Presbyopia

Presbyopia is more commonly known as “middle-aged sight” – the deterioration of near vision as a person ages, with the need for reading glasses beginning at about age forty or fifty.

Presbyopia occurs when the lens loses enough of its plasticity and elasticity so that it can no longer adequately respond to the visual demand to focus at near. The lens has no blood supply of its own, receiving nutrients through the ciliary body. The lens’ cells will break down when they do not receive the proper supply of nutrients. Presbyopia is one symptom of this breakdown. If the breakdown of the lens continues, the stage is set for cataract formation.

Therefore, it would seem logical that the presbyopic eye would respond to the same kind of nutritional approaches that have been shown to prevent cataract formation. In fact, Dr. Gary Price Todd, one of the first nutritional ophthalmologists is finding exactly that. Patients following his nutritional treatment for cataracts are finding that their presbyopia often improves as well.

Read Part 1 of The Role of Nutrition in Maintaining Good Eyesight

An Italian study, conducted nearly 50 years ago, found that vitamin E – an anti-oxidant critical in the prevention of cataracts – helped presbyopic people regain their near point vision. Unfortunately, other than this one study, no other nutritional research has been done on presbyopia.

Cataracts

In the United States, approximately four million people have some degree of cataracts, while 40,000 are blinded due to cataracts. One in every five people over 55 are afflicted with cataracts, and as many as half of those over 75 are at risk. Worldwide, cataracts are the leading cause of blindness.

The standard treatment for cataracts is surgery. In fact, cataract surgery is the most common of all surgical procedures practiced in the United States, with more than 500,000 performed each and every year.

94% of cataract surgeries are successful, with lower vision resulting in less than 6 out of every 100 procedures. Though one of the safest operations it still has some degree of risk associated with it.

Even though the surgical treatment for cataracts is highly successful, it is an extremely costly procedure. Each cataract surgery (one eye only) done in the United States costs approximately $5,000. Every year, over 4 billion dollars are spent – just by Medicare alone! – for cataract surgery.

As people live longer and longer, the incidence of cataracts can only increase, if no preventative measures are taken. If the development of cataracts could be delayed by 10 years, the National Eye Institute estimates that half of all cataract surgery could be eliminated, saving billions of dollars every year in medical costs.

There is plenty of evidence that cataracts can be prevented, and their growth arrested, with proper nutrition. “With the right nutritional supplements, prevention could be very close to 100%,” says Dr. Todd.

Most research in the United States has focused on the prevention of cataracts. It is a generally accepted fact that cataracts are a degenerative disease caused by free radical damage and that they can be prevented with anti-oxidant vitamins C and E, beta carotene and some trace minerals, including selenium and chromium.

The eye has the highest concentration of vitamin C of any part of the body. Yet, lenses with cataracts have much lower levels of vitamin C than cataract-free lenses. The eye with a cataract has also been shown to be deficient in selenium, copper, manganese, zinc and glutathione (which the body normally produces on its own, but only if adequate levels of selenium are present). Some of the B vitamins – particularly niacin and riboflavin – have also been deficient in the eye with a cataract, though this deficiency is rare in the United States, where many processed foods are “enriched” with these vitamins. Excesses of mercury and other toxins have also been implicated.

According to a recent study conducted by John Hopkins University, people with the highest levels of vitamin E in their blood were 50% less likely to develop cataracts. A study reported in the Archives of Ophthalmology in 1988 showed that 200 IU a day of vitamin E reduces the incidence of cataracts by 56%. If 250 mgs. of vitamin C are added, their incidence is reduced by 86%.

Dr. Todd has been using nutritional supplements for years to treat patients with cataracts. He finds that if nutritional treatment is started soon enough (when vision is 20/50 or better), he is nearly 100% successful in stopping its progression or reversing the cataract.

In one study conducted by Dr. Todd over a 1-year period, 43% of the people showed improvement in their cataract and the other 57% stabilized the cataract completely and showed absolutely no further deterioration. All of these results held up in a follow-up study conducted 5 years after the original. Cataract surgery was avoided in every case.

As a result of this and earlier studies, Dr. Todd has created a complete vitamin and mineral formula different from others that are available. Known as EYEMAX-plus, Dr. Todd uses it as the basis for his nutritional treatment of cataracts.

(Another promising approach: The Chinese herb, Hachimijiogan, has been shown to increase the glutathione content of the lens. Hachimijiogan has been used for a long time in both China and Japan in the treatment of cataracts.)

Macular Degeneration

The macula is the part of the retina that is responsible for fine, detailed vision. A person with macular degeneration loses central vision and also has a poor recovery from exposure to bright lights. The loss of central vision is due either to a reduced blood supply to the central portion of the retina or to edema (a swelling and leakage of blood vessels in the retina).

Macular degeneration is the leading cause of severe vision loss in people aged 55 or older in the United States and Europe. At least 3 million Americans suffer irreversible vision loss from macular degeneration.

According to conventional medicine, there is nothing that can be done to treat macular degeneration, although laser surgery is sometimes used to seal any leaking blood vessels. This surgery is successful only between 4 and 15% of the time (over a 5 year period). More importantly, it doesn’t address the underlying conditions that might contribute to macular degeneration. (There is also a 50% possibility that a person’s vision will be worse immediately after laser surgery.)

The primary underlying conditions in macular degeneration appear to be free radical damage and disrupted blood and oxygen supply to the macular region of the retina.

This would indicate that a nutritional approach that emphasized the anti-oxidant vitamins and minerals – vitamin C and E, zinc and selenium – could be helpful.

In fact, one study did show that 200 mg of zinc helped to improve acuity in people with macular degeneration. In another, people who have had higher levels of Vitamin E also had less vision loss that those with lower levels.

However, Dr. Todd believes that the underlying cause of macular degeneration (and also glaucoma) is an under-functioning thyroid. (There is a simple home test that anyone can perform to determine if they have an under-functioning thyroid. For complete details, send $1.00 to cover the cost of shipping and handling to: Cambridge Institute for Better Vision, 65 Wenham Road, Topsfield MA 01983.)

