"This may be a stretch - natural ways to improve vision?"

I tried this as a teenager and I definitely saw improvement in my vision but my eyesight was very poor and continued to get worse until I was college age. I will always need vision correction unless I made the plunge and get laser eye surgery. But the techniques are still with me and I can improve my vision significantly if I am caught with contacts or glasses.

I don't know the name of the device I used but a quick Google search yielded this company (http://www.accommotrac.com/) and I think it was probably this one. Basically, you put your head into the device so that your eyes line up with the large black bar and forehead on the top head rest. Inside that "bar" are actually little screen upon which the operator the machine can display various standard eye charts. There are is also a device that uses infrared light to measure the state of the muscles that control the lens of the eye and thus affect the quality of your vision. The measurements are converted to sound signals. So if you are nearsighted you need to relax the muscles. If you succeed at relaxing the muscle, the sound signals increases in tempo - hence bio-feedback.

There are no eye exercises that will help your eyes see better or that will prevent the nearsightedness from getting worse.

Carrots or vitamin pills won't improve eyesight for someone eating normal healthy food. However, carrots are rich in beta carotene, which is converted into Vitamin A in the body. Vitamin A is important in maintaining normal vision, and worldwide, Vitamin A deficiency is a leading cause of blindness. Therefore in the developing world, where deficiency of vitamin A is possible, eating carrots may be good advice.

There are anecdotal and personal stories about correlations between doing a lot of close work (and reading in dark) with myopia getting worse. However, so faris relatively simple and there are many anecdotal studies (as well as numerous personal experience stories) testifying to such a correlation. Epidemiological surveys have shown that myopia is more prevalent in individuals who spend more time reading or performing close work than those who spend more time not using their eyes at close distances and myopia has been correlated with the amount of school work and level of educational attainment (Br J Ophthalmol. 2001;85:509-10). So there may be something to the belief that staring at a computer screen all day can make your vision worse. However, no studies have shown the reason for the correlation or what you can do to prevent your vision getting worse.

However, staring at a computer screen all day long can make the muscles that operate your eyes tired and dry and can lead to headaches. It is recommended that you periodically look into the distance to rest your eyes. This can be out a window (if you have one), or across the room or down the hall. You can also use sterile saline eye drops to help with the dryness.

There is such a thing as Visual Therapy performed by professional optometrists or vision therapists in cases where young patients suffer from various eye problems including:
Strabismic and non-strabismic binocular dysfunctions;
Ambylopia (Lazy Eye);
Accommodative dysfunctions;
Ocular motor dysfunctions;
Visual motor disorders; and
Visual perceptual (visual information processing) disorders.
Vision Therapy sessions include procedures designed to enhance the brain's ability to control eye alignment, eye teaming, eye focusing abilities, eye movements, and/or visual processing. It works with both the nerves and the muscles to make proper eye movements a reflex.

There is also a different medical discipline called orthoptics. Orthoptics is a medical term for the eye muscle training programs provided by orthoptists and optometrists. Vision therapy programs include orthoptics, but, technically there are broad distinctions between vision therapy and orthoptics. Orthoptics, which literally means "straightening of the eyes," dates back to the 1850s and is limited in scope to eye-muscle training and the cosmetic straightening of eyes. Orthoptics treat muscle problems only in regard to strength and do not focus on neurological and visual-motor issues in the comprehensive way in which vision therapy does.

These are the not self-help methods that have largely been debunked by scientific research. These include the Bates Method, the See Clearly Method and Vision for Life.

So take frequent eye breaks, use eye drops, and get used to the idea that most people's eyes do get worse as they age.


