Hyperopia exercises

Hyperopia theory
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Another common eye defect is the farsightedness (hyperopia). It is the opposite defect to the shortsightedness – the vision from far is relatively clear, while from near it is blurred. This makes the eyes tired quickly when reading, may lead to headaches and irritation of the conjunctiva. Farsightedness occurs due to the improper structure of the eyeball that is not long enough or has a curved cornea. This results in focusing of the light rays that fall into the eye behind, instead of on, the retina.

More information on this defect can be found here

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Presbyopia theory
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Presbyopia, or age-related focus dysfunction, as the name suggests, is one of the side effects of the general aging of the body and progressing deterioration of functioning of all human organs. It occurs commonly at the persons after the 40. year of age. The defect is more advanced until the 60. – 65. year of age, when it starts to moderate. The symptoms are the same as with the far-sightedness, which means that there are problems with the acute vision of the objects located near the eyes. However, the presbyopia is founded differently than the far-sightedness discussed before.

More information on this defect can be found here

On the other hand, there are many persons in the advanced age who by not suggesting their need to wear the glasses, question the argument of inevitable deterioration of sight with age. However difficult is to deny the argument that at the advanced age, the lens becomes hardened or opaque to a some extent and the condition of the eyeball muscles is worse, it should be affirmed that the techniques of Bates method are the efficient antidote to these unwanted changes.

For presbyopia, we do the same exercises as in the hyperopia section on this page.

Exercise D1. Reading of texts in various sizes
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Download the chart

For the far-sighted person, the best solution to improve the sight is to read a small print with the eyes relaxed. The texts that have different print size help our eyes learn to focus on even smaller letters while maintaining the dynamic relaxation of sight.

  1. Set a chart so that you could see the largest letters as slightly blurred but recognized easily.
  2. Start from looking at the large print, letter by letter. Let your eyes stroll around the letters and their shapes blackening the image you are watching. Blink frequently and close your eyes once in a while and visualize what you have just read.
  3. Now, go to the smaller print and repeat step 2. If you are not able to recognize the letters clearly anymore, watch what you have in your perception field, each strange and blurred object. Do not strain the eyes but look at the contours, edges and space between the letters and words. Blink so that your sight can stay relaxed. Close your eyes once in a while and repeat in the mind: "the sheet is white and the letters are black".
  4. If your sight is not tired too much, go through step 3 for even smaller print.
  5. Now, go back to the larger print. You will likely think of it as much clearer and bigger than at the beginning.
Duration: 3-5 minutes
Repetitions: 1-2 times per day
Alternative exercises: D2, D3, D4
Eye strain: medium
Exercise D2. Reading of the inverted book
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The exercise with the inverted text allows to focus what your eyes are seeing without the need to recognize the text.

  1. Turn a site of any book by 180 degrees and set in such a distance that the text is slightly blurred.
  2. Read each letter individually allowing the eye to move point by point while slowly and carefully following its shape. Try to blink frequently and breathe freely. If it helps you, imagine you are moving a small black dot across the shape of each letter. Do not try to recognize the letters or words but only go through the letters with your eyes freely. Close your eyes at the end of each line for a while and visualize the blackness of letters.
  3. Now, watch the white places and space around words and letters. Go through these white places with your eyes and visualize that the background is white as the sunlight. Blink and from time to time, close the eyes and visualize that "the sheet is white and the letters are black".
  4. This exercise is going to make you more aware what your eyes are seeing when reading and what we usually do not focus on being absorbed by the meaning. Now, turn the book to normal position and check if you can see the text from nearer.
Duration: 3-5 minutes
Repetitions: 1-2 times per day
Alternative exercises: D1, D3, D4
Eye strain: medium
Exercise D3. Reading with playing the trombone
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This exercise extends the field of perception to the near point, which allows to see the print from even nearer.

  1. Set a book or chart with the texts of different print so that you can easily read the content.
  2. Draw the sheet nearer to the eyes slowly until the point when you are not able to read the text.
  3. When the print is already blurred, move the sight across words and letters not trying to recognize them. Do not stress the eyes but only look at the contours, edges and space between words and letters. Blink to keep your eyes relaxed.
  4. Now, move the sheet away again until the point when you are not able to read the text.
  5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 few/several times.
  6. If you use the chart, you can go through the exercise again for a smaller print.
  7. Check now, whether you can read freely from nearer than before.
Duration: 2-4 minutes
Repetitions: 1-2 times per day
Alternative exercises: D1, D3, D4
Eye strain: low
Exercise D4. Exercise with two charts
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Download the chart

This exercise allows to practice the near and far vision, which improves eye accommodation and spatial perception.

  1. The exercise requires a special letter chart that can be read from far and near.
  2. Fix the bigger chart on the wall in such a distance so that you can see it clearly, and hold the smaller one in your hand so far that the text can be visible but slightly blurred.
  3. Read the next 3 letters from the bigger chart, close your eyes for a second and recall the image of these 3 letters, then look at the smaller chart and read the same letters. Do the same with next 3 letters.
  4. During this exercise you can read the letters in various ways. Read them by columns, rows or slantwise. You can also form more irregular shapes or just choose any lettering you like. Use this procedure not more than 5 times.
  5. Now, draw the smaller chart slightly nearer to yourself to see the letters blurrily. Practice as in steps 3-4. Blink and breathe to keep your sight relaxed at all times.
  6. Should you feel any eye ache during the practice, discontinue it and do short palming.
Duration: 2-4 minutes.
Repetitions: 2-4 times per day
Alternative exercises: K1, K6
Eye strain: high