[HN Gopher] The doctor who says we can improve our vision - at a...
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The doctor who says we can improve our vision - at any age
Author : bookofjoe
Score : 27 points
Date : 2025-09-27 17:39 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.thetimes.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.thetimes.com)
| bookofjoe wrote:
| https://archive.ph/w1Bf5
| ceridwyn wrote:
| Given that similar claims have been around for a long time and it
| still lacks published results, I feel people have reason to be
| skeptical.
|
| I wonder if this "training programme" could be implemented or
| tested using a VR workspace and varying the (virtual) distance of
| the working field while adjusting size so that it remains clear.
| The virtual environment could be finely and dynamically
| adjustable (as opposed to having to change lenses) and progress
| could be measured in a consistent environment.
|
| On second thought, if that worked, the Apple Vision Pro might
| sell some additional units.
| jerlam wrote:
| China, which has extremely high myopia in its student
| population, decided to tackle the problem top-down by reducing
| the amount of homework and forcing kids to play outside. They
| have some success:
| https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9412110/
|
| The claims have been around a long time, but how many people
| actually follow the guidelines? There are lots of stronger
| factors preventing people from doing it: economic unrest,
| smartphones, fear of outdoors and pollution, stronger emphasis
| on education, etc.
|
| By the same token, doctors claim we can address heart disease
| and obesity with exercise and diet, but things don't seem to be
| getting any better.
| LeftHandPath wrote:
| This tracks very well with my experience... Too much time in a
| cubicle away from windows -- say, just for a week -- and my
| vision gets noticeably worse. A few days away from the screen,
| like a week on the lake, and it gets much sharper.
|
| I'd be inclined to agree with him that it can be prevented and
| maybe even reversed.
| politelemon wrote:
| Another post that confuses ereaders for tablets and phones, which
| is unfortunate and baffling to me as it's supposed to be in the
| name.
|
| The point of ereaders is that they are like physical books and in
| terms of viewing experience. Tablets and phones are where you're
| dealing with the brightness issues and eyes darting everywhere.
| pedalpete wrote:
| I was wondering the same thing, but they do talk about glare,
| which does exist on e-readers.
|
| They also make the error of equating blue-light with impacting
| sleep, which has been thoroughly debunked.
| morninglight wrote:
| Some folks say this book helped them and it's a free download.
|
| Sight Without Glasses - Harold M. Peppard
|
| https://archive.org/details/sightwithoutglas00haro/page/n1/m...
| morninglight wrote:
| Some folks say this book helped them
|
| Sight Without Glasses - Harold M. Peppard
|
| https://archive.org/details/sightwithoutglas00haro/page/n1/m...
| lithocarpus wrote:
| tl:dr; My vision significantly improved as an adult and seems to
| possibly still be improving over the five years since. I don't
| think I can know the cause for sure, but I did go from being
| mostly at computers to being mostly outdoors in the woods two
| years before I noticed the improvement.
|
| longer story: Growing up, at the doctor's they made us look at
| some letters on a chart far away and I didn't realize I was
| supposed to tell them if the letters were blurry. I was pretty
| good at figuring out what the blurry letters were because there
| are only so many options. So they always said I had 20-20 vision.
| At about age 21 I was driving my dad's car and put on his
| sunglasses which were prescription sunglasses, and suddenly I
| could see the crisp detail of everything - the distant treetops,
| the little rocks in the field along the road. I was blown away
| and realized my eyes were not very good and I had been missing
| this my whole life. I got glasses.
|
| Then later at 27 when I was quitting my office job to go be in
| nature, I stopped wearing the glasses for a combination of
| reasons.
|
| Two years later at 29, I had been thinking about getting glasses
| again as I really wanted to see the forest where I lived in
| detail. But I didn't do it. But one day a few months after having
| those thoughts, I was lying on the deck looking up at the tall
| trees from underneath, and realized I could see clearly the
| needles in detail. I looked around at the distant mountain top
| and could see that clearly too. I was blown away. I don't know
| for sure if it happened suddenly or gradually, but part of it
| must have progressed pretty quickly since it was within a few
| months of when I had thought about getting glasses.
|
| It's been four years now, and my eyes are still great like they
| were right after I noticed the shift. My right eye is really
| sharp and the left is also better than it was originally. And
| while I can't be sure, it seems like my left eye has been getting
| better over these years, because at first I noticed my right eye
| had become sharp but the left was still quite blurry. I'm
| constantly grateful for this, it's just about the best gift I
| could have ever asked for.
|
| I don't know if I was born nearsighted or if that developed due
| to excessive use of books and computer from a very young age. I
| am still able to focus up close, at ~4 inches with my left eye
| and ~4.5 inches with my right. I do know for sure that when I did
| get glasses, they not only improved my long distance vision, but
| also improved my focus on the computer screen 2ft away, and I
| would often wear them at the computer from age 21 to 27.
|
| Also of note, when I got glasses, the way I understood the test
| they did to determine my prescription, it seemed there was a
| 50/50 chance that the prescription would be on the slightly too-
| strong side rather than the too-weak side, thus training my eyes
| in the wrong direction. I asked the eye doctor about this and
| they said no it doesn't matter at all. I think it would have been
| wise to get prescription on the slightly too weak side so that
| even with the glasses my eyes might be able to train themselves
| in the correct direction even if very slowly. I would recommend
| this to anyone who gets a prescription.
| Projectiboga wrote:
| You likely exercised your eyes naturally when you were outdoors
| growing up and were close enough to be able to restore good
| vision while you were still relatively young.
| arp242 wrote:
| This sounds useful in case you're the only survivor of a nuclear
| war and finally have time enough at last to read all the books
| you want, but end up breaking your glasses.
|
| While I would not be surprised at all there's something to this,
| things like _" improve and enhance our vision and brain function,
| at any age, along with it our sleep, balance, attention, and our
| cognitive and mental health"_ kind of set off my bullshit
| detector a bit. That seems way too many conditions to fix "with
| one easy trick!"
|
| Things like "go out and have a walk" also exposes you to fresh
| air, and even mild exercise can make you feel better for all
| sorts of reasons. Is it really primarily about the vision system
| as the article says? Not so clear to me. This sounds a bit too
| much of a tunnel-visioned viewpoint.
| walterbell wrote:
| Some resources on vision therapy.
|
| Presbyopia convergence therapy: https://raygottlieb.com/wp-
| content/uploads/2020/10/presbyopi...
|
| Myopia under-correction therapy: https://losetheglasses.org &
| https://web.archive.org/web/20230528211849/https://wiki.redu...
|
| Local vision therapists: https://www.covd.org/page/About_Us
| Projectiboga wrote:
| The key is shifting focus from super close to a couple of hundred
| yards (meters) and back a number of times more days than not. My
| wife and I are part of a multigenerational cohort who all wear
| glasses. I read a paper in ~2013-14 about how kids in Australia
| to Singaporian parents get less nearsightedness than a matched
| gourp back in Singapore. I thought it was light exposure and
| mentioned it to another school parent in NYC. He heard it was
| switching focus from near to far. So I started to guide my kid to
| look at cornices (roof edge decorations) or way down the street
| as we are walking, then to shift focus back to real close in some
| repition. And he got in the habit of doing it enough, and he is
| still glasses free at almost age 17 and the Eye Dr predicts he is
| clear until middle age now. So parents if you have kids teach
| them this skill and guide them until they get the habit !!
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