Natural Eyesight Improvement

[boxcarguy07]

Hmm, well I didn't bring my car with me to school. So that's not a problem right now. And yeah, I could always keep the pair I have now for driving if I ever need too.

Hopefully by then they will be too strong of a prescription though 

[Satya]

Hmm, well I didn't bring my car with me to school. So that's not a problem right now. And yeah, I could always keep the pair I have now for driving if I ever need too.

Hopefully by then they will be too strong of a prescription though 

Oh, that's right, you got hit by a car this summer on a bike!  Be safe out there if you are less than 20/20.  I am myopic and I think it's now part of my driver's license, but I can do fine without them. 

[rawrock2]

I just stopped wearing my glasses about five days ago and I didn't have any headaches but you have to be careful at night though.  If the roads don't have streetlights you'll be stuck relying on the white reflectors on the road if there are any.

[TylerDurden]

I had the tiniest hint of a headache for a very short time a little while after my glasses broke and I was unable to wear them. Really, it was nothing. However, today I've felt very tired and worn out, and my eyes feel heavy. It's not like me to feel tired... mostly since going raw paleo I've been all energy.

I avoided wearing glasses like the plague because every time I took them off, my eyes would feel so damned tired that I couldn't function - the longer I wore them at a time, the worse this effect was. I realised, as a result, that all those stories re wearing glasses weakening one's eyesight was absolutely true, so I only keep my glasses for the occasional medical test that's required.

[boxcarguy07]

Wow... my eyes are still tired and they're in a bit of pain as well. My body feels very tired still as well. I hope this is all eye related and goes away very soon.
But this is the longest I've gone without wearing glasses or contacts in I guess around 13 years, so it's to be expected, huh?

When I woke up this morning, I noticed my eyesight was markedly sharper. But that faded throughout the day.
I think it might be a tiny bit better than it was before when I wore glasses all the time, but I could be imagining it. I'm ordering Relearning to See right now.

[Raw Kyle]

Let's be Quackenbush partners, I need motivation.

[boxcarguy07]

sounds good, kyle. I will let you know when I get the book.
 

[Raw Kyle]

Awesome!

[PaleoPhil]

I just found the original Bates method book available free online: http://www.iblindness.org/books/bates/

[invisible]

I've read the bates method, but I still don't seem to be able to apply it habitually, and some techniques I am still confused regarding how to even apply them at all. I have noticed an improvement in eyesight at times when trying the bates method though I have also noticed better eyesight as a result from RAF + fasting so it seems there is definitely more to eyesight improvement than muscle relaxation as discussed in the book. I do know that prominent Bates practitioners now emphasize that diet is an important complement to the bates method.

[PaleoPhil]

Yes, I recall reading scientific reports that factors that contribute to myopia include heredity, diet, use of close-vision (such as in reading) and eye strain. There may be others that they're not aware of. I haven't read Bate's stuff, so he probably suggests others as well. Eyeglasses are also thought by some to further weaken the eyes. I remember my eye doctor saying that contact lenses don't deteriorate vision as quickly as eyeglasses do.

[invisible]

I don't think that close reading per se would damage vision, rather the poor habits people have when they look close that causes bad vision. I think it's plausible that proper diet can lead to better functioning of the eye muscles and achieve relaxation of some sort without even trying.

You can confirm the idea behind the bates method yourself. Control the muscles around the eye manually by pushing the skin on the outer of your eye (around the ridge of your eye socket) with your finger to elongate and flatten the surface of the eyeball and your vision will become immediately sharper with more distinct colours.

[PaleoPhil]

I don't think that close reading per se would damage vision, rather the poor habits people have when they look close that causes bad vision. ...

99.999% of people in the world don't use the Bates method, so when they do close reading it does damage their vision if they are prone to myopia. I agree that the Bates method sounds good and plan to try it myself, but my statement was correct for all practical purposes, so let's not pick nits please.

[invisible]

99.999% of people in the world don't use the Bates method, so when they do close reading it does damage their vision if they are prone to myopia. I agree that the Bates method sounds good and plan to try it myself, but my statement was correct for all practical purposes, so let's not pick nits please.

I think that's a bit of a stretch to say 99.999% of people don't use the bates method. The bates method is meant to teach you to develop good habits. Many people don't need to do the bates method because they already have good vision/eye habits so reading close shouldn't damage their eyesight. Eyesight degeneration from poor diet for example is probably misdiagnosed as being caused by reading close.

