March 13, 2018 - Nearsightedness (Myopia)
Hey folks, it’s Dr. Sam and I’m on a great hike today. I’m about 20 miles southeast of Santa Fe in the wilderness. The shot that I showed you at the beginning of this video was Shaggy peak.
What Causes Nearsightedness (Myopia)?
I want to talk about progressive myopia. Nearsightedness is a deterioration of your eyes and I received a number of questions from people who are interested to know whether or not you can actually improve nearsightedness as you get older. They were told that your eyes only get worse as you age and there’s nothing you can do in terms of your near-sightedness.
So to start, I want to quote a study that came out this was published in the American Academy of Ophthalmology in partnership with the National Eye Institute and the University of California at Davis. In this study, they found that almost 10 percent of all people diagnosed with nearsightedness actually have a condition called progressive degenerative myopia. And this particular amount of myopia is about minus 6 diopters. So what that means is you have about six layers of lenses that they grind into a single lens that you wear – it’s a very strong prescription. The findings of the study reported that back in the early 1970s there were about 23 million people who were diagnosed with myopia. That number has nearly doubled in 25 years, so now there are more than 43 million Americans who suffer from about myopia.
About 10% of those who suffer from myopia have this progress degenerative myopia condition. One of the side effects of having this degeneration is that it can create something called choroidal neovascularization.
So the choroid is the covering of the eye that protects the retina. What happens with choroidal neovascularization when you’ve got this progressive myopia is that unstable blood vessels start to form in the choroid and over time they move into the retina. This can cause hemorrhaging and bleeding. It can also lead to things like retinal holes, lattice degeneration in the retina, and even retinal detachments.
So in terms of this progressive degenerative myopia what the study concluded was there’s really not much you can do for it it’s just an ageing process. There’s also a genetic predisposition and you know that was basically what the study reported.
Nearsightedness is not the Eyeball’s Fault
So is there a way to slow down or reverse near-sightedness? Well that’s the question that I’m going to answer today. But before I do that I’m going to talk about your myopia or near-sightedness from a more whole health point of view. So we want to blame faulty vision on a deteriorating eyeball, but as I’ve said before it’s not the eyeballs fault when it changes its prescription – it’s the programming behind the eyeball. It’s what our brain is saying to our eyes to adapt to the situation we’re going through.
So although there might be a genetic predisposition, the environment has a really big influence on our refractive error, whether we’re nearsighted, farsighted, or have astigmatism.
So in terms of nearsightedness, the behavioral adaptation that people make in nearsightedness is that they pull the visual world in and they blur out the distance. It’s a way to protect themselves to something is out of control in their environment. The eyes tense up and pull their visual world in. There may be fear associated with it or simply a lack of trust, so they tighten up their eyes and they perpetuate that paradigm. They tense up they pull their visual world in there may be fear associated with it or a lack of trust and so they tighten up their eyes and they perpetuate that paradigm. Eventually, they end up at the doctor and the doctor often does a great job in validating the prescription. You start wearing that prescription and it locks your eyes into that tightness and programming. Ultimately, prescribing nearsighted glasses treats symptoms, but fails to treat the causative factors of nearsightedness and increases your prescription over time. The underlying problem is visual stress while focusing up close, but what doctors are trained to do – including me – is to get rid of the blur and let’s correct the
The problem is stress up close. But what doctors are trained to do including me is let’s get rid of the blue and correct the distant acuity.
So let’s say you go to an eye exam. You’re sitting in a dark room and being asked if #1 or #2 is clearer. Let’s say you guess #2 and you get the prescription. When you start wearing it, you begin to develop headaches or feel dizzy or get nauseous. You go back to the doctor and the doctor says don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. This causes you to tense more and tunnels your vision. Maybe digital devices are introduced and you’re using a prescription that was designed for distance. All of these environmental factors can cause nearsightedness to get worse over time. But what I found is that there are some key principles that you can apply to at the very least slow down your myopia and at the best, you can reverse myopia.
