VISION FACT Fighter pilots and athletes use eye exercises to improve their visual acuity to 20/10, while

the world record goes to a man who achieved 20/8 vision naturally. Do not use glasses when you are doing this exercise. Eye Exercise #1 - The Three Cups (for Focus) The Three Cups

Step 1: Relax and adjust your chair so that you are 12 to 24 inches from the computer monitor at eye level. If the image is not perfectly clear to you, that's alright, as long as you can make out the image roughly. Step 2: Hold a pen vertically between the two circles approximately 1 inch from the screen. The top of the pen should be at the same level as the image. Step 3: Focus on the top of the pen as you slowly bring it toward your face. As you bring the pen closer to your face you will notice the two circles gradually merge to become three circles. When the three circles are all the same shape and proportion, stop moving the pen. It may be a little blurry to start with, but the image will sharpen when you get used to focusing this way.

Step 4: Try to shift your focus from the pen to the center circle. This may be difficult and could take a few days to master. (If you have trouble doing this, refer to the troubleshooting tips below.) Step 5: Once you can focus on the center circle, move your pen away while maintaining your focus. Try to see the center circle as clearly as possible. As you increase your focus you will notice that the center circle becomes three-dimensional. It will look as if you were peering down into a Styrofoam cup.

Step 6: Your final goal for Level 1 is to look at the two circles and create the three circles (with the center one appearing three-dimensional) without using your pen at all. Once you can easily achieve this, proceed to Level 2 as described in the Rebuild Your Vision daily training routine. There are two more stages to this eye exercise, each building in what you have learnt so far.

Troubleshooting This Free Eye Exercise Tip #1: If you have trouble creating the third circle... Move closer or farther from the monitor. Also, your eyes may have become tired very quickly, so briefly look away or perform the Distant Night eye exercise to refresh your eyes. Tip #2: If you see four circles... Bring the pen closer to your face and keep your eyes focused on it. This should transform the four circles into three. Another option is to move a few inches farther from the monitor. Tip #3: If you cannot focus on the center circle... If you can see the center circle but have trouble focusing on it without the pen, be assured that this is normal when you're first performing this eye exercise. Focus on the top of the pen, then slowly look over it at the center circle. Keep going back and forth between the two until you are able to focus on the center circle without the pen. Eye Exercise #2 - Ferris Wheel (for Flexibility) This free eye exercise can help both coordination and flexibility. It feels a bit weird at first, but you'll soon get the hang of it and it will feel natural. You can do this eye exercise at any time anywhere, with your eyes open or closed. Sit up straight and look straight ahead, with your shoulders relaxed and your hands in your lap. Then raise your eyes as high as possible without moving your head.

Then, smoothly and slowly, roll them clockwise and trace a big circle around the room. Try to see as much as possible - if you feel a little pain or resistance, that means you're stretching your muscles properly, which is good. A full revolution should take at least four seconds. Do this 10 times then repeat counter-clockwise. To make it smoother, imagine you're looking at a huge ferris wheel up close - no jerky movements, just slow and steady all the way round. 3) Eye relaxation exercises Distant Night / Palming Eye relaxation exercises are quick and easy to do. Your eyes should also feel better as a result. This one, called Distant Night, can be used for several minutes to reduce eye strain and fatigue. It works by allowing your ciliary muscles to relax and prevents the eye muscles from becoming fixed in a near-point focus. As a result, you may notice less tension and headaches caused by eye strain. Step 1: Warm your hands up by rubbing them together for a few moments. Step 2: Sit down, relax, and place your elbows on a solid surface, either your knees, or on a table. Slightly cup your palms and place them over your eyes. Your fingers will overlap across your forehead. Step 3: The cups of your palms should gently rest above and below the bone surrounding your eye and cheek. Don't let any part of your hand touch your eyeball (although your eyelashes may make contact).

Step 6: Open your eyes and make sure that no light is entering the sides. Step 7: Close your eyes again and imagine that you are looking into the distant night. Allow your eyes to relax as deeply as possible. Imagine the distant stars and galaxies out in space, focusing as far away as possible. Step 8: Allow the flashes of color to disappear as relaxation sets into your eyes. Your goal is to see nothing but black as you gaze into the distant night.

