What are the Bates eye exercises? What is the theory behind "better sight without glasses"?

Dr. William Bates, a New York oculist, in 1921 propounded a theory, admirably simple, that nearsightedness, far-sightedness and astigmatism are caused by abnormal action of the six external eye muscles. He maintained that these conditions are forced and temporary, and could be made to disappear by exercises, which reduced eye strain and tension.

Among the Bates eye exercises he propounded was "palming" (placing the palms of both hands over the eyes to conjure the image of black, a colour purported to have corrective and healing powers).

There were also, shifting the eyes to counteract the bane of good sight, staring, by a "long swing" (swinging the entire body) or a "short swing" (moving only the head from side to side). Swaying of the neck to relax the neck muscles was also recommended.

Bates eye exercises were purported to improve circulation and relaxation of the eyes, which they do. However, the magical properties ascribed to them of reducing spectacle number, is a myth.

Bates placed a great deal of stress on word recognition, so that people would interpret blurred images more efficiently and thus read more letters on a vision chart. Thus, this method is essentially a learning process and is even now being used to train people with low vision. The principle behind the training is simple. A seaman will recognise a small speck in the distant ocean as a vessel while a landlubber may see only a blur. However, this "improvement" is only for recognition of familiar objects. If, for example, the standard alphabet reading chart is substituted by a number chart or another language chart, the "improvement" will have vanished.

Bates also teaches the use of the principle of narrowing the lids to see better and even to tilt the chin up. This is a mere modification of the principle, a well-established principle in physics, in which a refractive error can be side-stepped by permitting a narrow beam of light to enter the optical axis of the eye. A person with spectacles or one who has refractive problems will see very well through a pinhole made in paper or through a 2 mm wide slit. It is a technique of low vision training and does not in any way "improve" the vision. Thus the principle is correct, merely the properties attributed to it are incorrect.

In a similar way, the Bates method promotes the concept that sight is 9/10 mental and 1/10 physical. Exercises to "think about what you see" and "think pleasant thoughts" are relaxing and not only to the eyes. To avoid concentrated vision or staring, to shift the focus of the eye frequently and to blink often, are prime requisites of comfortable eye-sight and are equally applicable today.

Thus, though a number of concepts cited by Bates and made popular by his disciples (Harry Benjamin, Harold Peppard, Bernard MacFadden... ) are quite appropriate even today, the inference that the use of exercises can reduce spectacle numbers to a level where glasses can be discarded, and cure cataracts, glaucoma and detachment is incorrect. Vision improvement, so often mentioned in Bates' book Better sight without glasses is merely an improved recognition abiliy and that too temporary.

That this improvement does not persist beyond recognition of more or less familiar objects is well proven by a case reported by publisher Bennett Cerf in the Saturday Review, April 12, 1952, and quoted by Laurence Lewison in You and your eyes.

The famed British author, Aldous Huxley, had for a long time boasted that eye exercises had restored his sight to normal. He had written extensively on the subject; his was a prime example of what eye exercises could do (The Art of Seeing).

At 16, he had a violent inflammation of the cornea which, after 18 months of near blindness, left one eye just capable of light perception and the other eye with a vision of 20/200. Correcting lenses brought vision up to about 20/100 and with the aid of a hand magnifier he took up again his interrupted college course and graduated from Oxford University.

His near vision became increasingly worse and more fatiguing, and he was afraid he would soon not be able to read at all. At this point, insted of seeking medical advice and application of the visual aids available at that time (1933) Mr. Huxley threw all recognized professional and scientific ophthalmic work overboard and embarked on an adventure of visual exercises.

Mr. Huxley purports to show how he has improved his vision without recourse to glasses, but purely by a series of eye- and mind-exercises. He makes the claim that all visual defects can be greatly alleviated without the use of glasses but merely by the application of the exercises he describes.

On one particular occassion, Mr. Cerf was listening to Huxley give a prepared address, impressed by the fact that this man, once on the threshold of blindness, could now read without glasses. Suddenly Huxley faltered. Cerf realised that the noveliest was not really reading his manuscript. Rather, he had attempted to memorize. Huxley brought his eye closer and closer to the printed page.

Finally, in despair, he took a magnifying glass from his pocket to make the words readable. Cerf describes the episode as one of agony.

Evidently, Huxley used to the utmost the very limited vision he possessed... this shows to what extent will and motivation can overcome the handicap of a poorly and partly functioning eye.

Dustin Flores

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