Near-point Stress

To be fair, the theory of near-point stress seems to have some valid points too. This theory explains that myopia develops due to the constant stress on ciliary muscle. Using the eyes for close work for prolonged period of time makes the lens in the eye to accommodate, forcing it to change the shape. Wearing glasses not only locks this tensed muscle condition but actually becomes worse and worse as no doubt everyone with myopia experienced. After a while the change becomes permanent. The proponents of these theory claim that if you never wear glasses and keep good posture while doing close work your eyesight should never become worse than -3D which is bearable.

Either way we have locking of the muscle due to stress and glasses. Only in the Bates theory the strain is produced by straining to see in the distance while in near-point stress theory the main culprit is doing the close work.

Who is right? To be honest, I don’t know. According to Bates, it follows logically that reading the small print decreases myopia. According to the other theory just looking in the distance decreases myopia.

So here’s the tip for you to implement in your daily work: whenever you perform any close work every 15 minutes or so glance in the distance, preferably through the window, if that is not possible, around the room. Close your eyes and imagine yourself looking at some scenery with distant objects like trees.

The Bates Method Overview

OK, it’s time to finally divulge what this Bates method is all about. There is lots of misinformation on the internet about this method, some people claim to be Bates teacher who did not grasped the concept.

In fact Bates method is very simple but also very complicated. I mean it’s easy to understand but not easy to actually master it, to really apply it.

Why is that? Because the main concept behind the Bates method is relaxation. As long as our extraocular muscles (the ones that surround the eyeball) are relaxed, we’ll have perfect vision. Well, maybe not perfect but pretty good anyway.

So what happens? In case of myopia certain extraocular muscles get tensed and change the shape of the eyeball to an elongated one. In case of hypermetropia another set of muscles tense and the eyeball becomes squeezed. Little strain leads to greater strain. When we start wearing glasses that state eventually becomes fixed and the dreadful condition of myopia or other ones appear.

Here’s a quote from Perfect Sight Without Glasses that sums up the point:

It has also been demonstrated that for every error of refraction there is a different kind of strain. The study of images reflected from various parts of the eyeball confirmed what had previously been observed, namely, that myopia (or a lessening of hypermetropia) is always associated with a strain to see at the distance, while hypermetropia (or/ a lessening of myopia) is always associated with a strain to see at the nearpoint; and the fact can be verified in a: few minutes by anyone who knows how to use a retinoscope, provided only that the instrument is not brought nearer to the subject than six feet.

So myopia is produced not by excessive near work like we’ve been led to believe but by an effort to see distant objects!

Retinoscope

Retinoscope was Dr. Bates favourite tool that he used to measure the anomaly of refraction. he used it not only on humans but also on animals. He used it under various conditions on different subjects and documented all the results. Then he formed the theory of the anomalies of refraction based on these accumulated data. His idea was that if the theory was right every single fact should fit it! No exception. It seems that he came up with the beautiful theory but the mainstream medicine never accepted it. It also gave no convincing evidence against it, just plain rejection.

So what about the schoolchildren?

In my post yesterday I mentioned the method that Bates used in some schools to maintain and improve children's eyesight. The method is so simple and genuine that it’s wonder it’s not used anymore. It costs almost nothing to implement yet the results were beyond belief. Do you want to know what it was?

Well, it’s very simple. He suggested that every teacher put up a Snellen chart on the wall and instruct children to read it daily. The idea behind the method is that the human eye relaxes when it views familiar objects. In this case the chart was not used to test their eyesight but to look at the familiar object. Some children are reported to have had a significant improvement.

By the way the method won’t work if your eyesight is already wrecked (from my personal experience). Hence the idea: if you or somebody in your house has vision that just started deteriorating or still is good just put the eyechart on the wall and look at it daily. That’ it. Don’t try to see how many lines you can distinguish as this involves strain (more about this later). Just look at it and read a few lines.

Who on a heck is Dr. Bates?

According to Wikipedia, here’s a few biographical facts:

Bates graduated A.B. from Cornell University in 1881 and received his medical degree at the college of physicians and surgeons in 1885. He formulated a theory about vision health, and published the book Perfect Sight Without Glasses in 1920. Parts of Bates' approach to correcting vision disorders were based on psychological principles, which was contrary to many of the medical theories of the time and remain so. The Bates Method still enjoys some limited acceptance as a modality of alternative medicine.
Bates treated many patients, who claimed to have been cured of vision defects, especially myopia. This brought him into conflict with his peers. He defended himself by claiming that other physicians were in thrall to the establishment.

Not much of a biography there. But it does not really matter. As you can see Wikipedia and medical establishment in general do not like Bates much. His main work “The Cure of Imperfect Sight by Treatment Without Glasses” (later edited into “Perfect Sight Without Glasses”) is a result of years of research and study of the human eyes in various conditions. He and his clinical staff also published “Better Eyesight” magazine (from 1919-1930) of which his book is condensed version. It has a nice section of theory on common eyes disorders which he called anomalies of reflection and those include conditions like myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) and astigmatism. He also touches on problems of squint and cataract. The book is full of case histories. And the main part is devoted to techniques of relaxation.

Bates (1860-1931) has never been popular with a medical establishment even during his own lifetime though he is the one that got positive and definite results. Just to give you an idea he found the way to keep schoolchildren’s eyesight in good condition, his method was used with tremendous success. Then for some reason it’s been dropped. Well, I think we all can guess the real reason behind it.

Bates was a pioneer in the science of ophthalmology and hit upon a wonderful way to preserve the eyesight. If the eye doctors gave their patients a copy of the Bates’ book instead of the first pair of glasses we would not have this pandemics of eye anomalies.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog on the Bates method of natural vision improvement. This method is based on relaxation, both physical and mental. My aim in creating this blog is, first, to introduce people to the Bates method as I have not seen similar material on the net, second, to promote methods of natural vision improvement.

In this blog I am going to introduce to you tips and techniques that allow your eyes to relax and see better, sometimes in minutes.

I have been studying the Bates method for years and I have not seen anything similar to the concept that I have in mind and I am going to introduce on this blog. I am going to publish articles on the Bates method, recommend certain books and give you my own ideas about the methods and techniques involved.

Of course the techniques will not be limited exclusevely to Bates but he is the founder of the feast. We'll deal with anything that relates to natural vision improvement.

So if you came to this blog looking for the ways to improve your vision and are not familiar with the Bates method, than welcome aboard. I am going to take you for the ride that will leave a lasting impression.