asking whether this program is true, but he never responded. Thus, I never bothered to purchase this program.
3. I decided to look at the source of all these "eye exercises", so I looked at Dr. William Bates' studies. I read his book "better eyesight without glasses". I found some techniques weren't very clear, but I loved his research and it really had an influence on me and allowed me to see the "conspiracy", if you will, in the field of modern optometry, and how badly all those eye-improvement programs misinterpreted Dr. Bates' results. At first I tried the palming technique for a number of reasons. I palmed for 20 minutes each day for one month, with absolutely no improvement in eyesight (wasted a lot of time ) . I also tried sunning, and no improvement. I tried shifting/swinging etc...for many months but no avail.
Next, I purchased and read a book titled "Relearning to See" authored by T. Quackenbush. I found this book is amazing as it conveyed techniques that are ready for reader's use. Also, it made me realize that improving vision isn't about exercises, but about habits. I started using his methods "sketch, breathe, blink" for many months, but no improvement came. However, my eyesight stopped getting worse, yet I was still getting very discouraged and felt like I had nobody to ask for assistance (there are no bates teachers in my area).
However, about a month ago, I met an old friend from high school. She said her father was using the Bates method to successfully improve his eyesight from -3.5 lenses to -1.0 in 1.5 years. I was so glad I found someone else to use the method, i asked what her father was doing. She said that in the beginning, like me, he was constantly doing eye exercises, and then he simply constantly relaxed his eyes, which eventually led to improvement.
-------------------------------------
All of the sudden, due to my previous palming/sunning/swinging, I noticed the eye strain that I never noticed before. And in addition to my awareness, I was able to relax my eyes at will. So about a month ago, I began to constantly relaxing my eyes - more than 20 times each day (simply at will, no exercises, takes less than a second). I realized that about 5 minutes after I relaxed them, the strain came back.
As I worked to relax them all the time, this interval was increased to 30 minutes before the strain came back. I also noticed that when playing my old computer games, the strain came very quickly, and returned 1 minute after I relax it. After 2 weeks, I noticed that I can put my computer screen farther and still see it with a relaxed gaze - but still at 20/50 based on the snellen eye chart (no significant improvement)
I kept relaxing them for over a month, and now I am at the point where my eyes are constantly relaxed, and I feel that I can't relax them anymore. I trained them to be relaxed when looking at the computer screen, reading projectors during lectures, and when looking into the distance.
However, with this relaxation, I feel a bit of pain pain. What I feel isn't exactly pain, but pressure at the back of my eye that is getting annoying when my eyes are relaxed. When I palm, the pain goes away, but returns later.
I am wondering if this is ok? Does anyone else experience this pressure when they relax their eyes?
Has anyone tried simply relaxing their eyes all the time? Is there anything I can do to spark improvement in my eyesight?
What exercises can I do?..there are so many!!
Please let me know your thoughts,
Thanks a lot guys!
Paul
First of all, I have to say that I'm glad I found this forum. This seems like a very friendly community to participate in while improving my eyesight.
Just a few things about myself (if you don't want to read all this crap, you can skip down for my question, which appears after the second dashed line :-) )
----------------------
I am in second year University Biochemistry in Canada. My eyesight is currently around ~20/60.
In grade 11, my biology teacher always put up small class notes in very small print on the overheads (too cheap to buy more transparencies and use larger font), and the entire class had to copy them down. I sat at the back of the class and it was very hard for me to see them. The teacher also went very very fast through the material and I had to write down as much as possible. As I had to read small print as fast as possible and copy it down, there was a HUGE amount of strain on my eyes and by the end of the school year, my optometrist gave me -0.5 glasses. This wasn't the only contribution to poor eyesight. Additionally, I became fond of a first-person-shooter action game, and as my computer was slow and laggy, my eyes strained as they attempted to stabilize the jumping image that was created as a result of slow computer. (For parents: Buy your kids good computers if they play many video games!!!) Not aware of the drawback of wearing glasses, I started wearing them during lectures and while in the car even though my eyesight was good enough without them. After a year, my prescription went up to -1.0 in both eyes. I was very upset and asked why my eyesight was degrading, and got the generic "its because of your genes" response, and when I asked if there is anything I could do to hinder the progression of myopia, I got the usual "nope, laser surgery is the only way" response. I realized that my -1.0 prescription was so powerful that I could read a newspaper posted over 20ft away!!! and as a consequence, considerable strain resulted and my eyesight worsened. I have never consistently wore glasses, except during lectures or when driving. Right now my eyesight is constant at 20/50 - 20/70 (day - night), but sometimes it is 20/30 in the morning on a sunny day.