If it's vision habits causing vision loss I tend to think that vision loss wouldn't slowly degenerate but the effect be immediate. Meaning that if you have perfect vision then your eye muscles must be working properly so vision loss must be a result of poor nutrition. But then again not many people probably have perfect vision, and just how 'bad' do your habits have to be to cause vision to degenerate? Though why did less than 2% of the traditional Inuit have even any detectable Myopia? Yet now myopia is far greater in Inuit 30 years or younger than the elderly Inuit. And as discussed by Bates in the book, traditional people did lots of close work with art, tools, pottery etc and these people obviously did not study the Bates method.

I have decent vision, but very bad  near vision habits, but it's not causing a slow degeneration in vision (yet?). If I have to stare at something very close for a long time my distance vision becomes significantly worse immediately, but after a night's sleep returns to normal.

[primavera]

Raw Kyle, boxcarguy, did either of you buy the Quackenbush book?

[PaleoPhil]

I think that's a bit of a stretch to say 99.999% of people don't use the bates method. The bates method is meant to teach you to develop good habits. Many people don't need to do the bates method because they already have good vision/eye habits so reading close shouldn't damage their eyesight.

I see what you mean. I was referring to people with myopia, not people with perfect vision. What I meant was that 99.999% of people with myopia don't try to reverse it and assume it's irreversible. Mine reversed a little bit within weeks of when I first went gluten-free, and my night vision especially improved.

Eyesight degeneration from poor diet for example is probably misdiagnosed as being caused by reading close.

They have both been reported to contribute and usually both habits exist in people with myopia, though correlation is of course not causation. The research I read did not say it was a matter of either-or, but rather a multiplicity of factors with diet being #1.

The correlation between close-reading and myopia could also be due to lack of sunlight from being indoors, which Bates believed. Whether the cause is excessive use of close vision or lack of sunlight, the Px is the same: spend more time outdoors with your eyeglasses off.

...as discussed by Bates in the book, traditional people did lots of close work with art, tools, pottery etc and these people obviously did not study the Bates method.

I'm less interested in debating points than in whether you have some techniques that have worked for you. If you have had improvement or do get some in the future, please do relate how many diopters your vision improved and share the techniques.

BTW, my sister's vision also improved on a Paleo diet, as did her eyes' response to that puff-of-air glaucoma test. Her ophthalmologist was mystified by the improvement and said something like her eyes were as healthy as someone 20 years younger. I haven't bothered to get my eyes tested in over 5 years, because my eyesight has not deteriorated beyond the correction ability of my eyeglasses since I went Paleo, whereas I used to have to get a stronger Px every 2-3 years or so.

[William]

Shortly after I started to eat raw meat, I got new glasses. It was time for bifocals, but it was 2 for 1 so I got regular prescription glasses and reading glasses. In a year or so I no longer used the regular glasses, except for driving at night.
I did this again a few years ago, with a further improvement in vision. I have extreme myopia.

The original weakness started at about 8 years of age, due to a high cooked carbohydrate diet.

[Raw Kyle]

Raw Kyle, boxcarguy, did either of you buy the Quackenbush book?

I have it. It's a boring read but packed with what appears to be some very good information. I tried some of the exercises but wasn't able to keep up motivation for them. I'm near sighted, but it's not very bad, sometimes I have to squint but it doesn't affect me very much. I would like to try the method but realistically I know that I probably wouldn't have the motivation like the first time I tried, I can't seem to focus on more than a couple of things at once (a little eyesight joke there).

[PaleoPhil]

I found Bates difficult to read, but I found this summary that's much shorter and clearer: http://www.i-see.org/bates_nutshell.html and leaves out the more controversial bits.

I tried Bates' relaxation exercises but they didn't have any noticeable effect for me. He did say that only a small minority of people respond quickly, so I'll try to keep an open mind and won't write him off yet, though I'm certainly not going to focus the sun with a magnifying glass on my eyeballs ("The sensitiveness to light was relieved in a few minutes by focussing the light of the sun upon the upper part of the eyeball when she looked far down, by means of a burning glass," http://www.iblindness.org/books/bates/ch15.html) and I don't consider floaters to be optical illusions like he did.