Are Your Glasses Actually Hurting Your Eyes?

Almost half the population in America wears some sort of artificial lens, glasses or contact lenses. Artificial lenses may help improve your vision, but it is just a temporary fix. Glasses and lenses can never fix your eye problems. Artificial lenses can help you see things more clearly, but they are mainly for the symptoms of eye problems and do not cure the actual ailment.

The main problem with artificial lenses is they teach you bad habits and allow your eyes to work incorrectly. You quickly become dependent on the lenses and keep your eyes from healing themselves. If you can teach your eyes to be more relaxed, the need for glasses and lenses would go away completely.

The main cause of most eye ailments is mental stress and strain on the eyes. The key is to learn how to avoid strain in the first place. That is not always possible, so learning new habits to deal with strain is the next step.

One of the largest problems with artificial lenses is finding the perfect prescription. Your eyes are constantly changing. Many things play a factor in how well you can see. Weather, health, mood, distractions, and outside stressors all play a part in your vision. When it’s sunny and bright out our moods are usually better and so is our eyesight. For a doctor to find the perfect prescription is impossible. You may go to the doctor when you are in a bad mood and its dark and rainy out. Your prescription will reflect this making them not work at all when you are happy and it’s bright out.

Try going without your glasses for a few weeks and see what happens. You may be surprised at the results. Of course at first things may be blurry, but once your eyes start to adjust to a life without artificial lenses things will become clearer. The trick is to make sure you are free of too much mental strain. Try some relaxation techniques and rest your eyes when things start to get out of focus.

Wearing artificial lenses can make our eyes lazy and teach us many bad habits. Concentrate on fixing the problem of mental strain and don’t just cover up the problem.

Better Vision for Greater Memory

To keep the memory sharp, it is important to maintain vision. Relaxation is the key to maintain vision for many years. Vision and mental focus go hand in hand and both don’t do well with strain and stress. Relaxation and inner peace is important in remembering things. All these things rely on each other to work properly.

           

A great way to test the condition of the eyes is a mental memory exercise. In this exercise, the goal is to maintain a visual image for as long as possible. To start, cover one eye and glance quickly at a letter on the page with the other eye. Close your eyes and hold the image of the letter in your mind as long as possible. Count how many seconds the image stays in your mind before fading away to darkness. Take note of this number. Do the same thing for the other eye and compare the results.

           

Now relax the eyes and try again. One way to relax the eyes is to close them and concentrate only on pleasant thoughts and good memories. Allow your eyes to focus on the darkness and forget everything around you. Open your eyes and try the exercise again. Hopefully the results are different and the image stayed longer the second time around. If not, you may need to find some eye relaxing exercises and work on removing the strain.

           

Vision affects memory. We need the vision to see the image. The more clearly we see the image the more detail we can recall on later. Focusing on the positive events will help keep the mind relaxed and the eyes free of strain.

           

The following exercise will help you relax and improve your memory. Try it tonight. While lying in bed tonight focus on all the positive things that happened throughout the day. Picture the events of the in as much detail and color as possible. Try picturing your lunch or the clothes the person who complimented you was wearing. Focusing on the positive will clear your mind, relax the body, and give you a better night’s sleep.

           

Removing the strain from the eyes will not only improve your vision it will also improve your memory.

Computers and Eyesight

More and more jobs require the use of computers. With the information age being available on the computer, more and more people are spending endless hours in front of the screen. After a long day in front of the computer, it is common to start feeling tired, irritable, or pain in the eyes or head. Staring at computers and forgetting to relax and give the eyes a break can cause permanent damage and eye problems.

           

No one is expected to live a life without computers; we all need them and are use to them being a part of our daily lives. However, it is important to listen to our bodies and relax or take a break when necessary.

           

Listen to your body; it knows better than you do when it’s time for a break. Do not work until your eyes burn; you missed all the previous signs. Take short breaks every hour of work. This means get at least once every hour and walk around. However, taking breaks isn’t enough. Look away from the screen every 15-20 minutes for a minute or two. Look at things close and far away to allow the eyes to adjust and move around. The goal is to avoid the strain in the first place.

           

Blink as often as you can to keep the eyes lubricated. Take a few minutes to roll the eyeballs around; you can do this with your eyes open or closed to avoid looking silly. Open and close your eyes often to give them a short break. Yawn if you have too. Yawning stretches out the jaw muscles and keeps them from becoming tense causing headaches and eyes strain.

