On Preserving Better Vision
There is a medical scam which is common in all developed nations and in most developing nations, worth BILLIONS of dollars annually in almost every country in the world. Furthermore, it can even cause blindness in old age, cataracts and glaucoma in extreme cases and it is totally preventable! It is Myopia, i.e. near sightedness.
My boyhood dream was to be a commercial pilot. However, I had always thought that this was not possible since I did not have good vision. Unfortunately, most people get told that they simply "have bad vision" without every being told (or thinking about) how or why their vision got bad, how it might have been prevented or if their bad vision may be remedied. I then discovered this remarkable book, entitled "Improve your vision without Glasses or Contacts:
I did the exercises faithfully for about 6 months beginning when I was 31 years old. My vision has GREATLY improved. Proof? I stopped wearing my regular glasses when I started the exercises. (Regular glasses actually make your vision WORSE. See below.) However, I kept my glasses in my car, to use only for driving and only at night. Eventually, they started hurting my eyes so badly when I wore them at night. I went to the optometrist to get my eyes tested. They were much better. I now keep a pair of only very weak glasses in my car for night driving.
The logic of good vision is irrefutable. I'll try to be brief but here are a few things to think about.
In nature, almost all mammals have good distance vision. If they don't, they get preyed upon and die. People, being mammals, are similar. It is only modern living that makes are vision worse.
In the 1960's, there were still Inuit in Northern Canada who had never been to school. The book that I mentioned before, discusses a study that was conducted. Of the older generation that had never been to school, 99% of them had "perfect" vision. Of the children who had been to school regularly, some 60% had "some degree" of myopia. The modern idea that bad vision is genetic is sheer nonsense. Most of the people in this small Inuit community were related!
Whatever you think of Charles Darwin, one of his observations was that the distance vision of the "savages" who were not educated was "remarkable".
As hunters and gathers (I don't believe in evolution, but bear with me ...) imagine having to spot a deer on a distant hill a few miles away. The eye was designed to focus on a very small point at a great distance. Because the eyes were designed this way, they are most relaxed when they are viewing objects in the distance. Focusing on object physically close to the eyes requires the accommodation reflex as discussed in any standard textbook on the physiology if human vision. Accommodation for extended periods of time, being not natural, puts stress on the eyes muscles. Now imagine modern living. Most people eyes focus on a large area that is close to their face for example, when they are looking at a computer screen, a TV or reading a book. After the accommodation reflex is consistently abused by near work with the eyes, the eye muscles lose the ability to fully relax (as they do during normal distance vision) and myopia develops. The exercises in the book above are basically exercises that involve relaxing the eyes and stretching exercises for the eye muscles to develop flexibility. Think of it like this, someone who spends an extended period of time in a coma has serious muscle deterioration. When they come out of the coma, they must undergo physiotherapy in order to regains the flexibility that their muscles once had.
Let's understand a few concepts first. "Focal Point" means the distance from your eyes where things just start to appear blurry. "Negative glasses" are glasses that are ordinarily prescribed for people who are near sighted, that is people who have a short focal point. Negative glasses extend your focal point, so that you can see farther into the distance. People who have never worn glasses begin to have some normal deterioration of vision after the age of 40. However they do not become near sighted! Their ability to focus on near objects deteriorates. Thus, they need "reading glasses". "Reading glasses" are "Positive glasses". Reading glasses decrease your focal point so that you can focus on near objects such as a book that is physically near your eyes.
Now, here is the SCAM. There is a simple way to prevent near sightedness from developing. Negative glasses (prescribed for near sighted people) increase the focal point. Positive glasses decrease the focal point. Duh, if you are staring at a computer screen all day, just put on some positive glasses. They will decrease your focal point. Your eye muscles will be relaxed (as when you are focusing on an object that is far away, i.e. during distance vision). This will prevent the abuse of the accommodation reflex. However, you see there's a problem for the eye care industry. Off the shelf positive glasses (reading glasses) can be as cheap as $20.00 whereas prescription glasses can cost at least a few hundred dollars.
Even if prescription glasses weren't that expensive, it is EXTREMELY unethical to prescribe them! Why? Let's suppose that you are near sighted. Then, you go get a prescription for negative glasses which increase your focal point. You can now see far away. What has happened is that now you see as you should see normally. That is you see well into the distance. However, you don't really understand how glasses work or how vision works. So you wear you glasses ALL THE TIME, even when you are doing near work with your eyes. Since you now have artificially good distance vision, your eyes have to accommodate EVEN MORE to see objects which are physically close to your eyes. Your accommodation reflex works harder than before. Eventually, your eyes have even less ability to relax. Your vision deteriorates. You go get stronger glasses and the cycle repeats! Do you make your child wear his or her glasses all the time because he or she has bad vision? Please stop! Do you understand what is happening? The modern "eye care" industry is hurting children, so that they can make money!
The modern "eye care" industry doesn't care at all! Preventing myopia is simple and inexpensive. I've regained very good vision. I'm about 20/25 now. I used to be 20/40. Children should be fully able to regain perfect 20/20 vision if they take care of their eyes, do the exercises, etc. But then the industry won't make $$$. In most states, you are not required to wear glasses while driving if your vision is 20/30 or better.
If you want to regain your vision, you can. Get the book mentioned above. Do the exercises everyday for two months without expecting to see any improvement. Your eyes should improve noticeably before two months. If you can, wear weak positive glasses when you use the computer. If you can use stronger positive glasses when using the computer, do so. Set the resolution on your computer screen to maximum. Use small fonts for your Internet browser. Reading fine print, i.e. focusing on a small points, is healthier for your eyes than reading large print. If you can't see the TV at all when you watch movies, get some of these:
They really work, but don't use them for driving. If you can, get your spouse to drive you to work or only wear your glasses when driving, for safety reasons. Depending on your age and the degree of your near sightedness, there is no reason to have bad vision.
Here are a few websites worth looking at:
www.preventmyopia.org has written a petition to the FDA requesting that optometrist inform the public that glasses actually cause your vision to get worse, but to no avail.
The above website is published by the government of Singapore. There ARE governments who are willing not to cooperate with big business and promote good, natural vision.
I hope you read this for you and your children's sake.
Note from Gary North:
At the age of 26, I went to an optometrist who told me: "you got glasses in grade 4. You kept getting stronger ones." He was correct.
He then said I should have used distance glasses for reading the blackboard, but uncorrected lenses for reading: bifocals.
He prescribed "reading lenses" for me: corrected only to 22 inches.
My nearsightedness ceased getting worse. I did not go to an optometrist until I was about 40. I did not need a major increase in correction.
I use "computer glasses" today: corrected only to the screen. This greatly reduces my eye strain.