Stress and mental strain affect eyesight: “The observer is so near the subject that the latter is made nervous, and this changes the refraction.”
– “Fig. 8. The Usual Method of Using the Retinoscope,” from “The Cure Of Imperfect Sight By Treatment Without Glasses” by William H. Bates, M.D.
William H. Bates
William Horatio Bates, M.D. was a prominent American physician, surgeon, instructor of ophthalmology and vision researcher, who challenged the mainstream consensus of his profession, that said, and still does, that eyesight cannot improve. Dr. Bates discovered just the opposite, that eyesight can and does improve. He went on to develop a natural vision practice based on relaxation and natural vision habits, enabling people, including myself, to improve their vision. This practice became known as “the Bates method.”
You may be thinking that William H. Bates is a contemporary figure and that his discovery is recent. Actually, he was born in Newark, New Jersey, December 23rd, 1860, four months before the American Civil War, and died July 10th, 1931, in the early years of the Great Depression.
Dr. Bates began his medical career in New York City in the 1880’s – nearly 140 years ago. He received his medical degree from Columbia University in 1885 and become a successful and well-respected ophthalmologist, eye surgeon and college instructor at the New York Postgraduate Medical School and Hospital from 1886 to 1891. But, when he questioned conventional ophthalmology, and helped students and fellow professors to improve their eyesight and get out of glasses, he was expelled from his teaching position.
In spite of being black listed and ridiculed by his profession for his independent ideas, Dr. Bates had a busy and productive career. He did cutting edge vision research, had a successful and thriving practice and helped countless men, women and children improve their vision naturally.
He published 30 medical articles between 1886 and 1923, published his monthly Better Eyesight magazine from 1920 to 1931 and wrote his seminal book on his research, theory and practice, Perfect Sight Without Glasses, also called The Cure Of Imperfect Sight By Treatment Without Glasses, in 1920.
Mainstream Consensus
Early in his career, Dr. Bates questioned his colleagues who said that vision cannot get better and will only get worse. Conventional ophthalmology said, and still does, that eyesight cannot improve, and can only be corrected by glasses, contacts or surgery. The cause of common vision conditions, such as nearsightedness and farsightedness, is assumed to be genetic. The eyeball is either genetically “too short” or “too long.” This deformation of the eyeball is considered to be permanent.
How this effects focal length can be seen in the following diagram from Dr. Bates’ book, Perfect Sight Without Glasses. In nearsightedness, where the eyeball is too short from front to back, light rays land in front of the retina, resulting in vision being blurry in the distance. In farsightedness, where the eyeball is too long from front to back, light rays land behind the retina, resulting in vision being blurry close up (The deformation of the eyeball is greatly exaggerated for the purpose of illustration).
“H, hypermetropia; E, emmetropia; M, myopia; Ax, optic axis. Note that in hypermetropia and myopia the rays, instead of coming to a focus, form a round spot upon the retina.”
Fig. 4. Diagram of the Hypermetropic (farsighted), Emmetropic (normal) and Myopic (nearsighted) Eyeballs, from “The Cure Of Imperfect Sight By Treatment Without Glasses” by William H. Bates, M.D.
Although studies don’t conclusively support genetics as the cause of most vision issues, this belief persists.
A 1969 study found genetics not to be a cause of nearsightedness.
Mainstream Practice
Because of their belief in the inevitability of common vision conditions, the mainstream eye industry takes for granted being unable to help you improve your eyesight. They don’t even try. They can correct your vision by providing glasses, contacts and surgeries, but admittedly cannot help you to improve it.
It was assumed in Dr. Bates’ time, and still is today, that eyesight can only get worse, never better. And, it is expected to get worse. According to mainstream eye doctors, correcting blurry vision with lenses or surgery is the only option. Admittedly, it is all too often temporary. Vision often continues to get worse. For this, higher prescriptions or another surgery is recommended.
Dr. Bates was Dissatisfied with Mainstream Consensus
Early in his career, Dr. Bates was dissatisfied with correcting vision with glasses. He was troubled by the fact that he and his colleagues were unable to improve the eyesight of their patients. He observed that his patient’s eyesight would decline in spite of wearing glasses. But, he also observed that their eyesight would improve when glasses were not worn, due to breaking or losing them. So, eyesight conditions were not necessarily permanent.