           

Move around as much as possible. You should always be in a comfortable position so adjust your body or chair as often as needed. Move the keyboard or monitor so you aren’t stretching your neck or looking at things at a strange angle. Try to avoid glare on the monitor, move it around as the sun moves or get a screen protector.

           

Keep the work area bright and well lit. Bright lights lighten up the mood and keep you feeling positive. Dim lights only bring down your mood and cause you to feel sluggish. Making minor changes in the work space and taking breaks often can keep long hours in front of the computer from permanently damaging the eyes. 

Exercises for the Eyes

Staring and straining or the worse things you can do to your eyes. After a long day at work, the eyes are tired and need to relax and renew to improve vision. The constant strain day in and day out does nothing but damage the eyes. Below are three exercises design to remove the eye strain.

The first exercise is the Dot exercise. To do this find a period or comma on the page and focus on making it as clear as possible. Stare at the period until it comes into focus. Chances are after a few seconds the period will actually became less clear and blurry.

           

Try relaxing your eyes. Close them for a minute and let them relax. Now look at the period without straining. Don’t stare; instead, let your eyes slowly move around the page, over and around the period. Don’t focus only on the period, the eyes need movement. Make sure to blink a bit. Try closing your eyes and picturing the dot and then look at it again. Once the eyes are relaxed it should be easier to see the period.

           

The second exercise is the Word exercise. Find a word on the page that is five or more letters long. Stare at the word so that all the letters are in view, but don’t move the eyes. Focus entirely on the whole word trying to get the best image in your head. Again, staring and concentrating hard is going to cause the word to blur.

           

Now, relax your eyes and allow them to move slowly over, around, and across each letter of the word. Blink. Allow the eyes to lead you; don’t force them to look at what you want. The word should be clearer when you look at it again. Letter the eyes move around is what will help them work best without the strain.

           

The third exercise is the Double Vision exercise. This exercise is meant to get your eyes to work together as a team. Most people use one eye to look at an object, while the other eye does its own thing. Squinting can help bring an object into focus with both eyes, but this causes unnecessary stress.  The trick is to relax the eyes, focus on the object in a calm way, and allow both eyes to focus together.

           

Learning exercises to relax the eyes is a great way to develop lasting habits and ensure great eyesight for years to come.

Fearing Cataracts – Are They Dangerous

The eyes come with their fair share of problems and health concerns. One of the major ailments is cataracts. This happens with age; as the eye gets old the lens becomes weaker. Cataracts cause a cloudy spot on the lens or cornea and vision becomes blurry. The lens of the eye has become denser and loses the transparency it once had.

           

The first solution the eye doctor will give is surgery. Surgery is the only way to fix the problem; or so you have been told. They will wait until the cataract is big enough to remove with surgery. The whole left in the eye will be replaced with a plastic lens so you can see once again. This process is expensive and may only work for a short while before coming back in another area of the eye or the other eye.

           

The number one cause of cataracts is stress. Most people who get cataracts have gone through some seriously stressful situations or life a high stress life. They never take the time to relax and are always on the go. Another cause is a poor diet, high in cholesterol and carbohydrates and low in vitamins and fruits or vegetables.

           

You can reduce the risk of cataracts today by learning to relax the eyes and eating a more healthy diet. Choose foods that are high in Vitamins A-E and increase the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat. Try to live a healthy lifestyle which includes regular exercise, no smoking, and little to no alcohol consumption.

           

Exercise is a great way to reduce stress and mental strain. Find the time to exercise at least every 5-6 days; even a brisk walk around the block is better than nothing. Take some time for yourself and relax. Lie out in the sun after work and close your eyes for 10-15 minutes as often as possible. Move things off the ‘to do’ list that can wait and don’t require immediate attention. Learn to say ‘no’ and try not to take on more than you can handle.

           

Avoiding stress and strain in your life can help improve your eyesight naturally. Cataracts are caused from too much strain and living a stressful live, so do your eyes a favor and relax.

Sharp Your Eyesight - Focus on the Center

Eyesight is perfect when you see things dead on most clearly.  This is called Center Fixation and means whatever you see in the center of your vision is what you see the best. Perfect eyesight works when you look at things straight on and don’t have to move your head or eyes to the side to focus.

           

When your vision is off, you actually look at the side of an object to see it clearly. Test this theory and see where you currently stand. Find a piece of paper with small print on it. Look at the words straight on and then turn your head to the side until you can read the print. Move your head one way and then the other until you find the best position for reading the print perfectly. Are you straight on or to the side?

