Vision Exercises - Does it Work?

Do vision exercises really work? I had to go to the eye doctor the other day because I can no longer see the water fountain in my back yard. He prescribed some glasses for me and charged me over $700.00 for the exam and glasses. I asked him if there was any kind of vision exercises I could do and he told me that they don’t work. Yet, I see several websites and some research articles that show that it does. What gives?

The proverbial question; do vision exercises really work? Eye exercises, or vision exercises were unknown to the world prior to 1912, when a gentleman and ophthalmologist named Horatio Bates came on the scene. What about prior to 1912? Well, the prevalence of nearsightedness was very low in the population of America and much of the rest of the world. As you may recall from prior history lessons, much of the world was going through a period known as the Industrial Revolution, which migrated the majority of the "civilized" world population from the farm fields and ranches to the factories.

Vision Exercises for a Changing World

This slow advance of a paradigm shift caused the behavior of the population to change. People who once spent most of their time outdoors were now confined to smaller spaces both at work and at home. Gone were the days of working out in the fields and doing chores around the home, and in were the days of sitting in an office, working with machinery, assembly lines, or other near work all day long. After coming home, people stayed indoors with what little time was left of the day. Why is that a big deal you say? Nearsightedness was mostly unheard of in the 19th century, prior to people spending all day indoors. After the industrial revolution, the prevalence of myopia increased in the civilized world population dramatically!

Vision Exercise Will Help, Poor Vision is not Genetic

Many eye doctors say that poor vision is genetic and destined to get worse. They continue to prescribe lenses for refractive "disorders" seemingly unaware of the fact that only a century ago, they would have had a hard time making a living at that profession because people generally didn’t have the need for glasses. The proof is in the huge change of the population in a very short period of a couple of decades!

So, here is the rational conclusion about poor vision; excess near work has caused our vision to become poor. There could not possibly be a genetic relationship to poor vision other than a predisposition. This means that the physical makeup of a person’s eye allows it to respond or change to stimulus faster than other people’s eyes. In fact, there are excellent clinical studies that bear this out.

Do vision exercises work? The answer lies in the problem! Our eyes adapt to the environment. This adaptation is really called "refractive error" by those in the practice of optometry. Unfortunately, this terminology creates walls or barriers to thinking about vision problems, especially with those in the field of vision research. There is, in fact, no error. The eye is simply responding to a demand placed on the visual system. Think about this; the most prevalent vision problem experienced among high school and college students is myopia, or nearsightedness. The human eye must do work to see up-close. Students demand a lot of up-close work from their eyes while in academia. Over time (perhaps a couple of years in school), when taking a break and looking out the window of the library, things in the distance are blurry, then slowly come back into focus. This never was a problem before. Over the course of several more years, when the student takes a break, things in the distance never clear up.

Perhaps a problem seeing the blackboard from the back of the classroom encourages the student to visit the eye doctor. They are given a pair of minus lenses and instantly, the blur is gone when viewing distant objects. If this student leaves the glasses on while reading, they are magnifying the demand on the eye to see up close, thus further exacerbating the eye’s response to the same stimulus. The runaway myopia progresses unchecked for several years with stronger and stronger minus lens prescriptions.

Vision exercises using the Eyezercise

Vision exercises using the Eyezercise™ program attack poor vision in several ways, all taking advantage of the normal physiological response to "environment". First, the education as to what and why myopia occurs. Second, a complete set of relaxation techniques, which reduces or eliminates the near-point stress that the eye responds or adapts to. Finally, a set of vigorous, efficient, and highly focused vision exercises to help you regain visual function, or put into other words, an increased ability to accommodate or focus on distant objects. The combination of these as well as additional information and resources allow for improved visual clarity.

Still skeptical? I don’t blame you, I was. Here are some additional studies and references supporting eye exercises:

1. Leon Hoffman, O.D. et al. (1973) American Journal of Optometry and Archives of American Academy of Optometry
2. Sells, et al. 1957. Evaluation of Research on Effects of Visual Training. American Journal of Ophthalmology.
3. Young FA, Leary GA, Baldwin WR, et al. The transmission of refractive errors within Eskimo families. Am J Optom Arch Am Acad Optom 1969;46:676-85
4. Young F, Leary G, Baldwin W, et al. The transmission of refractive errors within Eskimo families. American Journal of Optometry and Archives of American Academy of Optometry 1969;47:244-9.
5. Saw SM, Nieto FJ, Katz J, et al. Familial clustering and myopia progression in Singapore school children. Ophthalmic Epidemiol 2001 Sep;8(4):227-36.
6. Katz J, Tielsch JM, Sommer A. Prevalence and risk factors for refractive errors in an adult inner city population. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1997 Feb;38(2):334-40.

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