In addition to testing and balancing the functioning of the thyroid, Dr. Todd also suggests the following nutritional supplements on a daily basis, in addition to his EYEMAX-plus formula.

Dr. Todd also recommends bioflavinoids (to reduce swelling of macular region), evening primrose (to re-establish integrity of vessel walls) and lecithin.

Although the anti-oxidant vitamins and minerals are important, the body needs zinc, copper, manganese and selenium to help control the free radicals. Yet, in his analysis of his patients, Dr. Todd has found that 60% are deficient in zinc, 15% in copper, 80 – 90% in manganese and that virtually everyone is deficient in selenium. These deficiencies greatly reduce the effectiveness of vitamins E and C and beta-carotene.

Dr. Todd will not treat anyone who won’t stop smoking cigarettes, and he also recommends drinking only spring water, eliminating margarine and other hydrogenated fats and avoiding laser surgery, if at all possible. (He has found that people don’t respond to nutritional approaches after having had laser surgery.)

When following his treatment approaches, 88% of Dr. Todd’s patients improved vision significantly over a two-year period.

The herbs bilberry (Anthocyanosides) and Ginkgo biloba have been used extensively in Europe for many years to help eye conditions, including macular degeneration. Clinical studies have shown that both can inhibit progressive vision loss. According to some studies, these two herbs appear to work directly on the eye and are more potent than nutritional anti-oxidants.

Bilberry is also used for poor day and night vision, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. It has been shown to support the pigmented epithelium of the retina, reinforce the collagen structures and prevent free radical damage.

Gingko biloba increases the blood flow to the brain. European studies demonstrate impressive results in the treatment of macular degeneration and this herb has also been shown to prevent free radical damage to the retina and macula.

Conclusion

The state of eye health is intimately tied to the state of your overall health. Interestingly, many of the nutrients that promote eye health also have benefits for the rest of the body, so anything you do for your eyes will also help you in other ways. Conversely, the steps you take to promote eye health will also benefit the rest of your body.

More than 25% of the nutrition your body absorbs goes to feed the visual system. The visual system consumes one third of all the oxygen that you take in. Metabolism in the eyes is faster than anywhere else in the body. The concentration of vitamin C and other important nutrients is higher in the healthy eye than almost anywhere else in the body.

It’s not surprising, then, that proper nutrition plays an extremely important role in preventing and treating all of the common eye problems — myopia, presbyopia, cataract, macular degeneration and glaucoma. Nutrition’s exact role is becoming more and more clear. Some facts are already well documented and pioneering doctors are uncovering other directions that are very promising.

Before we can discuss each eye problem in greater detail, it’s important to keep in mind some general nutritional information:

1. Proper balance is important. The body does not use each vitamin and mineral in isolation. The absence of one may affect the body’s ability to use another. For example, proper amounts of magnesium and vitamin D are needed in order to absorb calcium efficiently and completely. And, without adequate levels of zinc, the body cannot utilize all the vitamin A it receives.
2. The Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) suggested for most vitamins and minerals are most often only the minimum levels needed to prevent deficiencies. However, visual health – and total body health – most probably requires supplement levels that are significantly higher than the RDA. Cataract prevention, for example, may require the intake of vitamin C at a level 15 times greater than the RDA.
3. In today’s society, it is probably not realistic to expect to get all of our nutrients from food alone. No matter how wholesome and pure our diet might be, there are other factors that affect the nutrient content of the food we eat. How food is grown, how it is stored and how it is cooked all affect its nutrient value. Besides, the amount of nutrients a particular food is supposed to contain is measured under ideal laboratory conditions, which probably don’t reflect the food you are actually eating. Most of us have long known that carrots and vitamin A are supposed to be good for the eyes. Even so, 68% of the population is deficient in vitamin A. Over the last 50 years, the carrot has lost 75% of its magnesium content, 48% of its calcium, 46% of its iron and 75% of its copper. Modern farming methods have depleted the soil of trace minerals vital to our health, such as selenium, manganese and vanadium. Even calcium and vitamin C are found in lower levels in fruits and vegetables now than they were 50 years ago.
4. On the other hand, “popping” vitamin pills is no substitute for a wholesome diet. The body loses a significant amount of nutrients depending on the kind of food we consume. For example, we lose the trace mineral chromium as our body tries to absorb white sugar. And caffeine, refined flour, medication and preservatives also leach trace minerals and vitamins from our system. Also, there may be as yet undiscovered vitamins and minerals in food that someday will prove to be very important to our health.
5. Age, activity level and stress affect what your body needs and how well your body can absorb and use what nutrients it does get.

Keeping these general ideas in mind, let’s look at the role that nutrition may play in myopia. In the next issue we’ll look at other eye conditions.

Myopia

Myopia (nearsightedness) is a condition that affects nearly 1 out of every 3 people in the United States. Yet, only 3 out of every 100 myopic people are born that way; for everyone else, myopia is acquired at some point during their life span.

Myopia is the result of a degeneration of some part of the visual system. It’s so common to see someone wearing glasses that we forget that it is not natural. Myopic people are also more prone to develop more serious eye conditions, such as retinal detachment, glaucoma and cataracts.

The search for nutritional answers to myopia has focused on two different parts of the visual system: the shape of the eye and the functioning of the lens.

Let’s look at each of these separately:

One possible explanation for myopia is that it occurs when the eye elongates, stretching from front to back. Distortions as small as 4/100 of an inch are enough to produce extreme degrees of myopia. Exactly what causes this stretching is not clear, though it seems to be due to either increased intraocular pressure or excessive tension in the extra-ocular muscles.

Dr. Gary Price Todd, a North Carolina ophthalmologist, has been using nutritional and metabolic healing for different eye problems for more than 20 years. He is trained to do all the standard surgeries for the eyes, but he prefers to promote the natural healing of the eyes whenever possible.

