Eye fitness

May 29, 2009 1:59 AM

Why are there no eye gyms?

I've often heard opticians say that the reason someone needs glasses is that they sit in front of a screen all day. The person's eyes get used to focusing on near objects.

It seems sensible then that as an alternative to glasses, eye exercises should be more common place.

For what reasons would this be or is this a bad idea? (I'm not looking for the "because then they would sell less glasses angle")

posted by devnull to health & fitness (12 comments total)

I don't think it's so much a "eye muscles get weak and can't do the right thing" as a "over time, the shape of your eye changes very very slowly to help you better focus on the things that you do focus on" kind of thing.

So for these "exercises" to be effective, you'd have to be looking in the distance for at least as much time as you look at a computer screen.
posted by trevyn at 2:21 AM on May 29

They do prescribe exercises for some people. I would guess some patients don't adhere to the regimen though, and glasses are an easier alternative.
posted by sunshinesky at 2:22 AM on May 29

I grew up with an eye gym in my basement!

My brother wore glasses and I can't say what his exact ailement was, but he was prescribed a variety of eye exercises as a child. Remember those toy balls in the 80s that had ugly faces with eyes poked out and scars where the baseball stitching would be? We had two suspended from strings in our basement and each night after dinner my 8 year old bro would stand still and follow the tethered movement of those balls with his eyes. He also had a flip chart filled with circuitous paths that he'd go through, and I have another vague recollection of flash cards and lines and dots being painted on the wall as part of his regime. An eye patch or wooden spoon (curse you, elusive memory) was also part of the exercise equipment.
posted by furtive at 2:41 AM on May 29 [1 favorite]

The Bates Method is one well known system of eye exercises. It's heavily criticised. Martin Gardner also covers it in his excellent Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science.

In short, eye exercises are not a suitable alternative to glasses.
posted by edd at 2:53 AM on May 29

Well here are 9 exercises you can try at home - as edd points out however the Bates method may not be all that it first appears.
posted by rongorongo at 3:08 AM on May 29

Bates method isn't all that's out there, eye excercises (e.g. Trataka) were a part of Yoga tradition. I think the issue is not whether they work or not, but that it's hard to convince yourself to spend so much time doing them when glasses have relatively few minor shortcomings and are relatively cheap.

I'm not really convinced that Bates method does not work, either. Are there people who did the exercises for X amount of hours daily for Y days or are there people who read the book and say "no, I don't think that's how shortsightedness works"?
posted by rainy at 3:32 AM on May 29 [1 favorite]

I had double vision (inability to bring both eyes together on close objects) when I was a kid. I used to go to the optometrist who had a special room for eye exercises. I would focus on a close object and then focus far away. There were a bunch of other sort of exercises, different machines with pictures inside of them.

I still have issues. I'm supposed to do "pencil pushups" just focusing on a pencil close up and then drawing it back and forth. I never do them...I should. I can feel the difference in doing them...I just forget.

Anyway, I think this is pretty legitimate and fairly common.
posted by sully75 at 4:08 AM on May 29

There's also the book by Aldous Huxley. Bates Method related.
posted by nicolin at 4:28 AM on May 29

The bates method involves staring into the sun. Its pure quackery.
posted by damn dirty ape at 5:25 AM on May 29

Here's the Tibetan version.
posted by Hanuman1960 at 5:44 AM on May 29

For most people this is called "going outside".
posted by valkyryn at 5:46 AM on May 29 [4 favorites]

I used to be nearsighted (-6.50 in each eye), and thanks to eye exercises, I don't need glasses anymore. I suspect the effectiveness of eye exercises depends on the cause. I spend most of my day in front of a computer screen, so the cause was pretty obvious.

Would an "eye gym" be part of a regular gym? I suppose gyms could add eye exercise classes to help customers relax their eyes. A better solution would be to build a better computer interface to reduce the eyestrain in the first place.
posted by larkin123 at 6:40 AM on May 29