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Background on Eye Exercises or Visual training

Self-directed eye exercise programs to improve vision have been promoted since at least 1912. The programs advocate eye exercises, muscle relaxation techniques, biofeedback, eye patches, or eye massages alone or in combinations and may also recommend using undercorrected prescription lenses and nutritional supplements.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology task force on complementary therapy performed an assessment of the effectiveness on eye exercises and visual training in reducing myopia. Their conclusions were: There is level I evidence that visual training for control of accommodation has no effect on myopia. In other studies (level II/III evidence), an improvement in subjective visual acuity for patients with myopia who have undertaken visual training has been shown but no corresponding physiological cause for the improvement has been demonstrated. The improvements in myopic patients noted in these studies have been postulated to be due to improvements in interpreting blurred images, changes in mood or motivation, creation of an artificial contact lens by tear film changes, or a pinhole effect from miosis of the pupil.

No evidence was found that visual training has any effect on the progression of myopia. No evidence was found that visual training improves visual function for patients with hyperopia or astigmatism. No evidence was found that visual training improves vision lost through disease processes such as age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, or diabetic retinopathy.

REFERENCES: AAO Report , J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus 2005;42:82-88.

Just because someone wrote a book does not mean they are either qualified or an expert on the subject.  Unless they have a firm understanding of neurophysiology and the visual system, they should not be writing such texts.

In general, eye exercises do nothing to improve your overall vision and have no impact on your need for glasses.  This has been proven in numerous large scale studies.  There are a few notable exceptions in which exercises and vitamins are beneficial for some people, but again this is for very few limited cases.

People who have difficulty reading for long periods of time sometimes have difficulty converging their eyes together and for them exercises are helpful.  However, for most eye disorders, exercises play no substantial role.  There are a few convergence exercise computer programs that cost about 50 bucks and work quite well.  This saves people from spending $4000 dollars for vision therapy that has been shown in evidence based medicine to not be a good use of resource dollars.

As for vitamins, in some cases these are helpful, but not necessary for the general population.  Some disorders of the retina, such as retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration, and a few others, sometimes benefit from vitamins.  Fish oils sometimes reduce inflammation in certain eye conditions.

However, in general, your initial response to the books was correct and your were wise not to waste too much time with them.  On a theoretical note, there are some people who theorize that taking a break from computer work and looking in the distance every 45 minutes may help reduce eye strain, but this has not been proven.  One last comment, many people who work on computers don't blink as often and therefore suffer from dry eyes due to evaporation.  Artificial tears may be helpful if this is the case.

I don't know if this helps or not, but I used to work with a woman who had been told by her eye doctor that when you do a lot of close work (like on the pc), to take a break and look as far into the distance as you can.  It forces the eye to re-focus and that helps strengthen the eye.  Like I said, I don't know if it helps or not, but taking a quick break from the pc and looking out at the horizon can't hurt I suppose.  :)

 

Were the books you got from the library were about the Bates Method of strengthening the eye muscles? We tried this method with my son when he was quite young, can't say whether they worked or not, a mixture of him not wanting to do the exercises and us not having a great deal of time to spare.  It certainly didn't do his eyes any harm so I suggest you try them, we have Bates practitoners over here so you probably have them as well, perhaps you could find one in your area..  This was years ago but as I recall the book we used was a very slim paperback, and wouldn't take long to read.  One of the exercises suggested was to close your eyes and cover them lightly with your hands.  Now visualise a scene, perhaps a country lane, follow the lane with your eyes only, following the twista and turns, look at the scenery off to the left and right, carry on this way for several minutes.  The idea is to move the eyeballs in different directions and thus strengthen the muscles, I am sure this is an easy exercise for you to do several times a day to give your eyes a rest from the computer. 

Do your eyes become very dry with being on the computer all the time, it may help them feel easier to use some eye gel (viscotears) which acts as an artificial tear to lubricate the eye. 

I have listed some websites below, about the Bates method.

I hope you can find something to help you, if not, for the sake of your eyesight would it possible for you to find a job that doesn't need so much time on the computer.  Easier said than done I know but perhaps a whole lot easier than losing your sight further down the line.

 

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/east/series6/vision_correction.shtml

http://www.ivillage.co.uk/health/ghealth/dental/articles/0,,181038_182664,00.html

http://health.learninginfo.org/eye-strengthening-exercises.htm