5 Alternative Ways to Treat Poor Eyesight

Dr. Dennis Robertson of the Mayo Clinic rebukes alternative exercise remedies for improving eyesight citing "little or no scientific support to back their claims." His opinion is respected and not to be taken lightly. However, I have learned that the effectiveness of alternative remedies (for anything) is discovered by trial and error. You have to take the initiative to try or wait for orthodox medicine to catch up. Communicate your desire to try alternative treatments with your doctor and work together on the matter. I found these five alternative treatments offered by Dr. William Bates, an optomologist from the early 1900's. They are interesting and worthy of consideration. Although they may never make your sight as clear as glasses or surgery would, they just may slow down your vision degeneration. Dr. Bates' eye exercises focus on retraining the eye. Central fixation refers to the normal eye function of focusing on the center of a visual field and seeing it the clearest. Every fraction of a second the eye is able to locate the center of its current visual field, making clear vision while shifting the eyes possible. Dr. Bates believes that most people have allowed their eyes to become fixated on the center of a scene rather than moving their eyes to see objects directly. These exercises are meant to help make poor eyesight better by retraining the eye to shift rather than become immobilized by staring or other bad eye habits.

Palming. With your body as relaxed as possible, cover your closed eyes with your palms and breathe meditatively. Conjure up visions of deep blackness. I found this very relaxing and doing this three times a day for ten minutes never seemed like an imposition.

Swinging. Sway your body as you focus on a distant object. Make sure to blink cleanse and lubricate your eyes. Doing this a hundred times a day sounds time consuming, but I realized that I probably rubbed my eyes just as many times after an hour or two in front of the computer. Instead of rubbing your eyes like I used to, replace it with this method and see if it works better for you.

Color day. This works like Sesame Street. You choose a color of the day and make notice of it when you see it no matter the form it's in. Have you ever noticed how many shades of blue there are in the world? When I bought a blue car, I began to see the color everywhere in different hues. This is a good way to treat your eyes to savory color.

Sunning. Look at a bright bulb or the actual sun with your eyes closed, rotating your head from left to right for a few minutes. I did this as a young child because I enjoyed the psychedelic colors I would see inside my eyelids. Dr. Bates employs this method to get light on your peripheral vision. It is effortless.

Reading. Read letter by letter rather than expecting to recognize words, phrases, or even sentences at a glance. I am guilty of being able to deduce the main parts of a paragraph without reading every sentence word for word. I can also recognize what traffic signs say at a glance rather than waiting to actually see them. I didn't realize the tension this was putting on my eyes until I felt them relax when I began to read at a slower pace.