Dr. Todd believes that most myopia develops in children during growth spurts. If the child is not receiving proper nutrition, the body literally takes minerals from the eye to use in the growth of the body. The resulting mineral depletion in the eye weakens its structure, making it susceptible to the forces and stresses involved in prolonged near work, including reading, studying, watching TV or using a computer — all of which are common activities for most of today’s children.

Dr. Todd has success in arresting the progression of myopia in children that he treats; in some cases, the degree of myopia has decreased. Dr. Todd achieves these results just by recommending that children under his care supplement their diet with a total vitamin and mineral formula which is particularly rich in the minerals selenium, chromium and zinc. The formula that Dr. Todd originally developed for eye and body health is EYEMAX-plus.

Dr. Ben Lane, New Jersey optometrist and another pioneer in the role of nutrition in myopia and other eye diseases, concurs in the importance of these trace minerals in maintaining the strength of the eye. Dr. Lane has found that chromium levels in myopic children are 1/3 that of children with normal vision. (It is interesting to note that chromium is depleted in the body by white sugar, eaten all too frequently by many children today.)

Calcium levels are also lower in nearsighted children. Dr. Lane found that children increasing in the degree of myopia have diets extremely deficient in calcium. Dr. Lane thinks that in the face of this dietary deficiency, the body takes calcium from the eye to help support bone growth. This calcium lack then makes the eye susceptible to the forces playing on it during prolonged periods of near work and visual stress. Dr. Lane has also found that these children also eat too much meat protein (a poor source of calcium) and too little calcium-rich milk products and stalky vegetables. Caffeine (found in soda as well as in coffee) is known to leach calcium from the body.

Dr. Lane has also found that Vitamin C is important. He has noted that low levels of dietary intake of Vitamin C are associated with increases in pressure in the eye. This increasing pressure also is associated with the visual fatigue that can result from extended periods of near work. The focusing mechanism needs adequate levels of vitamin C and chromium for efficient functioning. Adequate levels of Vitamin C are also needed to ensure the strength and structural integrity of the eyes.

Vitamin C is leached from the body by artificial flavors and ingredients and aspirin. It is generally recommended that an adult take between 500 and 1000 mg. a day, increasing the quantity during periods of high stress (including visual stress and extended periods of near range work).

Another vitamin that Dr. Lane thinks is of critical importance is folic acid, which helps the eyes to maintain near focus for longer periods of time as well as increase the eyes’ ability to absorb nutrition from the body. He thinks that folic acid should come from food sources rather than from vitamins.

Drs. Todd and Lane have focused their studies on the nutritional factors involved in maintaining the structural integrity of the eye. Another explanation for myopia, also incorporated in Dr. Lane’s theory, is that the lens has lost some of its ability to change focus, due to the constant pressure placed on it to maintain near point focus (e.g., when reading, writing, using a computer).

According to this theory, myopia occurs when the lens becomes “stuck” for near point vision and is unable to shift its focus to distant objects. Normally, the lens has the power to change its focus more than enough to compensate for individual differences in the length of the eye.

Dr. David A. Kubicek, a California doctor of chiropractic, explored the role of the lens in a research paper he wrote in 1988. This is a synopsis of his theory and his recommendations:

The ciliary muscle (which controls the focusing of the lens) is itself stimulated by both the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nerve systems of the body. Parasympathetic stimulation increases accommodation — the lens’ ability to focus on near objects. Sympathetic stimulation decreases this ability, allowing the lens to focus on distant objects. Clear vision at all distances requires the nervous system of the body to constantly balance and re-balance these two types of stimulation.

Nearsighted people, Dr. Kubicek reasoned, would lack sufficient sympathetic stimulation to bring distant objects into focus. Farsighted people, on the other hand, would show a weakness in parasympathetic stimulation.

To test his theory, Dr. Kubicek devised a simple muscular test that would tell him which system was weak for an individual. By performing only this simple test, he was able to predict — with 100% accuracy — which subjects were nearsighted and which were farsighted. Dr. Kubicek was then able to use this procedure and his knowledge of biochemistry to devise the right combination of nutrients that could promote proper functioning of the lens and thus help to improve vision at all distances.

Certain nutrients are known to increase sympathetic activity and others are known to increase parasympathetic activity. Nutrients that might be beneficial to nearsighted people would be vitamins B-2 and B-6, folic acid, niacinamide, zinc, magnesium and phosphorus, among others. (On the other hand, Dr. Lane cautions against phosphorus intake. His research indicates that what is most important is maintaining the balance in the body between calcium and phosphorus, a balance which is upset by the intake of too much animal-derived protein.)

The answers aren’t all in yet as to the exact role that various nutrients play, but it is clear that the onset of myopia can be an early indicator of nutritional deficiencies and imbalances in the visual system – and in the entire body.

Read Part 2 of The Role of Nutrition in Maintaining Good Eyesight

The more that I have studied the eyes, and the more that I teach people to gain better vision – as I have for over three decades – the more I appreciate how deep and profound our sense of sight is.

And, eye problems and imbalances are also a reflection of deeper imbalances and patterns of perception.

One example of this that I’d like to talk about today is nearsightedness (myopia), or not being able to see clearly in the distance.

Beyond not being able to focus clearly in the distance, what does being nearsighted say about who you are and how you approach the world?

Researchers have been asking that question for more than 100 years, and what they have found both holds the key to a more holistic understanding of vision and a way to improve your sight.

Studies going back to the 1900’s demonstrate that there is a relationship between personality and vision – that people who are nearsighted tend to exhibit certain personality patterns and traits more often than people who are not nearsighted.

In the mid-1970s a Harvard researcher wrote a paper in which he summarized all the research that showed a relationship between nearsightedness and personality. The basic thrust of his paper was that people who are nearsighted, who can’t see far away, have pulled their world into them or have retreated from one part of the world in some way or another. So, in terms of these personality measurements, nearsighted people tend to be more introverted, to lack a certain amount of social confidence and are shyer.

