Hi [s2Get user_field=”first_name” /].
Before we get on into today’s topic … do you know how long it took me to get the use-your-name thing code working on these sessions?
It took … forever.
Should be a simple thing but I’m no programmer. It’s various small miracles the Web thing is working at all.
I insisted on this little detail, not because I’m so sophisticated and Internet-ey, but because it really means a lot to me to be able to use your name in these sessions. It’s not a sales thing, being that we’re way past that. Rather it’s one of the few ways I could think of to say, hey I really, really appreciate your faith and confidence and time and effort to be here. Yes this is sort of impersonal, words on a screen. But behind the screen is the actual Jake, who actually cares, who checks in on the forum, who sees your sign-up confirmation, [s2Get user_field=”first_name” /], who hopes you’ll have a great experience.
That’s why there’s all the hi, [s2Get user_field=”first_name” /] in the sessions. Thought I’d share that bit. 😉
On to today’s session, the “what can you see” game.
Bear in mind that there’s a wide range of myopes here, and this may be a totally different experience for the -11 than the -2. Ideally you are below 4 diopters, but if you’re in the higher ranges still, you’re going to get there as well.
We want to take a little look today, at what you can see without glasses.
Action Items
Take a weekend day, maybe no-prescription Sunday.
Go outside, somewhere safe without glasses Maybe spend a bit of time first, working on a bit of close-up focus with your differential glasses.
Now take off the glasses for the outdoor time. The game is really simple. What can you see?
For high myopia, that might be making out a shape and knowing whether it’s a car, or a park bench. For the low myope it could be dog vs cat, or stroller vs. recycling bin.
This is a short, 20 minute activity. You don’t want to do it so long that you end up feeling frustrated about a lack of clarity, but rather just long enough to be “free standing” out there, appreciating whatever you can make out.
Why, this bit of torture?
Simple. Emphasis on clarity. When you go back to glasses, whether it’s today or tomorrow, the difference in clarity impacts your visual cortex. I don’t have fancy brain scans and charts on this one, but it’s something I figured out over the years a bit by accident.
Here’s the deal:
Without this activity, every so often, you end up in a plateau. And while everybody sooner or later goes through a longer period of no perceived improvement, without doing this “what can I see” routine at least once every other week (once or twice a week is better), you get a harsher plateau. Very curiously, all of my participants who do this activity, end up having much smaller plateaus than those who don’t. (we’re taking hundreds, by now)
I love to hinge all of the activities here on excellent outside scientific research. But perhaps that’s the downside of pioneering this type of rehab, and being just one guy, is that some of these things are a little far on the cutting edge side. That’s to say, they aren’t as well substantiated as various other pieces.
But I did experiment with various alternatives to what-can-I-see. Longer intervals. That didn’t have any impact. Other types of activities, some more complex. Made no difference. But skip what-can-I-see altogether, and sooner or later you end up in some pretty long plateau, that’s hard to get past.
So here it is. Gentle, simple, no-pressure little activity, to help balance the eye-brain aspects of the approach. Keep the brain consciously in the loop, fully appreciating clarity, and adding a little poke of awareness of what happens, when those lenses aren’t present. Keep it on its proverbial toes.
All right. That’s it for today. Maybe put a repeating alert in your calendar, or just piggy back it to some other spare time habit you already enjoy.
Cheers!
– Jake
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