This inspired him to question the basic theories of ophthalmology, something his colleagues were unwilling to do. Through many years of intensive research and observation of the eyes of animals and people, he proposed an answer to why vision gets worse, and how it can get better.
Dr. Bates’ Theory
The Helmholtz theory of how the eye focuses, was, and still is, the accepted theory among most eye doctors. It states that the eye focuses only by changing the shape of the lens. And, according to this theory, proposed by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1855 (169 years ago), if the lens cannot focus, the only solution is glasses, contacts or surgery.
Dr. Bates came up with another theory. In his research, he found that the eye is able to focus independently of the lens. He even found that the eye can focus with the lens surgically removed. How? By using the external muscles of the eye.
He observed that these external eye muscles, thought to be used only for turning the eye, also focus the eye by changing the shape of the eyeball itself. To see in the distance, the external muscles of the eye squeeze the eyeball so it becomes a little shorter from front to back. To see close up, the external muscles of the eye squeeze the eyeball so that it’s a little longer from front to back. He discovered that this focusing ability of the external muscles of the eye is automatic and effortless.
“When we understand, however, how the shape of the eyeball is controlled by the external muscles, and how it responds instantaneously to their action, it is easy to see that no refractive state, whether it is normal or abnormal, can be permanent.”
– Chapter VII, The Variability of the Refraction of The Eye, from “The Cure Of Imperfect Sight By Treatment Without Glasses” by William H. Bates, M.D.
The Root Cause of Vision Problems
Dr. Bates went on to discover that this focusing by the external muscles of the eye can be interfered with. He got to the root of vision problems, which he determined is mental strain.
He observed that mental strain causes the external muscles of the eye to physically tense up, squeezing the eyeball out of shape, resulting in blurry vision. Rather than the deformation of the eyeball being genetic and permanent, Dr. Bates observed it to be changeable and reversible… by letting go of strain.
The Bates Method
Dr. Bates discovered that eyesight can be corrected through relaxation, letting go of poor vision habits and not wearing glasses. The Bates method, as it came to be known, reawakens natural vision, which is effortless and automatic. According to Dr. Bates, poor and worsening eyesight is caused primarily by three things:
1. Stress or mental strain
2. Poor vision habits, and
3. Wearing glasses.
“It’s not about what you do, but about what you don’t do that improves vision.”
– William H. Bates, M.D.
Although his personal story is history, his theory and practice lives on as the Bates method. Dr. William H. Bates side-stepped his skeptical colleagues, who were unwillingly to step out of their traditional practice and the mainstream narrative, by training lay people in this natural method of improving vision. As it turns out, non-medical people are often the best teachers. Especially those who have themselves improved their own eyesight.
This brings up the biggest misconception, that the Bates method is eye exercises. It isn’t. And it takes effort. It doesn’t. But, it isn’t always easy to let go of trying. The Bates method is more like play. Dr. Bates found his method so simple, even a child could teach it. In his Better Eyesight magazines are stories of children teaching other children to improve their eyesight.
If it weren’t for Dr. Bates’ curiosity and steadfast courage as a maverick ophthalmologist, questioning professor, meticulous researcher and independent thinker, the field of Natural Vision Improvement would likely not exist as it does today. To Dr. Bates’ credit, for over 100 years, untold thousands who have suffered with poor eyesight have been self-empowered to naturally improve it.
Resources
- Association of Vision Educators – “What is the Bates Method?”, “A History of William Horatio Bates”
- Visions of Joy – “About Dr. W. H. Bates” by Esther Joy van der Werf
- “The Cure Of Imperfect Sight By Treatment Without Glasses” by William H. Bates
I am a natural vision improvement teacher and coach, massage therapist, yoga teacher and the owner of Relearn To See – Natural Vision Improvement. I take a wellness coaching approach to helping you negotiate life in a more relaxed and natural way that can benefit your eyesight, health and well-being.