Interestingly, we don’t need research to tell us this. We know it intuitively.

What happens in the movies when the director or writer wants to portray a character who is timid, lacks a little confidence, is shy or introverted? They put glasses on him, right? We subconsciously recognize that the need for glasses goes with that personality type.

The stereotypes we see in the movies are often just a superficial reflection of a deeper truth. Look at some of the writings of people who are involved in spiritual development and personal growth. Years ago Louise Hay wrote the groundbreaking book, You Can Heal Your Life. In her book she lists a variety of physical dysfunctions and diseases and outlines what the inner psychological or psycho-emotional aspect is that connects to that issue. She says that for nearsightedness it’s the unwillingness to see what’s ahead, to see what’s coming.

Jane Roberts, author of Seth Speaks, says that not being able to see the world clearly is a manifestation or reflection of a part of yourself that you don’t want to see.

All these examples point to what I call the “nearsighted personality”, which is much more than what’s going on in the eyes. It is reflected in the body, the mind and the emotions. Again, let’s look at the movies: the character who wears glasses and looks a little timid and shy and lacking in confidence, particularly the social type of confidence—well, there’s a whole personality that goes with that. It’s not just the glasses, it’s also the shyness, it’s also the way they carry themselves physically, its also the way they think about themselves or think about the world or think about their relationship to other people.

So the personality of nearsightedness has a physical component, a emotional component, a mental component, a perceptual component, a self image component, and it has a physical eyesight component as well.

Let’s look at Multiple Personality Disorder – here is something I think is incredibly interesting: there was one case of Multiple Personality Disorder and an optometrist measured the vision of the person while they were in their different personalities. In one personality the person was nearsighted. In another personality, the same person was farsighted, in another personality they had hypertension, in another personality their blood pressure was normal. Remember, these are completely objective scientific measurements of what happens when that person was in a different personality.

Well I’m suggesting that as a nearsighted person we have a nearsighted personality and that personality, as I said, is holistic, it covers our emotional, mental, and spiritual world views. The same is true for farsightedness and astigmatism, but the consciousness aspects that are related to those are slightly different. Even Freud weighed in on the subject when said that nearsightedness was a manifestation of a castration anxiety.

Here’s another interesting study that was done a while ago: A group of nearsighted people were exposed to a pressure situation. Specifically, they had to come up with answers really fast in a pressure situation. The researchers discovered that the nearsighted people, when exposed to the pressure, became more nearsighted. People who were not nearsighted, when they were exposed to the pressure situation, instead, their vision became more heightened.

So it’s not the external pressure that forces somebody to be nearsighted, it’s the internal response that says something like, “Oh, I’ll pull away when it’s too much out there,” or “I’ll pull in when it’s too intense.”

There’s another thing they do in the movies when they want to portray a nearsighted personality – they’ll put glasses on somebody because they want them to appear smarter, right? That’s another piece of the nearsighted personality – nearsighted people always score higher on intelligence testsr.

Now it’s easy to create nearsightedness in reverse, so they do experiments with monkeys where they have the monkeys wear blinders so that their visual field is restricted; or ifNavy personnel spend a lot of time in submarines where their visual field is restricted, they have a higher incidence of myopia. It’s easy to cause myopia from the constriction end where you just force the person’s physical world to be pulled in, and so you can make an animal or person nearsighted by putting them in an enclosed visual environment.

But it also works that from the emotional, consciousness and energetic process, you can pull in your visual world and then have it seep down into the physical.

All of this data and information points to the idea that nearsightedness and its associated personality are a particular way of responding to external stress. We’ve all heard of the fight or flight mechanism. Well you might say that the nearsighted personality is a flight response without literally running away. It’s a way to pull away from threat or stimulation or anxiety without getting up and running.

For example, if you’re in school and you don’t want to be there, you can’t walk out, but you can keep your eyes open, pretend like you’re there, but really you are a million miles away. Or we can drive down the street in our cars and do the same exact thing. So it’s easy for us to pull away from the world. Many people pull away from the world temporarily, even if they’re not nearsighted; there’s a cycle to that, a kind of cycle of energy going out and energy coming in. But people who are nearsighted, the myopic personality, they tend to have that pattern be charged with emotion and it becomes a habit.

If nearsightedness is more than just an eye issue, if in fact, there is a nearsighted personality and a nearsighted response to the world, then how can you go about changing that if you wear glasses and want to sharpen your vision.

We’ll explore some ways to do that in Part 2.

BIO:
Martin Sussman, an internationally known expert in holistic vision care, is the author of five books, audio courses and DVDs, including the #1 best-selling The Program for Better Vision and the Read Without Glasses Method (for middle age sight). He is the founder and president of the Cambridge Institute for Better Vision, which he established in 1976. He can be reached at martin@bettervision.com. Information about his approach to vision improvement that is more than eye exercises can be found at http://www.BetterVision.com.

Your visual system is very sensitive to stress, tension and fatigue of any kind, whether it’s physical, emotional or mental. The visual system is also very sensitive to any nutritional deficiencies and imbalances that might be present in the body. Don’t you notice that sometimes your vision is a little worse when you’re tired or under stress? You might even notice that you see a little better when you’re feeling energized or relaxed.

You can learn how to harness these fluctuations to your advantage as you are trying to improve your eyesight. When you understand what affects your vision you can start to make your eyesight clearer and clearer. Glasses and contacts treat the symptoms of poor vision very effectively: when you put them on you temporarily get rid of poor vision. But glasses and contacts do not address the underlying factors that produced the vision problem. They do nothing to release the underlying stress or change the underlying patterns that caused the problem in the first place.

Vision problems often appear when there is both prolonged stress in the visual system and improper visual/muscular habit patterns. Nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism are some of the symptoms that result from this underlying tension and imbalance.

