You probably have heard of so-called eye exercises where you are supposed to roll your eyes in different directions in order to "strengthen the muscles".
The idea is that because you are wearing glasses or contacts you eye muscle do not work anymore.
Is there any reason for doing these eye exercises? Well, the short answer is no, they have no benefit.
Eye muscles are not getting weaker when we wear glasses.
Actually, they become chronically tensed and that is why you ended up wearing glasses.
Well, the two processes reinforced each other.
It is possible to have bad eyesight and not to wear glasses.
It is also possible to wear glasses with fairly low prescription and have more or less stable eyesight.
But these cases are rather rare, the majority of people who wear glasses notice that their vision deteriorates, fast or slow, it depends on a person.
An American ophthalmologist William Bates researched the problem and suggested that these popular eye exercises are not the answer.
Good eyesight directly relates to having or developing correct visual habits.
What are visual habits? It is the way we use our eyes.
There is the right and the wrong way to use them.
Since eyes are one of the sensory organs, they are designed to be used without effort.
Just think of the other sensory organs you have.
Do you try to smell? No.
Do you try to hear? Hopefully, no but here we have a problem lately that looks exactly like the trouble with bad eyesight: the effort to see causes bad vision.
Similarly the effort to hear causes bad hearing.
I bet if you try to smell, you'll have problems with smelling.
So not straining and using your eyes without effort is one of the foundations of correct visual habits.
The other one is to remember that a degree of eyesight we have at any given time is not permanent.
Our vision fluctuates and even people with excellent eyesight have periods of poorer vision, especially when they are tired or under some kind of stress.
The opposite is also true: people with terrible eyesight have flashed of improved vision.
Another essential good vision habit is shifting.
People with normal eyesight do it naturally without thinking of it: they do not stare but constantly move their glance from point to point.
And finally, central fixation: the part of the object looked directly at is always seen better than the rest of it.
In other words don't try to see everything at once, look at one thing and then shift your glance to another.
Again, this is something that normal eye does automatically.
Of course shifting and central fixation can and should be done even when you are wearing glasses.
You just have to be aware of it.
So concentrate on developing good visual habit and you should have no problems with deteriorating eyesight.
The idea is that because you are wearing glasses or contacts you eye muscle do not work anymore.
Is there any reason for doing these eye exercises? Well, the short answer is no, they have no benefit.
Eye muscles are not getting weaker when we wear glasses.
Actually, they become chronically tensed and that is why you ended up wearing glasses.
Well, the two processes reinforced each other.
It is possible to have bad eyesight and not to wear glasses.
It is also possible to wear glasses with fairly low prescription and have more or less stable eyesight.
But these cases are rather rare, the majority of people who wear glasses notice that their vision deteriorates, fast or slow, it depends on a person.
An American ophthalmologist William Bates researched the problem and suggested that these popular eye exercises are not the answer.
Good eyesight directly relates to having or developing correct visual habits.
What are visual habits? It is the way we use our eyes.
There is the right and the wrong way to use them.
Since eyes are one of the sensory organs, they are designed to be used without effort.
Just think of the other sensory organs you have.
Do you try to smell? No.
Do you try to hear? Hopefully, no but here we have a problem lately that looks exactly like the trouble with bad eyesight: the effort to see causes bad vision.
Similarly the effort to hear causes bad hearing.
I bet if you try to smell, you'll have problems with smelling.
So not straining and using your eyes without effort is one of the foundations of correct visual habits.
The other one is to remember that a degree of eyesight we have at any given time is not permanent.
Our vision fluctuates and even people with excellent eyesight have periods of poorer vision, especially when they are tired or under some kind of stress.
The opposite is also true: people with terrible eyesight have flashed of improved vision.
Another essential good vision habit is shifting.
People with normal eyesight do it naturally without thinking of it: they do not stare but constantly move their glance from point to point.
And finally, central fixation: the part of the object looked directly at is always seen better than the rest of it.
In other words don't try to see everything at once, look at one thing and then shift your glance to another.
Again, this is something that normal eye does automatically.
Of course shifting and central fixation can and should be done even when you are wearing glasses.
You just have to be aware of it.
So concentrate on developing good visual habit and you should have no problems with deteriorating eyesight.