Learning to read without glasses requires the substitution of good reading habits for bad ones. Practically everyone, as he grows older, finds it difficult to read unless he has kept the eye muscles flexible. If he has depended upon glasses, it seems troublesome at first to learn new techniques of vision improvement.
There is a great reward in persisting in your practice of the new techniques as it will enable you in the long run to read without strain, headache, fatigue, or that blurring and watering of the eyes which is so annoying.
Abuse of the eyes is nowhere as prevalent as it is in reading, and this abuse frequently starts in childhood, and becomes fixed long before the child has grown up. People are apt to be unconscious of their reading habits, though they are not unconscious of the uncomfortable results, even when they fail to recognize the inexorable law of cause and effect.
You do not exercise a tired heart, or encourage a tubercular patient to play tennis, or put a hearty meal into an upset stomach. But you feel that the eyes can always be used, regardless of the circumstances. The eyes respond immediately to any physical ailment, yet the person who takes to his bed because he has a cold or a fever or an illness of some kind, plans to while away the time by reading. While he is resting his body to cure his ailment, he is continuing to tax his eyes, although they too are ill.
If you have a cold, your eyes are tired and inflamed. Whatever your illness, the eyes reflect it. Give them the same consideration you give the rest of your body.
This recommendation applies with equal force to your regular reading. Even when you are in good health, it is foolish to read when the eyes are tired. The first rule, then, for vision improvement is to rest tired eyes before reading. If they are completely relaxed, you will see better and read longer without strain or tiring.
Watch your posture. The way you sit and stand and hold your head has a great deal to do with the way you see. When you curl up in a chair with your spine out of alignment, the neck muscles pulled and strained, your chin on your chest, peering down at the book on your lap, you are inducing a severe strain on your eyes and distorting the focus.
Sit erect. Poor posture impedes circulation of blood in the spine and head, and circulation of air through the nostrils, thus making your breathing shallow-for proper breathing is an important factor in vision.
For normal eyes the book should be held twelve to fourteen inches distant, with the printed page tilted outward and slightly below the level of the eyes so the head is up, not bent forward.
Many people find an inclined reading table aids in adjusting books or magazines to the correct height and angle and enables the body to relax completely.
The far-sighted person or the one suffering from presbyopia (middle-age sight) has a tendency to hold his book at a considerable distance from the eyes. If that is your trouble, make it a matter of habit to hold your book a little closer to you than is actually comfortable. If you make a constant practice of this-not trying it now and then, but in doing all reading-you can retain your reading sight indefinitely.