           

The retina is located in the center of the eye and is full of small light sensing rods. This area is called the fovea centralis and is the area of the eye created to have the best line of vision. If you are tilting your head to the side to see properly, the fovea centralis is not working correctly.  The fovea centralis may actually even be turned off. As a defense against outside dangers or stress, this area can shut down to protect itself. If it is turned off, your vision will not be as perfect as it can be.

           

Vision can be affected by our feelings and emotion. Center fixation can be off because of negative feelings inside our minds. Negative memories, experiences, or people can force our eyes to turn away and avoid head on contact. A lot of vision problems are ‘all in our heads’. Learning to deal with tough situations in a relaxed way can be difficult, but it’s necessary for good vision. Every situation should be looked at and dealt with head on, not with a turned away from.

           

Simply learning how the eyes work can help us to use them properly. Training the eyes to focus on things straight on will help avoid strain and keep them relaxed.

Glasses, Vision & The Mind

Vision plays a large part in the memory’s process. The better an image is processed the easier it is to recall later. The more relaxed the eyes are, the better they can absorb an image. Too much stress and strain on the eyes are the main causes of most eye problems and ailments.

           

The brain and the eyes work closely as a team. The eyes have to first capture an image and focus on the shape, size, and colors. The mind needs to interpret that information which is seen and then store it for recall later. Images that we see daily take mere seconds to interpret and remember. New images take a little bit longer. The more focused the eyes are on an image the more strong the memory will become. When looking at new object, pay attention to the lines around it, the borders, colors, size, shape, and anything else that will make recall easier later. Of course, the more relaxed the eyes are the quicker the mind can process and memorize new objects.

           

Concentrating too hard or focusing on images that doesn’t interest us causes unneeded strain and it will be difficult to remember them later. In order to maximize the memory, the image must first be viewed in a calm and relaxed manner. Below is a short exercise to try in order to get the mind and eyes to relax and work together properly.

           

First find a comfortable position, this could be sitting in your favorite chair or lying on the floor. Whichever your preference, make sure the spine is straight and the hands are relaxed at your side. Next, close your eyes and picture the number 5 down to 0 in your mind. Exhaling, really see the 5 in your mind. Let the eyes follow the black lines of the 5 and really picture the number. Relax and exhale completely by letting all the air out of your lungs until you naturally take the next breath.

           

Allow the lungs to fill completely with air and then picture the number 4. Again, picture the number completely while you exhale. Really see the lines, the black color, the shape; don’t stop picturing the number until all the air has left your lungs and the next breath comes naturally. Do this all the way down to 0.

           

In time you should be able to visualize images in the mind more clearly and feel more relaxed in the processed.

Throw Away the Glasses - Heal Glaucoma Naturally

Everyone has heard of Glaucoma, but what is it exactly? Glaucoma is a condition caused by excess pressure to the eyeballs. Although it sounds painful, most people have no idea they even have it. Glaucoma is scary because by the time the first symptoms show up it is too late to do anything about it. Once the downhill spiral begins, there is nothing anyone can do to stop it.

           

The first symptoms of Glaucoma are tunnel vision and the narrowing in the field of vision. This quickly moves into the final stages of Glaucoma which is permanent blindness.

           

The main causes of Glaucoma are poor circulation around the eyes, plugged channels, and poor drainage. These symptoms are caused by too much stress, strain, outside stressors, and too many toxins in the body.

           

The only cure for Glaucoma is to give medication for the tension or to drain the fluid from the eyes. These are both quick fixes and they only work to relive the symptoms, not the problem. Most people will still end up with blindness. These fixes just prolong the inevitable for awhile longer.

           

Glaucoma is usually caused by stress and once diagnosed with the disease the stress doesn’t stop. In most cases, the stress only becomes worse. Now people are anxious and nervous and scared of the blindness. Fear of the unknown and worry starts to consume their daily life, only adding to the stress and strain on the eyes. In the end, they are only making the symptoms worse instead of taking steps to try and fix the issue.

           

Anyone who suffers from Glaucoma should seek medical attention because if left undetected permanent blindness will happen. However, you can take steps to cure your eye ailments yourself by learning to relax the eyes. Take the time each night to fully relax before going to sleep. While lying in bed with your eyes closed, picture your muscles relaxing from your head down to your toes. Concentrate especially on relaxing those muscles around the eyes. Fully relaxing before falling asleep will ensure a better night’s sleep and waking up refreshed.