I was very upset so I went out to do some research.
1. I found a program for $35 by an institution that was doing research on natural improvement methods
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.program-for-better-vision.com/">http://www.program-for-better-vision.com/</a><!-- m -->
That program consisted of 20-minutes of eye exercises each day. These exercises were very cheesy, boring and painful (psychologically painful, because they were boring!). Nonetheless, I finished the 8-week course and had absolutely no improvement. I got my money back and went on.
2. I looked at rebuildyourvision.com program, but it was more expensive and it appeared to me that the author was making too many definite claims, which probably means that he is lying. I found there are many websites and forum postings that promote that program, and none of those sites of forum users have any sort of contact information. Plus their "testimonials" are made of very common names, so there is no way of tracing those people and asking them whether the testimonial is true. I also e-mailed the optometrist that supposedly "promoted" the program -sent a very nice e-mail asking whether this program is true, but he never responded. Thus, I never bothered to purchase this program.
3. I decided to look at the source of all these "eye exercises", so I looked at Dr. William Bates' studies. I read his book "better eyesight without glasses". I found some techniques weren't very clear, but I loved his research and it really had an influence on me and allowed me to see the "conspiracy", if you will, in the field of modern optometry, and how badly all those eye-improvement programs misinterpreted Dr. Bates' results. At first I tried the palming technique for a number of reasons. I palmed for 20 minutes each day for one month, with absolutely no improvement in eyesight (wasted a lot of time ) . I also tried sunning, and no improvement. I tried shifting/swinging etc...for many months but no avail.
Next, I purchased and read a book titled "Relearning to See" authored by T. Quackenbush. I found this book is amazing as it conveyed techniques that are ready for reader's use. Also, it made me realize that improving vision isn't about exercises, but about habits. I started using his methods "sketch, breathe, blink" for many months, but no improvement came. However, my eyesight stopped getting worse, yet I was still getting very discouraged and felt like I had nobody to ask for assistance (there are no bates teachers in my area).
However, about a month ago, I met an old friend from high school. She said her father was using the Bates method to successfully improve his eyesight from -3.5 lenses to -1.0 in 1.5 years. I was so glad I found someone else to use the method, i asked what her father was doing. She said that in the beginning, like me, he was constantly doing eye exercises, and then he simply constantly relaxed his eyes, which eventually led to improvement.
-------------------------------------
All of the sudden, due to my previous palming/sunning/swinging, I noticed the eye strain that I never noticed before. And in addition to my awareness, I was able to relax my eyes at will. So about a month ago, I began to constantly relaxing my eyes - more than 20 times each day (simply at will, no exercises, takes less than a second). I realized that about 5 minutes after I relaxed them, the strain came back.
As I worked to relax them all the time, this interval was increased to 30 minutes before the strain came back. I also noticed that when playing my old computer games, the strain came very quickly, and returned 1 minute after I relax it. After 2 weeks, I noticed that I can put my computer screen farther and still see it with a relaxed gaze - but still at 20/50 based on the snellen eye chart (no significant improvement)
I kept relaxing them for over a month, and now I am at the point where my eyes are constantly relaxed, and I feel that I can't relax them anymore. I trained them to be relaxed when looking at the computer screen, reading projectors during lectures, and when looking into the distance.
However, with this relaxation, I feel a bit of pain pain. What I feel isn't exactly pain, but pressure at the back of my eye that is getting annoying when my eyes are relaxed. When I palm, the pain goes away, but returns later.
I am wondering if this is ok? Does anyone else experience this pressure when they relax their eyes?
Has anyone tried simply relaxing their eyes all the time? Is there anything I can do to spark improvement in my eyesight?
What exercises can I do?..there are so many!!
Please let me know your thoughts,
Thanks a lot guys!
Paul