In addition to direct tension, strain and inflexibility in the eyes, your eyesight is influenced by three other factors:

1. Secondary tension that is stored in other areas of the body. Also, the overall health and nutritional level of the body also affects vision. (In my book about natural eye care, The Program for Better Vision, the two chapters that address this are: Your Body and Your Eyes [Pp. 20 – 23] and The Role of Nutrition in Vision [Pp. 24 – 37]).

2. Limiting or negative thoughts about vision or about how external reality is perceived . (See the chapter Your Mind and Your Eyes in The Program for Better Vision. (Pp. 38 – 43).

3. Subconscious memories and past emotional decisions. (See Your Emotions and Your Eyes (Pp. 44 – 48). All these factors influence each person in a different way and to a different degree. But in following a holistic approach, The Program for Better Vision helps you explore what affect each may have had on your eyesight.

A holistic model of Better Vision includes these three components:

1. 1. Physical eyesight
2. 2. Inner vision
3. 3. Emotional seeing

1. Physical eyesight involves more than just 20/20 vision. In fact, there are three major visual skills: First, your mind selects what it wants to see from its total field of vision. (SKILL ONE: Peripheral Awareness and Central/Peripheral Balance) Second, your mind commands the eyes to look at or to converge on the object. (SKILL TWO: Convergence/Binocularity) Third, your eyes bring the object into focus to see it clearly. (SKILL THREE: Accommodation/Focusing) In addition, the muscles in and around the eyes must be relaxed, toned and flexible. Tension, stress and imbalance in any of the three visual skills can lead to other visual difficulties in addition to focusing problems. Some of these difficulties might include: eyestrain and fatigue, headaches, glasses and contacts never feeling right, difficulty concentrating, poor eye-hand coordination and depth perception and eyes always feeling tired.

2. Inner vision is the Mind’s Eye in all its different aspects: imagination, visualization, memory, dreams and attitudes. With Better Vision your imagination and visualization will be more alive and vivid and your memory will become clearer. Your attitudes about yourself and others will become more positive. You will replace limiting images of yourself with a clearer and more positive sense of who you are.

3. Emotional seeing speaks about our recognition of the eyes as both a way to express how we feel and a way to connect to other people. The eyes are so often called “the windows of the soul”; Better Vision is a way to heal, clarify and open these windows, allowing us to be open to a deeper connection to others and to give and receive more easily and fully. According to a holistic model, Better Vision means seeing the world in the clearest, most relaxed, easiest and most efficient way possible. Better Vision also means having a positive image of yourself, a clear sense of purpose and emotional clarity.
When you begin to understand how intimately your vision is connected to your body, mind and emotions you come to realize that the state of your eyesight is a reflection of your inner health, clarity and focus and as such can be a barometer of your total consciousness.

BIO:
Martin Sussman, an internationally known expert in holistic vision care, is the author of five books, audio courses and DVDs, including the #1 best-selling The Program for Better Vision and the Read Without Glasses Method (for middle age sight). He is the founder and president of the Cambridge Institute for Better Vision, which he established in 1976. He can be reached at marty@bettervision.com. Information about his approach to vision improvement that is more than eye exercises can be found at http://www.bettervision.com.

And you’re not alone. According to the American Optometric Association, upwards of 8 out of 10 computer users report some type of eye strain at the computer. The problem is so prevalent it’s been given a name: Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS).

The symptoms of Computer Vision Syndrome include:

• eyes hurting or over-tired
• eyes burning or itching
• dry, or watery, eyes
• double vision
• blurry eyesight (either at the computer or in the distance)
• the need for glasses for the first time
• the need for stronger prescriptions
• headaches, neck, shoulder and back tension
• increased sensitivity to light

Using a computer does place a unique set of demands on your eyes. But it’s not inevitable for your eyes to hurt at the computer, or for you to experience eye strain at the computer, once you know how to use your eyes correctly for the task, and what to do at the first sign of tension or fatigue.

Saving your eyesight at the computer can be as simple as being aware of your vision in a new way. Knowing visual ergonomics and the simple keys to healthy computing should go a long way to alleviating the symptoms of Computer Vision Syndrome.

Here are five keys to taking care of your eyes at the computer.

1. Fit you set up to you.

• Set up your computer so that you can look beyond the screen. If at all possible, don’t be in the corner, or face a wall.
• Sit directly in front of computer, not off to one side or the other.
• Sit 18-24 inches away from the screen
• Sit high enough so that your line of sight is level with or higher than the top of the screen
• Keep your wrists level with or below your elbows. Never bend your wrists up when typing
• Your knees should be below the level of your hips
• Place your feet on the floor. Use a footrest if your feet don’t reach the floor.

2. Look away from the screen regularly.

Focusing on an object far away, such as the water cooler down the hall or a tree outdoors, is a simple stretching exercise for eye muscles. Quickly shift your focus from near to far 3-4 times.

A brief look into the distance every 2 to 3 minutes prevents the build-up of visual stress and discomfort and keeps your eyes healthy and active.

These frequent micro-breaks offer much more relief to your eyes than an hourly break. A break every hour – however long it might be – does not provide all the relief and rest that your eyes need. Micro-breaks are more effective and beneficial.

Extended staring at a computer screen inevitably creates fatigue, tension and eye problems. Failing to take short vision breaks is one of the major factors leading to eye strain and eye problems for computer users.

Micro vision break tip: Look up and focus on the furthest object in the distance. Be aware of objects around you in your periphery. Take a deep breath. Relax as you exhale. Blink a couple of times. Shift your vision back to the screen and re-focus. (Three near-to-far shifts per break are recommended. This should take about 5 seconds.)

Mirror tip: If your computer is in a corner or if you work in a small space, place a small mirror on top of your monitor or on your desk. Use the mirror to give your eyes a distant view by looking through the mirror and focusing on objects that you see behind you.

3. Minimize glare on the screen.

You can detect a potential glare problem by turning on the lights in the room that you normally would use – before turning on your computer. If you see any images or reflections on the (turned-off) screen, you’ve got a glare problem.