           

Glaucoma may be a scary thought, but by learning to relax the eyes you can take natural steps to cure the ailment.  

Improving Eyesight - The Art Of Palming

            

There are various steps and procedures one can take to help improve eyesight. Poor eyesight is condition caused by our own bad habits of ignoring the needs of our eyes. The eyes are a delicate, important organ in the body and they need just as much care as the other organs.

           

Palming is a way to help the eyes relax, naturally. Eyes are in constant motion, even when we are sleeping, the eyes are moving around. It’s not possible to completely stop the eyes from moving because they need to stay lubricated. However, we can slow down their motion and help them relax.

           

In order to relax the eyes, you must first relax your mind. If your mind is running away with its thoughts, your eyes will strain to keep up. Palming helps relax the mind and the eyes all at the same time.  The procedure is simple and takes less than 20 minutes, but you can do it for however long you need to.

           

The first step is to rub your hands together to get them nice and warm. Next, place one palm over each eye. Be sure to cup the palms so they are never directly touching the eyes or putting pressure on the eyelids. Your elbows should be resting on a hard surface, like a table or your knees.

           

The next step is to relax, fully relax. With your eyes closed beneath your palms, feel the muscles in your body start to relax. Start from the top of your head and slowly move down to your toes, feeling each muscle in between start to relax. The more relaxed you are, the darker the blackness your eyes see will be. At first, you may see a grayish color but as you relax that gray will become a darker and darker shade of black. The deeper the blackness, the more relax your eyes are.

           

You want to clear your mind of all thoughts. Forget all the lists and things that need to get done and focus solely on the darkness. If it helps, you can picture pleasant things like flowers blossoming or the waves of the ocean.  Try to stay in this relaxed stage for at least 15 minutes.

           

Once you open your eyes again, things will be more focused. Colors, shapes, and lines will be more defined and your overall vision will be clearer.

Improving Eyesight - Diet and Vision

Did you know that eating a better is not only good for your health but can help improve vision too? Well, it does. A healthy diet and exercise is good for your health which in turn will keep your eyes working properly.

           

A healthy diet includes plenty of fruits and vegetables, proteins, and dairy products. For proteins try to add more fish into your diet, it has the essential Omega-3 fatty acids that are great for the brain and mental focus. Dairy products are good but stay away from pasteurized and homogenized milk because they tend to clog arteries and limit the eye circulation. The best vegetables are carrots, spinach, bean sprouts, endive, celery, and cucumber.

           

Everyone feels the need to splurge every once in a while, but too much processed and deep-fried foods can cause serious complications on eyesight and health.  Stick with foods that are high in vitamins A, B, C, D, and E as they are all just the nutrients the body craves. Some other treats that are high in nutrients are sunflower seeds, raisins, pecans, soy beans, liver, and apricots.

           

The body comes complete with its own pH balance system to keep an equal amount of acid and alkaline. Too much acid causes uric crystals to develop around the joints leading to arthritis. The acid also damages the muscles around the eyes. The body needs fruits, vegetables, grains, and animal products to maintain the balance. Fruits and vegetables reduce the amount of acid in the body; grains and animal products increase the acid. The goal is to find the perfect balance between the two. Most people don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables, so to find balance start there.

           

Finding a good mix to the foods you eat together can help the body break down foods and digest nutrients properly. Too many carbohydrates taken with protein, like meat and potatoes, can be hard for the body to break down leaving you feeling as if food is just sitting on the gut. Proteins should be mixed with vegetables, meat and a salad. The body will be able to break it down easily and the proper amount of nutrients will be absorbed.

           

Eat to your health and to better eyesight.

Improving Eyesight -Near or Far

Two of the most common visually ailments are Myopia and Presbyopia; otherwise known as near-and far-sightedness. Both are ailments effect vision and the distance that is seen when looking at objects. Both ailments can be cured on their own if allowed. Almost all eye ailments are caused from bad habits learned as children, and strain on the eyes.

           

Myopia is caused by the eyeballs elongating.  This ailment is caused by habits which include only looking at objects close up for long periods of time. This starts out in school age children who are forced to learn things from books and other materials requiring close contact focus.

           

Myopia becomes a problem due to strain on the eyes, pressure, anxiety, or frustration. The pressure young children have to succeed is enormous. When information is boring, it is hard to actually learn. Looking at material for long periods of time without a break can cause the eyes to strain on close up information.

