Eye Care Blog

The object of all the methods used in the treatment of imperfect sight without glasses is to secure rest or relaxation, first of the mind and then of the eyes. Rest always improves the vision. Effort always lowers it. Persons who wish to improve their vision should begin by proving these facts to themselves.

To demonstrate that strain lowers the vision, think of something disagreeable, some physical discomfort, or something seen imperfectly. When the eyes are opened, it will be found that the vision has been lowered. Also stare at one part of a letter on the test card, or try to see the whole letter all alike at one time. This invariably lowers the vision, and may cause the letters to disappear. Another symptom of strain is a twitching of the eyelids which can be seen by an observer and felt by the patient with the fingers. This can usually be corrected if the period of rest is long enough. Many persons fail to secure a temporary improvement of vision by closing their eyes because they do not keep them closed long enough. Children will seldom do this unless a grown person stands by and encourages them. Many adults also require supervision.

Resting the Eyes

The simplest way to rest the eyes is to close them for a longer or shorter period and think about something agreeable. This is always the first thing to do, and there are very few people who are not temporarily benefited by it.

Eye and Palming

A still greater degree of rest can be obtained by closing and covering the eyes so as to exclude all the light. Close both eyes and cover them with the palms of both hands, the fingers crossed over upon the forehead. The mere exclusion of the impression of sight is often enough to produce a large measure of relaxation, although sometimes the strain is increased. As a rule, successful palming involves a knowledge of various other means of obtaining relaxation. The mere covering and closing of the eyes is useless unless at the same time mental rest is obtained. When you can palm perfectly you will see a field so black that it is impossible to remember, imagine, or see anything blacker, and when you are able to do this your sight will be normal.

Eye and Swinging

Demonstrate that swinging not only improves your vision but also relieves or cures pain, discomfort, and fatigue.

Stand with your feet about one foot apart, squarely facing one side of the room. Lift the left heel a short distance from the floor while turning the shoulders, head, and eyes to the right, until the line of the shoulders is parallel with the wall.

Now turn the body to the left, after placing the left heel upon the floor, and raise the right heel. Alternate looking from the right wall to the left wall, being careful to move the head and eyes with the movement of the shoulders. When swinging is practiced easily, continuously, without effort and without paying any attention to moving objects, one soon realizes that it relaxes the tension of the muscles and nerves. (Remember, however, that the shorter you can eventually make the swing, the greater your improvement will be.)

Stationary objects move with varying degrees of rapidity. Objects located almost directly in front of you appear to move with express-train speed, and should be very much blurred. It is very important to make no attempt to see clearly objects which seem to be moving very rapidly.

Swinging seems to help especially people who suffer from eyestrain during sleep. Practicing it fifty times or more just before retiring and just after rising in the morning has often prevented or relieved eyestrain during sleep.

Eye and Memory

When the sight is normal the mind is always perfectly at rest, and when the memory is perfect the mind is also at rest. Therefore it is possible to improve the sight by the use of the memory. Anything you find agreeable to remember is a rest to the mind, but for purposes of practice a small black object, such as a period or a letter of fine print, is usually most convenient. The most favorable condition for the exercise of the memory is, usually, with the eyes closed and covered, but by practice it becomes possible to remember just as well with the eyes open.

When you are able, with your eyes closed and covered, to remember perfectly a letter of fine print, it appears, just as it would if you were looking at it with the bodily eyes, to have a slight movement, while the openings in it appear whiter than the rest of the background. If you are not able to remember it, then shift consciously from one side of the letter to another and consciously imagine the opening whiter than the rest of the background. When you do this, the letter usually appears to move in a direction contrary to that of the imagined movement of the eye, and you are able to remember it indefinitely.

The reading every day of small familiar letters at the greatest distance at which they can be seen is a rest to the eyes, since the eye is always relaxed to some degree by looking at familiar objects.

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