Step 9: If you are using the 10-10-10 rule, you need only do this for 10 seconds. However Distant Night is a powerful eye relaxation exercise on its own, and can be used during times of eye strain for 1-2 minutes or more. Teach this eye relaxation exercise to your kids when they are engrossed in hours of video games, computer work or study. In fact, people of all ages can benefit from it to reduce eye strain and entrain better vision habits. Eye Exercise #4 1. Suspend a soft ball at about chest height from the ceiling. 2. Stand directly in front of the ball. Get someone to hold the ball as far away from you as possible, and ask him to release the ball. 3. As the ball swings towards your chest, try to move out of the ball's way without moving your feet. (Note: If you do not have anyone to help you, just swing the ball away from you to start the exercise.) 4. Repeat this fun exercise as many time as you wish. Eye Exercise #5 1. First drop your head back, then drop it right forward. 2. Now keeping your head erect, turn it all the way to the right, back to center, then all the way to the left. 3. Next drop your head forward and roll it around as wide a circle as possible. Repeat in the opposite direction. 4. Now, raise your right shoulder, then drop it down. Repeat with the left. Lastly, raise both shoulders at once, then drop them down again. Eye Exercise #6 1. Hold up a finger or a pencil near the tip of your nose, about 6 inches away. 2. Look at your finger-tip for five counts. Try to see the finger as clearly as possible. 3. Then choose a distant object, e.g. a chimney, tree, flag etc. at least 20 feet (6 metres) away. Continue for five counts. 4. Alternate between the near and far objects, looking at each for about fice counts at a time. Repeat the exercise forty times.

Carrots and Vitamin A These orange veggies are a great source of vitamin A - which itself is undeniably important for healthy eyesight. Vitamin A maintains a healthy cornea and helps proper perception of light at the retina. In fact, a deficiency will leave you wild eyed and blinking with night blindness, which is exacerbated by a lag in recovery time after seeing a flash of light in the dark. So if you suffer from a vitamin A deficiency, eating carrots will improve your vision - at least, your night vision. Carrots and Beta Carotine Carrots also contain a substance called beta carotine, which may help protect the eyes against cataracts and macular degeneration. However, the amount you would need to stay healthy is impossible to get into the typical diet - no matter how many carrots you eat! This is one reason why eye vitamins are becoming so popular, because they pack all the vitamins and nutrients required for healthy vision into a single daily supplement

Eye Exercise #1. Flexing - This is a simple warm-up exercise which stretches your extra ocular muscles. It gets you out of the habit of just staring 1-2 feet in front of your face which is what most people end up doing at their computer all day long. Face straight ahead, then look directly up as far as you can without moving your head up. Then look down. Up, down, up, down. Then look at your top right - go as far to the edge of your vision as you can. Then bottom left, and alternate the two again. Finally look top left and alternate with bottom right a few times. Feel the stretch? Eye Exercise #2 - Palming This is an eye relaxation exercise for when your eyes are feeling worn and tired from being at the computer (or any other near-point task). Cup your hands over your eyes and create a gentle pressure around your orbital bone - or the bone around the eye socket. With your eyes closed, stare into the blackness as if you are staring into space. See how far you can focus into the distance. Allow all the residual colors to fade to black this helps "reset" your vision, allowing your eyes to relax fully and lubricate again. Do this for as long as you like, usually at least 30 seconds is needed. Your eyes will feel rejuvenated when you take your hands away! Eye Exercise #3 - Blinking Dry eyes can lead to blurry vision, headaches and eye strain and often stem from continued TV or computer use. That's because the average blink rate drops from 1620 blinks per minute to 6-8 bpm while absorbed in the screen. The simple way to combat this is to blink more, and become conscious of the fact when you've stopped blinking, especially when working at the computer. If you start to feel eye strain coming on - blink! This lubricates the eye and refreshes your brain ready to receive new visual data. Eye Exercise #4 - Focusing People who wear glasses can get really lazy at focusing - and that's one reason they fail to maintain healthy vision. Take your glasses off right now and focus on your thumb held close up, then your other thumb at arm's length, then at something across the room, then at something really far away out the window. Spend about 1-2 seconds on each item. Then flick back to your close-up thumb again. Try to obtain a clear image every time. This is a great exercise to improve your vision so do it for several minutes. Eye Exercise #5 - Zooming This is similar to focusing but is designed for people who suffer farsightedness or aging vision. Hold your thumb out at arm's length and focus on it. Now draw it in until it's three inches in front of your eyes, maintaining focus all the while. Then move your thumb out again. Do this for a few minutes and you will strengthen your focusing skills (also known as accommodation). This is really important if you have been relying on glasses to do all the artificial focusing for you.

