Quick YouTube story telling time, today.
In this one I attempt to explain the harmful nature of the otherwise benignly silly concept of eye exercises.
For most health related topics, there’s the symptom managed, mainstream, quick-fix, pill popping side. And then there’s the other side, a causality addressing, solution seeking, “healing” approach to the problem. Both of them are generally known to people who do any real amount of research.
Take dentistry. Yea, you can eat candy and get cavities and get them filled. Without mercury toxins even, in 2017 (think about how recently mercury was still common!). Or you can not eat sugar, adapt a diet that promotes dental health. This, no secret.
Similar things are true for everything from heart disease to diabetes, and a whole lot of somewhat more niche topics (like thyroid problems, one I myself had to deal with).
The key to all of the alternative health discussions is that the ‘alternative’ part is something that is based on science, makes logical sense, and generally shows results. If it was mainstream dentistry on one side, and tooth-yoga on the other, we might not have the same buy-in from an educated public. If the alternative to child ADHD medication was moon-howling and practices adapted from some hundred year old pseudoscience, a guy who was even back then removed from practice? Yea, maybe less parents would be willing to forego the ADHD meds and think about that kind of alternative.
And that’s the problem with current myopia alternatives. Instead of having rational conversations about screen time, about pseudo myopia, about how lenses cause more myopia, we get this decidedly fringe, and not causality addressing talk about a hundred year old eye exercise idea. It’s glasses or Bates Method. Neither make the most amount of scientific sense.
First thing we need is to displace the so-called Bates Method as the most popular alternative myopia treatment with more science-based, common sense discussion about myopia control.
Only once we get there, can we hope to find a larger space to have a meaningful debate.
Video version:
Sane-face.
As usual, the video eloquence is a bit lacking. Hoping though that the general premise makes sense.
Cheers,
-Jake
