eyes

[plop1389]

is there any eye excersies, foods eyedrops etc. that can help improve eyesight?

[Scarlett]

Eye exercises? I trust this is an April Fools joke?!

[Octavius]

The Alexander Technique, its Great

[Gevs1966]

There are exercises you can do to help maintain your eyesight, like any part of the body it needs to be exercised properly to stay healthy and functional. I'm not sure if there are exercises that can actually improve sight though.

 

All good opticians/eye doctors will be able to give you different exercises depending on what your eyes need.

[milly1984]

Drink lots of mineral water, it says on some of the bottles it helps with your eyesight. And bilberry extract is for eyes. http://www.healthydirect.co.uk/HDSite/product/Antioxidan ts/0140.htm

[jno]

Cricketers do eye exercises a lot - TV viewers will particularly recall Robin Smith standing bug-eyed at the crease. Mostly to do with being able to change focus quickly as a ball approaches you at 90mph - making the most of what your eyes can do rather than actually improving sight. Not being a cricketer, except the armchair type, I'm sorry I don't know what the exercises are, but they do exist. Contact your local Flintoff.

[Octavius]

Here are a few, cannot vouch for their authenticity I wear contacts!

http://www.indoindians.com/health/eyesight.htm

[clairelb]

The cricket thing is true, one of the exercises I have heard of does involve looking at something very close and then quickly trying to focus on something in the far distance and vice versa.  There are books published which tell you more, they can be found in the health section of the likes of Waterstones or if you just type Improve Eyesight into Amazon it’ll bring a few up.  Apparently, something like this was tested on Richard & Judy and the testers did see an improvement!

[Scarlett]

I take it back! I have learnt something today!!!x

[elleroo]

Vitamin A. great for improving eye sight and also to make eyes brighter. found in all red/orange vegetables and fruits. (peppers carrots oranges etc etc)

[slimfandango]

Yes. If you stop wearing your glasses, your eyesight (visual acuity) gets better. And then worsens when you start wearing glasses (apart from the corrective action of the glasses lenses, obviously).

[SC00BY]

Carrots, well you never see a rabbit with glasses!!

[kalise25]

It depends on what you're trying to improve/correct! For all-round health, try bilberry, betacarotene, omega oils or vitamins ACE (sounds like overkill if you're going to take supplements - to be honest, if you eat a balanced diet you should get most of the recommended daily levels of all of those from your food, although in certain eye conditions extra may be recommended). If you have a particular vision problem there may or may not be a suitable exercise to help.

As always, I have to say attend your local optometrist for a comprehensive eye exam - they'll be able to advise you on specifics.

Many people qualify for free eye tests on the NHS, and otherwise I believe in England and Wales Dolland & Aitcheson are doing free tests with a voucher you print off from the Internet. Before anyone asks, no I don't work for them, I work for an independent group in Scotland!

And Slimfandango, please please please do not persist with that old hairy chestnut about specs making your eyes worse.......if I had 10 pence for every person that told me that gem while I was testing their eyes, I wouldn't actually need to work for a living any more - but IT IS NOT TRUE!!!!!!!

[slimfandango]

Um, I heard it from the horses mouth. I can explain the basis according to which I say it? If you think you're up to reading the response? :-))

[slimfandango]

http://tinyurl.com/4hqxx

I was assuming that an optometrist, of all people, might be keeping up to date with the top journals?

[kalise25]

I think you'll find if you read the article that no change in refractive error was found  - their findings are purely down to perceptual adaptation. This improvement is stated as 6/35 to 6/20 (which most people will be more familiar to as being the difference between being able to read roughly the fourth line out of twelve on a letter chart at the opticians, as opposed to reading the second one), so hardly a case for throwing away your specs, now is it?

Also a suspiciously small sample size of 22 people.....not what the statistics buff would call  clinically significant?

But hey, who am I to contradict the AAO journal. (I'm sure you'll have an answer for that one too, Slimfandango!)

I feel that I may be wasting my admittedly poor typing skills on this, as with any other topic on which I hold an opposing view to you; so from now on I'll just read the eyerelated q's on the AB instead of getting in your way!Pax.

[slimfandango]

I think it would have been gracious to admit you were wrong, given that I made a specific reply to a specific question, and you then declared that my answer was NOT TRUE (sic).

As far as your retort is concerned:

-"no change in refractive error, purely down to perceptual adaptation." So what? A huge amount of work is done by the visual system beyond the optic nerve, this can't be discounted just because it does not physically handle the light. Many people's eyes are perfectly capable of producing 20/20 vision, but the system could correct this itself if only the visual cortex would pass on the right signals to allow the muscles around the eye to get the eye's own lense to function properly.

I was answering a question about improving eyesight, not curing defective vision, 6/35 to 6/20 is a pretty big unaided leap.

Your analysis of the statistics is wildly off mark, the term you are looking for is 'statistically significant', and the study was 'statistically significant', even with 22 subjects. There have been others (I have studied with the person who did the first one), which had a bit more power.

You did, after all, ask me to "please please please do not persist with that old hairy chestnut about specs making your eyes worse". Probably best to have a secure grasp of the facts before trashing a post.

[slimfandango]

But as you say, Pax.

It's all just a game...