How to Train Your Eyes & Rewire Your Brain for Better Eyesight, Sharper Focus, Improved Memory & Less Stress with Dr Bryce Appelbaum #576
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum, a pioneering neuro-optometrist, discusses how vision, distinct from eyesight, is an overlooked tool impacting focus, mood, memory, and overall function. He shares how modern screen habits damage our visual system and brain, and offers practical strategies and vision therapy to improve visual health and quality of life.
Deep Dive Analysis
12 Topic Outline
Identifying Functional Vision Problems and Symptoms
Distinguishing Eyesight from Vision: A Crucial Difference
Vision's Far-Reaching Impact on Brain Function and Health
The Evolutionary Mismatch of Modern Visual Demands
Host's Rapid Vision Improvement with Neuro-Optometry
Challenging the 20/20 Vision Standard and its Implications
Vision's Critical Role in Athletic Performance and Flow State
COVID-19's Impact and the Genesis of ScreenFit
Why Screens are More Damaging Than Physical Books
Simple Daily Exercises for Enhancing Visual Health
Vision's Influence on Mental Health and Relationships
The Neuroplasticity of the Visual System and Lasting Change
6 Key Concepts
Eyesight vs. Vision
Eyesight is a symptom, referring to how well one can see at a certain distance (e.g., 20/20). Vision, in contrast, is a brain function that encompasses how our eyes move, converge, track, focus, process information, derive meaning from the world, and direct appropriate action.
Functional Vision Problems
These are brain problems that manifest through the eyes, indicating that the visual system is under stress or not functioning at its potential. They can lead to symptoms like eye strain, headaches, fatigue, and difficulty with reading or concentration.
20/20 Vision
This is a standard measure for eyesight, aiming for crystal clear vision at a distance. However, it's presented as a belief rather than a universal truth, as optimizing for 20/20 with strong corrective lenses can sometimes compromise the visual system's flexibility and overall performance.
Presbyopia
This refers to age-related changes in the eye, typically starting in the 40s, where the focusing muscles and the lens inside the eye become less flexible, leading to difficulty with near vision. Treating it with immediate reading glasses is likened to using a wheelchair for a sore knee, as it stops the system from being used.
Visual Midline
This concept describes the brain's ability to integrate sensory input from both eyes and coordinate it with the body's movement and balance. A dysfunctional visual midline can lead to issues with balance, coordination, spatial awareness, and even bumping into objects.
Neuroplasticity of Vision
This is the brain's inherent ability, at any age, to rewire itself and re-establish or develop visual functions that may have been underdeveloped or bypassed. With the right training and motivation, individuals can improve their visual processing and unlock greater potential.
9 Questions Answered
Common symptoms include avoiding reading, losing place or skipping words/lines, eye strain, headaches, tired/dry eyes, brain fog, general fatigue, motion sickness, and difficulty with concentration.
Eyesight is a symptom, referring to how clearly one can see at a distance. Vision, however, is a brain function that encompasses how our eyes move, focus, track, and process information to understand the world and guide action.
Yes, eyesight is a reflection of vision, so by improving the various aspects of the visual system, such as focusing and eye coordination, eyesight can get better as a byproduct.
Functional vision problems can manifest as symptoms similar to ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, and learning disabilities. Difficulty controlling eye movements can directly affect attention, focus, and the ability to process visual information in a classroom setting.
Correcting vision to 20/20 with strong lenses may optimize for clarity at a distance but can come at the cost of the visual system's flexibility and overall performance, especially if underlying functional vision problems are not addressed.
Screens promote a 'tunnel vision' effect, increased visual stress, and a constant state of fight or flight due to closer working distances, high-energy blue light, contrast, glare, brightness, and flicker frequency, impacting self-regulation, sleep, and overall brain function.
Yes, with specific vision performance training exercises, the flexibility and stamina of the focusing system can be improved, potentially delaying or even reversing the need for reading glasses.
The visual system is intimately linked to the nervous system; tunnel vision and constant near focus from screens can keep the brain in a fight-or-flight state, increasing stress, anxiety, and impacting patience and empathy.
Natural blue light is essential for regulating circadian rhythms, mood, and alertness, and getting it through our eyes, especially in the morning, supports healthy metabolic function and sleep, unlike artificial blue light from screens.
15 Actionable Insights
1. Take Regular Vision Breaks
Implement the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, take a 20-second break to look at something at least 20 feet away, to reduce eye strain and fatigue from screens.
2. Practice Near-Far Eye Push-ups
Cover one eye, extend your thumb, slowly bring it close until blurry, hold clear for 5 seconds, then look far for 5 seconds; repeat for 2 minutes per eye daily to build focusing stamina and flexibility.
3. Perform Daily Eye Stretches
Cover one eye, look up, down, left, right, and diagonally, holding each position for 5 seconds, to calm the nervous system and improve eye flexibility.
4. Engage in Peripheral Pointing
While looking straight ahead with one eye covered, pick an object in your side vision without moving your eye, point to it, then check your accuracy; this actively opens up your periphery and reduces tunnel vision.
