You Can Improve Your Eyesight

If you've had your eyes tested and told you need glasses, you've probably resigned yourself to steady (or perhaps rapid) sight deterioration as you grow older.  Sight is one of the few areas in medicine where the aim isn't to heal but to compensate for the effects in day to day life.  

But it needn't be that way! www.seeing.org describes the work of Dr Bates who developed the Bates Method to relax the muscles around our eyes, making them flexible and better able to recover after times of stress.  He demonstrated how sight can be fully returned even after severe cases of short or far sightedness.

I became interested in this around 2001 and spent a summer studying with a practitioner in Brighton, doing daily exercises and leaving off my glasses as much as possible.  I improved my sight considerably and the Optician was impressed (if not rather bewildered!).  As like going to the gym, it took quite a bit of time and dedication, I didn't continue with the programme.

Recently I was pleased to come across some pinhole glasses and I chatted to a promoter of this method at the Quest show.  www.trayner.co.uk tells you more.  It's a much easier practice to integrate with your day and myself and my partner have been trying them out.  He has the mild long sightedness associated with close work and midlife and is therefore wearing them for reading, about 20 mins a day.  For my distance improvement, I should be wearing them for watching TV, but I rarely watch TV!  I've found train journeys are good (if a little embarrassing) but I've yet to get into a real rhythm with it.  The key is to find a time when wearing the glasses doesn't cause you stress.

My partner has just lowered his reading glass prescription and has noticed where he'd previously be wearing glasses continually, he's sometimes able to do without.  I've heard other similar stories and many are described on the websites.  It seems scandalous that this work is not widely known and has been effectively blocked by the Optical Industry. 

I hope this has inspired you to spread the word and find out more.  I'd recommend the bite sized book A Guide to the Bates Method, by Jonathan Barns as an introduction.  Do let us know how you get on!