Today, however, I wear no glasses.

So, what's this all about? It all started with William Bates, ophthalmologist, who first published his ideas in Better Eyesight magazine, in the 1920's. As he treated his patients, Bates noticed that contrary to what he was taught in optometry school, people's vision did vary from day to day; astigmatisms did change or disappear.

Bates had been taught that vision problems stem from malformed eyeballs, or lenses, or even from the muscles of the eyes themselves being too long or too short. But since no problems of the eye remained static, Bates developed exercises that can help people change their eyes for the better.

The basic exercises are palming, sunning, swinging, and vision shifting.

Palming Rub your hands together to make them warm. (You can shake them or hold them in front of a heat vent if you prefer.) Then close your eyes. Cover your eyes with your warm hands. Make sure your hands do not touch your eyelids and that you do not rest your cheekbones on your hands.

If you want to place the weight of your head on your hands, put the weight on the forehead. I like to lie on my back with a couple of tennis balls under the achy part of my upper back, and cover my eyes with my hands in that position.

Then -- this is the exercise -- LOOK at the dark. My mom likes to pretend she's looking at black velvet. If you see spots or zaps of light, so be it. Wait. You will see the dark. Don't hurry. Do this at least twice a day for 5 to 15 minutes (Hey, that's what 15-minute breaks are for!).

Also, be sure to drink lots of water. This isn't in the Bates method -- it's part of what works for me.

Sunning
Try to do this once a day. It requires a sunny day, or a good desk lamp with an incandescent bulb. The exercise is simple. Close your eyes. Look directly at the sun through your closed eyes. While facing the sun, slowly rotate your head from side to side as far as you can.

This gets the sunlight on the peripheral vision, and it helps bring more blood circulation to your neck. