Save your vision. Pavel Artemiev
man, and it is not surprising that many research institutions have been given his name.
For us, it is more important to understand that it was Helmholtz who described in detail the work of the eye lens, which is a biconvex lens, around which the circular ciliary muscle is located. If the ciliary muscle is relaxed, the lens is flat and far vision works. If a person wants to see something up close, he strains the ciliary muscle, and she, in turn, compresses the lens, making it convex. The resulting image enters the retina, and then in the form of a picture is sent to the brain. In other words, Helmholtz believed that it was the eye lens that controlled the focusing of images. He also proposed to compensate for the insufficient work of the lens with external lenses – a biconcave “minus” lens for myopic and a biconvex “plus” lens for farsightedness. This is how glasses entered our lives.
The American ophthalmologist Professor William Horatio Bates (1860—1931) significantly supplemented the development of Helmholtz. Unlike most doctors, he declared war on glasses, explaining that most people who wear glasses need glasses with stronger lenses every year. He also tried to prove that the main role in focusing visible images is played not by the lens, but by the eyeball itself. That is, the process of accommodation (focusing the eye on sharpness) is controlled by six oculomotor muscles. And it is the violation of the work of these muscles that entails visual impairment: myopia, hyperopia, strabismus and astigmatism. As the main argument, William Bates cited the fact that the glasses do not allow the eye muscles to work. Well, what doesn’t work quickly atrophies.
Accordingly, Bates proposed to abandon the issued glasses, replacing them with weaker ones. And most importantly, he suggested using special exercises to normalize the work of the oculomotor muscles. In addition to restoring vision, according to Bates, this also prevents such dangerous diseases as glaucoma, cataracts, retinal dystrophy, the cause of which should be considered congestion in the eyes. Thus, not only vision is corrected, but the youthfulness of the eyes is also prolonged.
Over time, Bates gained a considerable number of students and followers, although official ophthalmology is in no hurry to adopt his methods. One of the reasons for this attitude can be called the fact that medicine was initially turned into a service sector – and services are very well paid. Glasses, lenses, eye surgeries – all this has long become a significant segment of today’s market. The second reason is our laziness. In fact, it is much easier to surrender to the mercy of doctors than to make certain efforts to restore one’s own health. And here the choice is already exclusively individual: there is no desire to work on yourself, open your wallet wider. If there is an understanding of the problem and due determination, have a little patience – and go!
4. Where do we start?
In fact, where is the best place to start? Immediately roll your eyes and look at the candles? Don’t rush. If you want maximum results, start with more distant approaches. In a hurry, readers risk missing out on a considerable number of important points.
As mentioned above, vision really largely depends on the work of the eye muscles, but to the same extent, vision depends on the elasticity and purity of the lens, on the condition of the retina, on the health of our spine, on the general tone in which the brain resides. Often the cause of poor vision lies precisely in these factors, and if you have already decided to restore vision, it is worth looking at the problem from a broader angle.
For example, the displacement of the vertebrae in the cervical and thoracic regions can seriously disrupt the blood supply to the brain or cause infringement of the nerve trunk. The result can be anything – and pain in certain parts of the body, and drops in blood pressure, and impaired blood supply to the brain, and the same vision problems. In this case, the exercises generously offered on the Internet may turn out to be ineffective or not give any result at all. As a result, having experienced disappointment, a person stops trying to heal and again turns to the usual means, namely, glasses and lenses.
In addition, according to many ophthalmologists, the process of visual impairment is most often associated not with a single cause, but with a whole list of them. Don’t over-complicate the simple, but don’t over-simplify the complex. Therefore, if there are problems with vision and there is a determination to correct the situation, it is worth conducting a competent analysis of the current situation. Ideally, if advice is given to you by a practicing ophthalmologist (not a dealer in lenses and glasses, but a really experienced doctor). If you have not met such a specialist, start helping yourself – but carefully and from afar. I’m talking about general physical fitness, including walking, running, swimming, gymnastics, yoga, massage or self-massage, thermal treatments and so on. Often this alone gives a long-awaited result. In addition to general strengthening of the body and increasing immunity, you will improve your eyesight. Why? Yes, because eliminate the cause that influenced the deterioration of vision. In any case, such a measure will never be superfluous. And only then you can add those very special exercises, which we will discuss below.
Now I will briefly list the most simple and effective things with which it would be worth starting eye treatment.
1. Start by following your sleep. Is the amount of time you sleep enough to fully rest your eyes? If we are talking about a short sleep (at 4-5-6 hours), if you sleep in fits and starts during the daytime, you should think about how to ensure a proper sleep regimen. It is recommended to sleep 8—9 hours and in the dark. Many doctors advise using a tight bandage over the eyes, because even through closed eyelids, morning or daylight penetrates without any problems, awakening the eye apparatus. If there is no complete twilight, then the production of melatonin, the most important hormone responsible for dozens of physiological functions, decreases, such as the regulation of fat metabolism, normalization of pressure, counteracting stress, and so on. Melatonin has a significant effect on the quality of sleep. Therefore, if you sleep in the light (even if not the brightest), your sleep will be of poor quality, and your eyes (your brain, body and nervous system) will not fully rest.
2. Bring physical activity into your life. The advice is far from new, but still relevant. Even the modern generation, seemingly knowing everything and everything, often suffers from the same physical inactivity. Meanwhile, the truth is simple: our body, consisting of joints, bones, muscles and blood vessels, was created by nature by no means for sitting and lying down. No wonder they say that movement is life. By depriving yourself of mobility, you turn off one of the most important life functions. What does it threaten? Stagnation, multiple failures of certain organs, a decrease in immunity, the development of all kinds of diseases. One misfortune pulls another, and a person, without noticing it, brings himself to an invalid state. And if, being healthy, he did not move because of his laziness, then, having turned into a sick person, he really loses the ability to move. A textbook example is the Russian hero Ivan Poddubny. A man of unprecedented strength and excellent health, already at an advanced age fell and broke his leg. Immobilized, for almost a year, Poddubny did not leave the house, and this was enough to finish off the body of the famous wrestler, leading to death. So declare war on hypodynamia! Forbidding your body to walk, run, swim, sooner or later you will wait for the body to take revenge on you. It will, in fact, lose the habit of moving, the endocrine glands will stop producing dozens of the most important hormones, depression will become a common occurrence, and after it, along with other diseases, dementia will come. It is worth mentioning the extra pounds. In fact, if you like to eat tasty food, then the body just desperately needs movement. Calories eaten must be burned and spent. Therefore, alternate sleep, rest and pauses with mandatory activity. Walking through the streets and parks, skiing, swimming, jogging, outdoor sports – choose what you like more, and this is guaranteed to increase the vital resource of all your organs – including vision.
3. Massage and self-massage. About the benefits of massage, extra words, perhaps, are not needed. Massage of the cervical-collar zone corrects the vertebrae, eliminates pinched nerve endings, stimulates blood circulation, and therefore improves the supply of oxygen and nutrients to your eyes and the entire brain. Usually used manual massage, this is the simplest thing we can do. It