These vision training tips may help you prevent any further deterioration in your eyesight, giving you a fighting chance to see clearly, naturally. They form the warm-up to a proper eye exercise routine and are essential to good vision health. I found all of these tips in the Rebuild Your Vision program. This is a good taster if you are feeling hesitant about committing to vision training. Vision Tip #1 - Stop Wearing Glasses (or Downgrade) The first rule of vision training is that you stop wearing your glasses full time, and only resort to them when you absolutely need them (such as driving). For instance, if you are nearsighted, why use your minus lenses to read books or talk to someone face to face? Your close-up vision is good! Unfortunately, wearing your glasses in these circumstances increases the near point stress on your eyes and you will find your range of focus becomes shorter and shorter. Alternatively, if you can't give up your glasses, obtain a weaker pair that still give you clear vision but no longer overpowers your visual system. More on this below. The reason we must do this is because scientific studies show that wearing corrective lenses makes vision worse over time. Here is one example. Fact: Your Eyes Adapt to Your Lenses Dr Earl Smith of the University of Houston College of Optometry fitted various types of corrective lenses on monkeys with normal vision. He found that within weeks, monkeys fitted with nearsighted lenses adapted to the lenses and became nearsighted. Likewise, monkeys with farsighted lenses became farsighted. The same thing happened with lenses designed for astigmatism. You have probably noticed this yourself when you get a new prescription. The world appears ultra-clear and you have to get used to the strong lenses. Then, within days or weeks, they feel normal and eventually are too weak altogether. The implications of this study are huge - not least because humans and monkeys have almost identical visual systems. What's more, it highlights that wearing glasses or contacts doesn't even treat your condition. And as a result, 30% of people who wear lenses end up with one or more serious eye diseases by the time they are 70 years old, simply because their vision is so poor. Right now, you probably wear your glasses all day, every day. This means you never exercise the eyes naturally like people with 20/20 vision can daily. If your vision is so bad that you can't do anything without glasses, revert to an old pair or get a pair of weaker glasses online. At first, I found the world very fuzzy with my nearsightedness and astigmatism. But within a few hours, I found my eyesight was actually clearer, especially in the sunlight. It's amazing how well your eyes can function if you give them the chance.

Vision Tip #2 - Don't Read with Long Distance Glasses This is important damage control for people with nearsightedness or astigmatism. Reading up-close materials through your long distance glasses creates near-point stress - and this can be a major cause of shortsightedness. It can also make your vision deteriorate even faster. So, while you should only be wearing your glasses when you absolutely need them, be extra cautious of reading or using a computer with them on.

If you can't see the computer screen at work without your glasses, bring yourself closer to the monitor. If that makes you hunch, then sit up straight and increase the size of the fonts by holding down Control and rolling your mouse wheel forward. If you still can't see, get a weaker pair of prescription glasses which give you 20/40 acuity at 20 inches. Or wear an old, weaker pair.

If you ignore this tip, it will be so much harder to improve your vision naturally with eye exercises, because you will be undoing all your hard work each day! Vision Tip #3 - Wear an Eye Patch This is a great way for anyone to exercise the eyes without even thinking about it. Buy a cheap eye patch from your local drugstore and wear it for one hour a day for reading, watching TV or playing. (Don't wear it for driving, cooking, walking down the street, or any other potentially hazardous activity.) Wearing an eye patch can help improve your vision in your weaker eye as it forces it to work harder on its own. So if one eye is stronger, cover it up more. If you do the Rebuild Your Vision program, an eye patch will be included as part of your vision training tools and charts. Vision Tip #4 - Exercise The Eyes Becoming less dependent on your usual glasses or contact lenses is the first part of the equation. This will form the foundation of your vision training, giving your eyes all the freedom they need to adjust themselves naturally. The second part of the equation is based on eye exercises. They can test the full range of your eyesight on a daily basis, giving them the opportunity to focus on near and far objects, coordinate together and relax properly at the end.