I have been pretty busy with school lately, so I haven’t had the time to write on my blog as much as I would like. In this post I want to describe new ideas/observations I’ve noticed.
The major thing I’ve been making more of a habit lately is using my Snellen chart once or twice a day. I try to use it for 15-30 minutes at a time depending on my motivation. After all these months of improving my vision, I am finally able to use the chart in the correct manner the majority of the time. The chart is now just a special object, but not a test, for my eyes to look upon. What makes the chart special in comparison to other objects I see throughout the day is that I know what the letters should look like when they are clear and there are a variety of sizes and locations for the letters. When I use the chart now, I am able to notice when a technique or action causes my vision to become sharper. From this information, I am able to practice the most effective techniques for my eyesight. While the chart is good for practicing vision activities, it is also good (indirectly) for pointing out the causes of one’s mental strain (which is causing the poor vision).
This takes some knowledge and experience, but one can tell which vision habits are lacking in order to allow clear vision. For me, I know that my main flaw is not shifting in small enough increments. A secondary cause of strain is not noticing the periphery as I look at the center of my visual field. I can tell this as the activities that benefit my vision the most are conscious shifting about a very small imagined object (from memory) or period and long swings. These activities require the use of central fixation and using the entire visual field. When these two are combined, my vision is usually the clearest.
Based on the above information, I now understand why palming is usually not too effective at clearing up my vision- my cause of mental strain is not physical stress. If I just needed to relax my mind and body in order to see clearly, then palming would be a good activity for me to practice. However, my experience shows that small shifting is more important for me to practice.
Beyond these ideas, another change I’ve made is using my first pair of close work glasses (-3.00 D) for driving, which I started doing today. I drive the same roads pretty much every day, so these glasses allow me to drive safely but with a little less clarity than my current distance pair of glasses. Since I only need my close work glasses (-2.50 D) for seeing the projector screens at school and computer screens, my distance pair (-3.75 D) will be used very little or not at all now. 🙂 In addition to this change, I am still working on wearing glasses as little as possible throughout the day.
I think the next step I will work on is using the computer without glasses. The strength of the glasses I use for the computer is so low (-2.50 D) that I believe I can reach this goal in a relatively short time. I know I can see clearer now through the close work pair than when I first received them. So, instead of ordering a weaker close work pair of glasses, I think I will start transitioning to not using any glasses for this task. I’ll probably start doing this with my home computer then later with the computers at school which I often use for homework. I know this goal is fully achievable if I make a habit of using small shifts and not having tunnel vision.
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