To reduce or minimize glare, experiment by:

• Moving the screen to a better location, if possible
• Tilting the screen
• Moving objects that reflect onto the screen
• Covering windows to block sunlight
• Turning off or lowering offending lights
• Covering fluorescent lights with egg-crate baffles
• Turning your computer so the screen is perpendicular to overhead fluorescent lights.

It may be impossible to eliminate glare altogether, in which case you might consider using an anti-glare screen.

4. Use friendly lighting.

Bright fluorescent lights are a poor choice. Dimmer lights are better. Have a desk lamp for reading and doing other close work at your desk, but make sure it doesn’t reflect on the screen.

Most problems are caused by the quantity of the light (not by fluorescence itself). If possible, turn off every other fluorescent fixture and light your desk with a 100-watt bulb.

Standing lamps that direct light at the ceiling provide the best indirect light. If there is no dimmer available, a 3-way fixture is recommended so you can set the light at the most comfortable level.

You also need to light any original copy that you are working from. A desk lamp with an adjustable neck works well. Just make sure that this light doesn’t distract you or spill onto your screen.

Hard copy tip: Ideally, you want your copy on the same vertical plane as the screen. Working side to side is preferable to looking from the screen down to your copy and then back up again. Alternate moving the written material that you work from to the left and right of the screen during the day. The eye movements required to shift back and forth from left to right and from screen to copy help reduce visual stress and enhance your visual skills.

5. Blink more often.

Computer rooms are notoriously dry, and this may be one reason why your eyes hurt at the computer. Blinking is your body’s natural way of lubricating your eyes and preventing dry eyes. Normally the eye blinks 10-12 times a minute.

Most people do not blink regularly, especially when concentrating intently, or when under pressure. They keep their eyes wide open – fixed – and blinking decreases. Decreased blinking often causes redness, burning and itching of the eyes, particularly for those who use contact lenses.

Blinking lubricates and cleanses the eyes, keeping them moist for clear vision and comfort. Blinking also helps relax the facial muscles and forehead, countering the tendency to furrow one’s brow and create tension.

Hydrate by drinking enough water. If absolutely necessary, use a natural eye drop. Similasan or PrimaVu are the recommended brands.

Blinking tip: Move only your eyelids – not your forehead, face or cheeks – when you blink. Make sure you close your eyes all the way without effort and that both the upper and lower lids touch gently. Blink lightly once every 3 to 5 seconds. Or, take 10-20 blinks in this way just as your eyes start to feel dry, tired or itchy.

These five tips should be enough to keep you from feeling eye strain at the computer. It could be very simple to not let your eyes hurt at the computer.

But sometimes these tips are not enough. The causes of the blurred vision and visual stress might go deeper. Make sure you have your eyes checked at least once a year, and make sure that you are using the correct prescription for computer use – it’s not always the same as your regular prescription.

The book Total Health at the Computer goes into more depth about healthy computing tips, choosing the right kind of glasses for computer use and quick routines that will stop your eyes from hurting at the computer.

For more information, visit www.bettervision.com.

And, if you can read the bottom line, your vision is perfect. If you can’t, you need glasses. Right?

Not necessarily!

Good vision is much more than just 20/20.

Even if your glasses or contacts give you 20/20, other deficiencies may still exist in your visual system that wouldn’t be caught during an eye test that only checked visual acuity (which line on the eye chart you can read).

These other visual problems might cause some of the following symptoms: double vision, headaches, tiredness, poor depth perception, difficulty concentrating while reading, eyestrain, burning, stinging, dry eyes, and more.

When these other deficiencies aren’t dealt with, they could eventually lead to problems with acuity. So a person could end up needing glasses (or stronger glasses) when the real causes of the problem are going uncorrected.

Using glasses that were prescribed after only a test for distance or near-point acuity could very likely lead to further visual stress. If there are other undetected visual problems that remain unaddressed, this could lead to prescriptions that get stronger and stronger, deteriorating vision and a general feeling of discomfort and fatigue. All of which could set the stage for even more serious eye problems to develop.

That’s why it is so important to get a complete and thorough examination from an eye doctor who understands the interconnectedness of all aspects of vision.

Eye doctors that are trained in a holistic understanding of vision are known as behavioral optometrists.

A behavioral optometrist believes that how you see is the result of how you have learned to use your eyes. He/she also believes that visual skills — including how clearly you can see — can be enhanced through exercise, relaxation and training. He/she has received specialized training and can give you a comprehensive examination that covers all the visual skills.

Of course, a behavioral optometrist, like a regular optometrist, can prescribe glasses and contacts. In addition, a behavioral optometrist can provide a program of training that improves overall visual functioning.

Here is a list of the vision checks and tests that a behavioral optometrist will most likely perform during the first visit:

1. Measure distance vision with an eye chart.
2. Determine how your eyes function at close range.
3. Measure the teamwork between your eyes and your brain.
4. See how smoothly your eyes move from point to point.
5. See how smoothly and easily your eyes follow a moving target.
6. See how easily each eye can shift focus from near to far.
7. Screen for medical conditions like glaucoma and cataracts.

Finding A Behavioral Optometrist

The Cambridge Institute for Better Vision maintains a nationwide Select Referral List of hundreds of behavioral optometrists. For help in finding one in your area, go to: www.bettervision.com.

Also, there are two professional organizations for behavioral optometrists: The College of Optometrists in Vision Development (www.covd.org) and the Optometric Extension Program Foundation (www.oep.org)

However you find a behavioral optometrist, the most important element is to find one who not only agrees with the holistic eye practices of the Cambridge Institute for Better Vision, but also uses them in some way in his or her practice.

When you have the name of someone, it is perfectly reasonable to phone the doctor and ask whether he or she does the complete series of tests described above.

Some behavioral optometrists also offer training sessions to correct any underlying visual deficiencies that might be found during the examination.

Many behavioral optometrists believe, as does the Cambridge Institute, that the use of an under-corrected prescription is better for the eyes.

