While most people are probably heavily indebted to whoever invented eyeglasses, this might not have been always the case.
There is an interesting anecdote concerning Salvino d’Amatre, known to be the inventor of spectacles in the 12th century. His tomb had an inscription which read, “Here lies Salvino degli Armati, Inventor of Spectacles. May God pardon him his sins.”
Although this whole thing might be a hoax, it is just strikingly ironic that these words will be found in the tomb of someone who invented something that is still very helpful up to this day when it comes to vision correction, as if what he did was a crime against humanity. But if you look at it closely, spectacles might just have been one of the worst things that have been invented.
The Dangers Of Wearing Glasses
If eyeglasses were really invented during the 12th century, then it is right to say that people have been wearing them for centuries already. As the years passed by, glasses have evolved from being mere visual aids for refractive error, to corrective lenses designed for long-term vision correction. Many people falsely believe that wearing glasses is a form of treatment – that their natural eyesight will somehow improve over time. In reality however, when you start wearing glasses, you commit to wearing them for life!
The main thing to remember here is that eyeglasses only act as a crutch and a temporary fix for your visual problems. They may help you to get by and pass an eye exam when you are wearing them, but without them your vision would not have improved. In fact, constant wearing of spectacles can even worsen your eye condition over time, as they promote bad visual habits that lead to a deterioration in your ability to 'see'. Moreover, eyeglasses add strain to your eyes, which leads you farther and farther away from your goal of achieving perfect vision.
Imagine using two crutches as a walking aid for a few years or even just a few months. Since you are helping your legs out by bearing some of the weight with your arms, is it not true that your legs will become weak? In the same way, when you help your eyes out by wearing glasses or contact lenses, all of the many thousands of little processes that are required for good vision to occur, become less efficient over time. The little muscles that control the shape of your lens and eyeball to control vision, will waste away – since their efforts are not required while you have those spectacles on.
Giving your eyes a helping hand with the use of lenses, will make your eyes weaker, and your vision worse over time
You will realize that after some time of wearing prescription glasses, you will need a new and higher prescription from your eye doctor because your eyes are no longer suitable for the glasses that you are currently wearing. Prescription glasses can also be affected by the weather, distractions, and other outside stressors that affect your vision. Hence, the perfect way to achieve vision correction is not by wearing spectacles but by fixing the bad habits that are detrimental to your vision.
Why Vision Correction Surgery Is Also Not The Answer
Well for one, laser eye surgery is expensive and not everyone can afford it. I for one could not. But in no way does this even come close to the main reason I avoided LASIK eye surgery even before I knew about the Bates Method.
Simply put, laser vision correction is just not safe.
According to the journal, 'Review of Optometry,' up to 1 in 6 patients who undergo vision correction surgery are afflicted with complications that directly affect their eyesight. Rather than improve your vision, laser eye surgery can actually cause permanent damage to your eyesight – the type of damage that cannot be corrected with glasses or with eye exercises.
Common complications of the procedure include irregular astigmatism, which will leave you with permanent blurry vision and disable you for life, and Post-Lasik Dry Eye, where you stop producing tears. This results in the need to keep blinking all the time because of dry eyes that burn when you keep them open for more than a few seconds. It can affect you for the rest of your life, and can happen to up to 50% of people who undergo laser eye surgery. If that doesn't put you off I don't know what will.
Improving Your Vision Naturally
Getting into the mood
In vision correction, one has to remember that it is not only the physical eyes that are being improved; it also involves the emotional and mental levels of your vision. After all, getting perfect vision is more of a holistic health approach rather than a purely physical one.
In every vision correction exercise that you do, remember to immerse yourself in relaxed concentration. You also have to remove your glasses or contact lenses and just practice them with your natural eyes. Place yourself in a comfortable position, usually standing or sitting, but not too comfortable that it would make you sleep. It is normal to fall asleep during the first time that you do vision exercises, but your concentration should improve in the succeeding sessions. Loosen any tight clothing so that you become relaxed as much as possible. You may even want to play soothing music to add to the ambiance.
The fusion string technique
One of the recommended exercises for beginners that you can do is the fusion string exercise, which helps one develop binocularity, accommodation, and convergence. In order to do this, you will need to make your own fusion string. This is composed of 10 beads that are 6 inches apart on a 7-foot string. Attach one end of the string to the wall slightly lower than eye level. Take the other end of the fusion string and wrap it around your index finger, holding it to the tip of your nose. This should form a straight, downward line.
There are three ways in which to focus using the fusion string technique. When you focus on your nose, you will be able to see two strings in a V position meeting at your nose. When you focus on the wall, you will see two strings in a V position meeting at the wall. When you focus on one particular bead, you will see two strings forming an X, the bead you are focusing on being the juncture where the X meets.
What you need to do is focus on your nose first, then the first bead, then continue focusing on each bead until you reach the wall. Do it also the other way around. This exercise is best done as a vision correction technique for people who have problems with nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism.
Exercises to improve balance and coordination
If you are ready for a more advanced exercise, you can try several balance and coordination exercises. These exercises will encourage your brain and body to work together, develop your skills in binocularity, and develop coordination and visual balance.
One of the exercises here is the hand/foot touch, which is basically done by standing up, then bending your left leg until it is parallel to the floor. Your right hand should reach behind you and touch your left heel. Repeat these exercises with your right leg and left hand. It may not seem like your eyes are involved much, but they do play an important role in helping you to maintain your balance during the exercise. To convince yourself of this, try to do the exercise with your eyes closed. You’ll still be able to pull it off but not as easily as with your eyes open. This exercise will help to improve the particular signaling pathway from your eyes to the balance center in your brain.
To learn more about eye exercises to improve vision naturally, click here to visit How To Improve Eyesight Naturally, where you will discover a proven regime for natural eyesight improvement. Since the Bates Method was revealed to the public, many more modern practitioners of natural vision correction have built-upon and refined the technique. How To Improve Eyesight Naturally is an accumulation of the wisdom of Dr Bates and the many practitioners that came after him.
Click here to visit How To Improve Eyesight Naturally