5. Get Natural Light Daily
Spend time outdoors, especially first thing in the morning and last thing before bed, to expose your eyes to natural blue light, which helps regulate circadian rhythms and mood.
6. Seek Root Cause for Vision
Instead of only treating symptoms like blurry eyesight with corrective lenses, proactively investigate and address the underlying functional vision problems and their causes.
7. Consider Functional Vision Assessment
For children diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, or learning disabilities, or adults experiencing brain fog, fatigue, or motion sickness, seek a functional vision assessment as these often have a treatable visual component.
8. Use Weakest Corrective Lenses
If glasses or contact lenses are necessary, opt for the weakest possible prescription that provides adequate vision, to encourage your eyes and brain to work more naturally.
9. Address Myopia Risk Factors
To slow or prevent nearsightedness progression, increase time outdoors in natural sunlight, ensure good lighting for near work, and reduce prolonged near visual stress from screens.
10. Delay Reading Glasses
Avoid immediately resorting to over-the-counter reading glasses when age-related near vision changes occur, as this can stop the system from being used; instead, try eye exercises to maintain flexibility.
11. Improve Movement with Gaze
When walking or running, practice a soft, wide gaze (accessing peripheral vision) rather than focusing narrowly ahead, as this can improve spinal alignment, reduce impact forces, and enhance breathing.
12. Rehabilitate Post-Injury Vision
If you have experienced a head injury, minor or major, consider vision rehabilitation, as vision is almost always impacted and can be rewired even decades later to reestablish function.
13. Try ScreenFit Online Program
Utilize the ScreenFit online vision training program (available with a discount at screenfit.com/livemore) to build visual foundations and combat screen fatigue and digital eye strain in just 10 minutes a day.
14. Question Vision Care Norms
Challenge the conventional medical approach to vision by asking ‘why’ changes are occurring and exploring possibilities beyond standard corrective lenses, to unlock greater visual potential.
15. Recognize Vision’s Brain Impact
Understand that vision is a direct reflection of brain function, and problems can contribute to cognitive fatigue, brain fog, and reduced productivity, highlighting the importance of vision health for overall well-being.
6 Key Quotes
Vision is the new microbiome. We're going to look back on this in a few years and realize vision is responsible or at least influences so many aspects of longevity, consciousness, happiness, productivity, critical decision making, even interpersonal connection, and none of us even had a file on it.
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum
Eyesight is a symptom. Eyesight is how well we can see at a certain distance. But there is so much more to vision than just eyesight. Vision is how our eyes move together, converge, track, focus, process information, how we derive meaning from the world around us, and then direct the appropriate action.
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum
If you cannot control your eyes and their ability to focus, for instance, then you cannot control your mind and its ability to focus.
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum
Evolutionarily, vision is intended to guide movement.
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum
Grabbing the over-the-counter readers, the first chance you get, is the equivalent of your knee hurting and jumping into a wheelchair. You're stopping using the system, and the whole, if you don't use it, you lose it, absolutely applies in this setup for vision.
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum
No two people see the same, which means not everybody needs to see the same.
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum
4 Protocols
20-20-20 Rule for Screen Use
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum- At least every 20 minutes, take a break from looking at your screen.
- Look at something at least 20 feet away.
- Maintain this distant gaze for at least 20 seconds.
Eye Push-ups (Near-Far Focus Activity)
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum- Cover one eye with your hand.
- Extend your other arm straight out with your thumb pointing up.
- Slowly bring your thumb towards your nose, keeping it along your midline, until it starts to get a little blurry.
- Stop when it blurs, then make it clear and hold that clear focus on your thumb for 5 seconds, actively looking hard.
- Look across the room as far into the distance as you can for 5 seconds, relaxing your focus and looking soft.
- Alternate between focusing on your thumb and focusing in the distance for 5 seconds each.
- Repeat this for a set amount of time (e.g., 2 minutes per eye), then switch eyes and repeat the process.
Eye Stretches
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum- Cover one eye with your hand.
- Look as far up to the ceiling as you can and hold for 5 seconds, ensuring your eye doesn't dart around.
- Look down to the floor as far as you can and hold for 5 seconds.
- Look to the far left and hold for 5 seconds.
- Look to the far right and hold for 5 seconds.
- Perform diagonal stretches: look up-left, up-right, down-left, and down-right, holding each position for 5 seconds.
- Ensure the same amount of time is spent on each eye.
Peripheral Pointing
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum- Cover one eye with your hand.
- Pick an object straight ahead across the room and fixate on it without moving your eye.
- Using your side (peripheral) vision, identify another object on the wall (e.g., a painting) without moving your fixed gaze.
- Point to where you think that peripheral object is with your hand.
- Then, move your eye to the object to check how close your pointing was to its actual location.
- If you were off, adjust and try again until you can accurately point to the object with your peripheral vision before moving your eye.
- Once accurate, choose an object farther out in your periphery and repeat the process (left, right, up, and down).
- Ensure the same amount of time is spent on each eye.