Instead of reading the bottom line on the eye chart, with an under-corrected prescription you’ll see one or two lines higher. This under-corrected prescription will give you enough clarity for most activities (including driving), but it will leave “room” for your brain and eyes to still work together in the process of seeing. An under-corrected prescription may also prevent you from needing stronger and stronger glasses year after year.

If you are using a vision improvement system like The Program for Better Vision, your eyes can see better and better. In this case, the prescription that was under-corrected when you first got it, will eventually become too strong as your natural eyesight gets better.

Then it’s time to see the behavioral optometrist again, but this time to get a weaker pair of glasses!

Even though poor vision is the largest health-related epidemic affecting Americans today, even though younger and younger children are needing glasses and even though more middle-age people are needing bifocals and reading glasses, nearly everyone thinks that it’s all perfectly normal and acceptable.

Poor vision is, quite simply, the problem that nobody wants to see.

Yet, doctors and researchers are at a loss to explain its exact cause. (1) Although some still cling to the old belief that vision problems are inherited research dispels this myth: only 3 people out of every 100 are actually born with vision problems. (2)

A Revealing Connection

From a holistic point of view, not seeing clearly means more than not being able to see across the desk, across the room or across the street.

Being nearsighted is an expression of how a person views and responds to the world. Being nearsighted is a way of seeing – or not seeing – that goes beyond being able to see the bottom line on the eye chart.

We understand this subconsciously, if not directly. Take the movies, for example. When a screenwriter wants to portray a character who is timid, shy, or unsure of him or herself, invariably that character wears glasses. And we in the audience get the message that wearing glasses conveys.

Behavior and personality studies on nearsighted people have been done since the early 1900s. Richard Lanyon. Ph.D., of the Harvard Medical School, co-authored a journal article reviewing the many studies that clearly document the relationship between personality and vision. (3) Nearsighted people consistently test as being more introverted, shy and lacking in confidence than their clear-seeing counterparts.

Spiritual teachers also recognize this relationship. Louise Hay, author of the classic You Can Heal Your Life, suggests that nearsighted people have a fear of seeing their future and of not trusting what is ahead in their lives.

Seth Speaks author, Jane Roberts, notes that for many, nearsightedness was a physical manifestation of something that they did not want to see – on an emotional, psychological and/or spiritual level.

I’ve spent the last thirty years teaching holistic vision care, working one-on-one with people and conducting hundreds of workshops and seminars.

My experience confirms this relationship between the inner and outer aspects of seeing. My experience also shows me that it is not only nearsightedness that has a mind/body connection: farsightedness, astigmatism, eye imbalances – even some medical eye problems – also do.

The eyes are more than a camera. And not seeing clearly means more – much more – than only that the camera being out of focus.

Our eyes are also sensitive emotional receptors through which we relate to others. We express our feelings through our eyes. We can often tell what somebody is thinking by the “look” in their eyes. And, in many ways, how we feel tempers how and what we see.

All of us have been in situations where we see things we don’t like or that have hurt us in some way. Perhaps we imagine, “If I pretend not to see it, it will disappear,” or “I don’t want to see this part of myself or what’s going on around me.” Pretending not to see or not to know is one coping strategy that may be a useful protection at certain times.

The difference is that those who do not see clearly have ingrained this response into their consciousness, most often in response to particularly stressful situations that occurred prior to needing glasses the first time.

Vision Transition Period

I surveyed 583 people before they began using The Program for Better Vision, a vision improvement audio course I developed. I found that 63% of them were able to remember at least one significant change that occurred in their life during the 12 to 18 month period before first noticing a limitation in their vision. I call this period the Vision Transition Period.

The changes they noticed fell into one or more of these three categories.

1. Personal: Changes in self image usually (but not always) accompanied by physical changes during adolescence (reaching puberty) or during middle age (aging), or changes in the fundamental ways in which other people and life are perceived.
2. Emotional: Changes in significant relationships. (Parents divorce, another child is born or a loved one dies.)
3. Situational: Changes in the environment. (Moving to another town and having to make new friends or staying in the same town but switching careers, homes or schools.)

Whatever the specific external changes may have been, they are merely a catalyst. The key is that the emotional response of not wanting to see or be seen, of pulling away or hiding from the world, develops first on the inner levels before it manifests physically.

TRY THIS NOW: (without glasses or contacts)

Hold your hand up near your face and focus on it, and then quickly look at something past your hand in the distance. Then look back at your hand. Out of the corner of your eye notice the same distant item. If you’ve got clear vision, here’s what you should see: Your hand will be clearer than the distant item when you are focusing on your hand. When you’re focused on the distant item, it will be clearer than your hand. However, if you’re nearsighted, your hand will be clearer, even when you’re looking at the distant item. And if you’re farsighted, the distant item will be clearer, even when you’re looking at your hand.

In other words, if you’ve got a vision problem, your eyes can’t change focus, swiftly, easily and sharply, from far to near. Many people think there’s nothing that can be done about that, perhaps even believing that it’s because the eye is the wrong shape (that’s another one of the 5 Vision Myths that I tear apart in The Program for Better Vision). But you can train the muscles in your eyes to focus better at different distances, and here’s why:

FATTER OR FLATTER: CAN YOUR LENS MAKE THE CHANGE?

The lens in the eye changes its shape to bring objects into focus. The lens needs to be flatter to see objects that are further away more clearly. And it needs to become fatter to focus on something closer. We are always changing what we are looking at, so the lens is continually making fine adjustments in its shape. Normally, the lens changes its focus – and thus its shape – more than 100,000 times each and every day. The shape of the lens is controlled by a group of muscles that surround the lens. These muscles have to work together to change the lens into the exact shape required to bring whatever you are looking at into sharp focus.

This changing of the eye’s focusing power is called Accommodation. (It’s one of the 6 Critical Visual Skills you’ll develop when you use The Program for Better Vision.) But if you’ve got a vision problem, these muscles around the lens become stuck and stiff. Some of them can’t relax when they need to, while others can’t stretch when they need to. If you’re nearsighted, they’re “stuck” for near vision and the lens has too much power. On the other hand, if you’re farsighted, these muscles are “stuck” for distance vision; the lens has too little focusing power. Like any other group of muscle in the body, the muscles around the lens can be exercised. When you exercise them correctly, they can regain flexibility and tone, and they’ll work the way that they’re supposed to.