I want to go into those principles in a moment but I want to share my own experience. When I was a child I became about three diopters in myopia and when I was in my late 20s I actually met a holistic eye doctor and I went through his process called vision therapy. In that process, what I learned was that I was really tensing my eyes and that I had difficulty using my eyes together. This created a stress pattern that I was actually able to reverse through physical therapy for the eyes – vision therapy. As a result, I am no longer nearsighted and haven’t been for over 25 years. I see clearly at a distance and while focusing on something near me. What became evident was that my vision problem – my near-sightedness – was more than in the eyeball. It was actually in my brain, posture, movement, diet, and my emotions.
How to Improve Nearsightedness Naturally
Whether you have myopia or a more serious condition called progressive or degenerative myopia, here are some protocols that may help:
- Improve your diet. Your retina has one of the highest metabolic needs of the body and when we start developing eye deterioration of any kind our ability to nourish the cells in the eyes and support its metabolic processes is usually at fault. The eye needs a lot of antioxidants – I’ve spoken many times about the importance of eye-healthy nutrients and foods. In particular, chromium has been found to be an important trace mineral in slowing down the progressive myopia pattern. Other trace minerals like selenium and magnesium are also very important. I would also suggest cutting out inflammatory foods like carbohydrates, sugars, and processed foods. There is a strong correlation between your blood sugar levels and the health of your retina.
- Boost your glutathione levels. As the “master antioxidant”, glutathione is absolutely critical for your eyes to improve oxygenation and hydration in the eye. When these processes are lacking, the eyes are unable to eliminate free radicals and clear the buildup of metabolic waste. Improving the metabolic processes play an important role in cataracts by keeping the lens of the eye clear, as well as glaucoma by preventing and releasing the buildup of pressure in the eye. One issue that I discussed earlier, choroidal neovascularization, is the creation of unstable blood vessels that are being created as a way to balance the lack of nourishment in the retina. If left unaddressed, this can evolve into hemorrhaging and even a retinal detachment.
- Get informed about corrective lenses you’re wearing. I’ve found that most prescriptions are too strong for you, especially if they’re used on digital devices. You can ask your doctor for a weaker prescription for nearsighted reading or use of digital devices. If you’re using progressive glasses, progressive lenses, invisible bifocals or even regular bifocals, what you’re doing is you’re training your eyes and your brain to tunnel your vision. This induces more myopia and it also puts a lot of pressure on your macula. There’s a saying that the bigger the window you look through the more relaxed your eyes become, the better your depth perception, the better your memory, and the better you are at processing information. I would even suggest using weaker lenses indoors and make a comparison between your computer glasses and your distance glasses. Most find that although the weaker lens will create a little bit of a blur, the eyes actually feel far more relaxed. Over time, you eyes improve their flexibility and adjust to the weaker prescription.
- Use the 20 / 20 / 20 rule. Look 20 ft away every 20 minutes for 20 seconds. This can prevent visual stress and support flexibility in the eyes. You know there was a study done many years ago with Eskimos and they found that you know in the general population Eskimos had a very low risk of developing myopia. Then they took a group of Eskimos and they put them in school they educated them and they found that most of them became near-sighted. So when you’re doing a lot of near work close work this induces myopia near-sightedness.
- Take a walk in nature. Get outside and take a walk in nature! It has a great impact on your brain and is great for relieving visual stress in the eyes. Many of us suffer from Nature Deficit Disorder because of all the electronics and technology that keeps us indoors. When you take a walk outside it allows us to expand our vision, relaxes our mind, and helps relieve stress in the eyes and body.
- Do eye exercises. Not only internally, but you can use eye exercises to relieve visual stress, such as palming, sunning, and scanning. I would recommend doing these eye exercises every day to improve your circulation and discharge the stress that gets accumulated in the eyes. If you allow stress to accumulate you will induce more nearsightedness.
- Find a holistic eye doctor. It’s important to have your primary eye health professional advocate for a cause-based approach instead of a symptom-based approach. The symptoms-based approach tells us there isn’t much we can do, but we can continue to correct blurriness while worsening the underlying issue.
I’ll leave you with this one final thought. Even though you’re getting older you can improve your vision at any age! You just need to have the formula and the willpower to stick with it.
So that’s my message for today. I think I’m going to get back on the trail. I want to thank you so much for tuning in. And until next time take good care.