Okay, so I was reading Bates' book and came upon a passage where he talks about the eye "under adverse conditions". He mentions that straining to see fine print can be beneficial to myopes. This got me thinking, so I flipped to an earlier chapter where Bates says that straining to see at the near-point will reduce the degree of myopia and create emmetropia, which I take is normal vision (did a quick Google search ), BUT he also says that it "may" cause hypermetropia in "one or all meridians".
The way I interpreted it was "It can lead to normal vision, but it can also cause farsightedness." And I'm honestly confused. Is it a good idea to practice this "straining to see fine print" thing or is there something I have to watch for to prevent the onset of hypermetropia or what? I've already begun practicing and I've noticed a temporary improvement in both near and distance vision, but I've also noticed a weird sort of strain. It's like nothing I've ever felt before. It's not painful or anything. It's much like the feeling I get when I'm paying too much attention to my eyes while palming or swinging.
Any help here? Perhaps someone can interpret Bates for me and perhaps advise me on how to best deal with fine print?
There are two approaches to practicing with the fine print.
If you are straining to see fine print from close enough (that means not being successful at reading it), this should decrease myopia and should be a demonstration of how strain at the near point will lower myopia. It is the same idea as straining to see at the far point will lower the vision for the far and increase myopia. Some lucky people, all they need is a few demonstrations of these facts and they are then able to improve their eyesight. In the book and magazines, however, this isn't a technique that is recommended as often as palming or swinging. The other problem is how can someone administer this test for themselves? Basically, you would need to select some printed material that is too small to read but at the same time, somehow convince yourself that you should be able to read it, so that you would actually try and strain?! I think this can only be administered as intended in a spontaneous manner by a specialist, but of course, there are no specialists, like Dr. Bates...
What you can do instead, is put the material on your nose, (Bates recommends using a business card) so that it is now too close to read. However, this is also funny, because you can either strain, or you will just recognize that it is too close to read, so you stop straining and relax. That will also improve the vision. However this sometimes need to be practiced for an hour - by resting the business card lightly on the eyebrows and nose and moving it slowly left and right -, for any result to be noticable.
The other approach to fine print is to read it with success, when the letters are actually recognizable, from whatever distance you can do it comfortably. In this case, there is no straining, because it is impossible to strain and read fine print at the same time. This will also improve the eyesight for all distances. You can practice seeing the halos with the small print and when practiced a lot, they will help the memory and imagination for the far point, too.
Do not worry about causing hypermetropia or any other visual defect by practicing these methods. When a person can lower their vision deliberately, it will never turn into a permanent condition. Think about the children, who can turn their eyes in for fun. They never develop a squint as a result, they are actually benefiting their eyes a great deal.
The Better Eyesight Magazines answered my questions to these questions.
@Andrea Major: Thanks for the clarification. Straining at the near point seems to be a bit paradoxical, yet it seems to work to some extent. It's a great relief to know that I don't need to fear hypermetropia that might be gotten from straining at the near point.
), BUT he also says that it "may" cause hypermetropia in "one or all meridians".