Advanced subject – below will make most sense if you already experienced improvements in your eyesight.
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Everything we discuss here about improving vision goes back to just two basic principles: 1) Reducing strain and 2) creating positive stimulus.
Much of the challenge of applying these two simple ideas is in the detail.
Remember that (almost) everything that happens with your vision is ultimately up to your brain, the visual cortex in particular. So when you push focus or adjust prescriptions or do anything at all relating to the process of seeing, your brain is what drives it all. Even though a lot of the deficiency is in the eyeball, it’s easy to underestimate how much of your vision really does happen inside of your head rather than at the front of it.
To this point, let’s look at a tangible and effective activity that shows us just how much the brain is important and needs to be appreciated in the process:
Take a normal day where you already several hours of close-up time. You are using a differential prescription that is quite challenging and you are always at least a few centimeters into blur. Since you already did the course and had several reductions in your prescriptions, your challenging distance gives you some blur and also quite a bit of double vision images.
This is really not easy, but you tend to work at this distance, looking for the most possible improvement. After some hours though it becomes more difficult to clear the double vision images and more of what you see just looks like blur.
Of course here, your eyes are getting tired and you should have a break. But there is often something else going on as well.
Take off your differential (close-up) prescription and put on your normalized (distance) prescription. Go back to your close-up work, at the same distance as before. Now of course, everything is completely clear. Appreciate this clarity for a moment. Take a few minutes of appreciating the sharpness and effortlessness in seeing everything.
Now go directly back to your differential prescription, and the double vision distance.
Blink a few times, resume working. Nothing is different. Give it a few minutes, though. Notice how while you are still challenged, you are now able to resolve a bit more of the double vision? Note: This may not always happen, and certainly is usually limited to experienced individuals and the double vision distance.
Why Does This Happen?
If you have children, you know what happens after a while of them doing their homework and are getting tired. Things you know they know, they can’t remember. Everything becomes a struggle. Why? Their little brains are just getting tired.
Similarly, your visual cortex starts to tire of resolving the image. The reference experience of sharpness stops being at the forefront and you start getting more blur. Now when you get a moment of your brain relaxing with sharp vision and bring back that reference experience of clarity, you start to see more clarity even when you go back to the more challenging environment.
Now this isn’t what you want to start doing on any regular basis. What you do want to do, is take a good break with lots of distance vision and nice outdoor lighting. In some instances though it makes sense to have these kinds of experiences to understand and remind yourself that the biology needs to be respected. The system needs a break from close-up and challenge. We have to appreciate the strain we are creating, and relieve it before we start to see chronic symptoms (ciliary spasms).
If only close-up work was like running. We would have a whole lot less myopia cases, since your body quite clearly begins to complain when you run long enough – though unfortunately our vision doesn’t.
Be kind to your eyes. Enjoy some healthy eyesight today!
