A number of vision experts have given us ideas for how to improve our vision naturally. In "Seeing Without Glasses," Dr. Robert-Michael Kaplan provides a whole system with which to discover how you as an individual use your eyes, and what you can do to improve your eyesight.

Kaplan relates vision to a long list of lifestyles and other factors that are not normally associated with how we see. These include improper carbohydrate intake, eating overrefined foods, poor reading habits, chemical pollutants, excessive sugar intake, lack of exercise, too much television viewing, poorly monitored computer use, and addictive behaviors.

This may seem like a wild array of unrelated items, but Dr. Kaplan's thoughtful book is well researched. He spent time around aboriginal people, noticing how their eyes move around. They rapidly shift their focus from close to distant objects, and scan from left to right, up and down, and diagonally, stretching eye muscles.

Kaplan points out that the human eye is designed to move and stretch, and focus at far distances. The eyes are designed for hunting, gathering berries, and farming. However, in industrialized culture, we have technology that requires our natural vision to be modified. We must adjust to long hours sitting at a desk, looking at a computer screen, and functioning under fluorescent lighting. We also deal with particles from carpeting, and offgassing from paints. As Kaplan says, this is a far cry from green forests, lushly carpeted grasslands, and the pristine mountaintops our ancestors experienced.

He says that we receive feedback from our eyes when we are experiencing a drop in vision-fitness, and this feedback comes in the form of sleepiness, distress, or an uncomfortable sensation when we try to focus. He suggests that we check our breathing when we realize we have this feedback. Is it shallow? The attention Dr. Kaplan recommends is very much like that in a yoga or meditation class.

Beginning to pay attention to the feedback we get from our eyes, we can start to observe fluctuations in our vision. Once we know when our vision tends to fluctuate, we can pinpoint the cause of our own individual vision decreases. Some of these can be addressed. Reducing stress in the workplace, always a good idea, may help our eyes do their job better. Kaplan recommends considering reducing the power of glasses, for those who already wear them, and allowing the eyes to improve to the new weaker lens, rather than the very strong lens that doctors often prescribe, in preparation for the eyes to further weaken. This is an interesting turn-around in eye care!