           

Near-sightedness can also be contributed to mental strain and psychological issue. Myopia can be part of an anxiety or nervousness about the future. Subconsciously the person may be afraid of what lays ahead of them and are unable to look ahead to the future. In this case, they are comfortable where they are and feel safe in their close up world.

           

Presbyopia is the ability to see things in the distant but not things close up. Far-sightedness starts affecting people in their 40s. This is when the lenses start to harden. The muscles around the eye can still be train to force the eyes to contract even with harden lenses. This ailment is believed to be part of getting older, so we just accept the problem and get glasses. We allow our eyes to become lazy and learn to rely on artificial lenses to get us through each day.

           

Presbyopia can also be ‘all in the mind’. People start to look too far to the future and refuse to look at things right in front of them. They allow their focus to be on retirement instead of on fixing the leaking faucet today.

           

Both these ailments can be avoided by allowing the eyes to move around naturally each day. If you are studying something up close for most of the day, spend an hour or so looking at things in the distance. If you are looking at things far away grab a book and read some pages.

Improving Eyesight - Relaxing All the Way Down

Relaxation is important for overall health. It reduces stress and helps the body calm down and sleep more soundly. Relaxation relieves unwanted tension and gives an overall good feeling. Relaxation also helps the eyes see more clearly and focus better.

           

The hardest part of relaxing is silencing the mind. Thoughts move at a rapid pace and as the ‘to do’ list grows so do the racing thoughts. Shutting down the mind is the tricky part of total relaxation, but it is possible. The key is to move all that energy stuck in the head down through the entire body and out the feet. May sound like hocus pocus, but it actually works through a process known as ‘exhaling through the feet’.

           

Here’s how it works. Lie on your back in a dark room, works great just before bed. Imagine your breath moving from your lungs down through the entire body. As you exhale, picture the air moving down toward your toes. Picture your breath passing through every organ, heart, liver, kidneys, and continuing down the thighs, calves, ankles, and toes. Exhale completely, until all the air is out of your lungs and the next breath naturally comes. Inhale naturally, don’t force anything, and let your body do its own work. Once the lungs are full once again, start the process again of picturing the air moving through the body.

           

Repeat the process as many times a possible until you fall into a deep sleep. The next morning you will feel relaxed and refreshed ready to face the day. A great night’s sleep is important to reduce stress and strain and start the day out right. Staying up late and waking up early, leaves us feeling groggy and lacking sleep. This can leave us ‘off’ for the remainder of the day. We are not as productive and the eyes are straining through the day. Plenty of rest, but not too much, starts the day out right and in a positive mind frame. We will feel more productive and happy to get work done.

           

Learning to relax is an important habit to pick up. Once you learn good relaxation techniques, getting to sleep will come more naturally. Your body and eyes will thank you.

Improving Eyesight - The Bates Method

Dr. William Bates spend years studying vision problems. He attended and graduated from Cornell University and became a teacher and researcher of ophthalmology in the New York area. Bates created many vision improvement methods and believed that anyone can see without glasses. His methods were developed teach the eyes ways to improve and heal themselves.

           

The Bates Method was developed to help school age children absorb more knowledge without straining their eyes. Dr. Bates learned that most bad habits and eye problems begin in school age children. Children have a natural curiosity to learn new things. However, when material is constantly shoved down their throats and they are forced to memorize tons of uninteresting information, the mind gets tired and the eyes start to strain.

           

Likewise, looking at new information causes the eyes to strain in order to commit it to memory. All day, every day children are forced to absorb new material, whether it interests them or not. They are not given a chance to allow the eyes to relax or take a break. This is where the Bates Method comes in.

           

Bates’ Method is actually quite simple. He created a large chart full of common shapes and letters. The chart was placed on the wall in the front of the classroom and the children were encouraged to look over at the chart whenever they felt overwhelmed. Even looking at the chart for three minutes a day, takes the strain away from the eyes.

           

 The Bates Method was implemented in a few schools and the teachers noticed a vast improvement in concentration and progress. The eyes were able to relax and the strain was removed. Unfortunately, the school board felt the method was too distracting and the method is no longer in practice. In fact, China is the only country that teaches students vision training.

           

The Bates Method can be used by just about anyone though. You could create your own chart and place it in your office. Glance at the card several times during the day to keep the eyes relaxed and alleviated the strain on the eyes. Training your eyes to relax will help improve vision today and for the rest of your life.