Here’s one exercise from The Program for Better Vision that re-trains accommodation: Near-To-Far Shifting.

TRY THIS NOW: (without glasses or contacts)

1. Look at your finger, about 4-6 inches in front of your eyes.
   
2. Shift your focus to a distant target, at least 10 feet away.
   
3. Shift your focus back and forth from your finger to the distant target 10 – 20 times.
   
4. Repeat as many times during the day as you remember. The more the better!
   

Make sure that your focus rests for a brief moment before you shift your vision again. With practice, you’ll be able to train the muscles around the lens to become more flexible and to change focus more easily and quickly. The result: You’ll see better and better through an increasing range of distances.

Near-To-Far Shifting is one of 24 different exercises, techniques and processes that you’ll find in The Program for Better Vision, a powerfully effective combination of eye exercises, muscle control techniques, brain/eye coordination and complete body, mind and eye relaxation.

You don’t have to resign yourself to poor vision and failing eyesight. Your eyes are like any other part of your body – they respond positively to exercise and relaxation. Every condition of your body can be made better with the right actions and attitudes – and that includes your eyesight.

And you’re not alone. According to the American Optometric Association, upwards of 8 out of 10 computer users report some type of eye strain at the computer. The problem is so prevalent it’s been given a name: Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS).

The symptoms of Computer Vision Syndrome include:

• eyes hurting or over-tired
• eyes burning or itching
• dry, or watery, eyes
• double vision
• blurry eyesight (either at the computer or in the distance)
• the need for glasses for the first time
• the need for stronger prescriptions
• headaches, neck, shoulder and back tension
• increased sensitivity to light

Using a computer does place a unique set of demands on your eyes. But it’s not inevitable for your eyes to hurt at the computer, or for you to experience eye strain at the computer, once you know how to use your eyes correctly for the task, and what to do at the first sign of tension or fatigue.

Saving your eyesight at the computer can be as simple as being aware of your vision in a new way. Knowing visual ergonomics and the simple keys to healthy computing should go a long way to alleviating the symptoms of Computer Vision Syndrome.

Here are five keys to taking care of your eyes at the computer.

1. Fit your set up to you: (fig. 1)

• Set up your computer so that you can look beyond the screen. If at all possible, don’t be in the corner, or face a wall.
• Sit directly in front of computer, not off to one side or the other.
• Sit 18-24 inches away from the screen
• Sit high enough so that your line of sight is level with or higher than the top of the screen
• Keep your wrists level with or below your elbows. Never bend your wrists up when typing
• Your knees should be below the level of your hips
• Place your feet on the floor. Use a footrest if your feet don’t reach the floor.

2. Look away from the screen regularly.

Focusing on an object far away, such as the water cooler down the hall or a tree outdoors, is a simple stretching exercise for eye muscles. Quickly shift your focus from near to far 3-4 times.

A brief look into the distance every 2 to 3 minutes prevents the build-up of visual stress and discomfort and keeps your eyes healthy and active.

These frequent micro-breaks offer much more relief to your eyes than an hourly break. A break every hour – however long it might be – does not provide all the relief and rest that your eyes need. Micro-breaks are more effective and beneficial.

Extended staring at a computer screen inevitably creates fatigue, tension and eye problems. Failing to take short vision breaks is one of the major factors leading to eye strain and eye problems for computer users.

Micro vision break tip: Look up and focus on the furthest object in the distance. Be aware of objects around you in your periphery. Take a deep breath. Relax as you exhale. Blink a couple of times. Shift your vision back to the screen and re-focus. (Three near-to-far shifts per break are recommended. This should take about 5 seconds.)

Mirror tip: If your computer is in a corner or if you work in a small space, place a small mirror on top of your monitor or on your desk. Use the mirror to give your eyes a distant view by looking through the mirror and focusing on objects that you see behind you.

3. Minimize glare on the screen.

You can detect a potential glare problem by turning on the lights in the room that you normally would use – before turning on your computer. If you see any images or reflections on the (turned-off) screen, you’ve got a glare problem.

To reduce or minimize glare, experiment by:

• Moving the screen to a better location, if possible
• Tilting the screen
• Moving objects that reflect onto the screen
• Covering windows to block sunlight
• Turning off or lowering offending lights
• Covering fluorescent lights with egg-crate baffles
• Turning your computer so the screen is perpendicular to overhead fluorescent lights.

It may be impossible to eliminate glare altogether, in which case you might consider using an anti-glare screen.

4. Use friendly lighting.

5. Blink more often.

For more information, visit www.bettervision.com.

Less than three months ago, I discovered that alpha-lipoic acid was protective against glaucoma and could reduce the pressure in my eyes. After taking one capsule a day for six weeks, I noticed a marked improvement in my eyesight. After taking the tablets for two and a half months, sure enough, the pressure has gone down to 20 mmHg (left) and 18 mmHg (right). – Patricia Knox, Holyhead

WDDTY replies: Alpha-lipoic acid, or ALA, is a potent antioxidant (far more so than vitamins C and E) that increases glutathione (for cellular energy and proper immune function), and helps all conditions due to increased insulin production and abnormal glucose metabolism, including diabetes, high cholesterol, glaucoma, cataracts and hardening of the arteries. Research has demonstrated its effectiveness in treating glaucoma (Vest Oftalmol, 1995; 111: 68) and cataracts (Ann NY Acad Sci, 1994; 738: 257-64). The usual dose is 50-100 mg twice a day; higher dosages can cause nausea, upset stomach and even low blood sugar. Its presence in greens, such as spinach, accounts for the Popeye effect (see WDDTY vol 15 no 3’s special report). It’s also found in liver and brewer’s yeast.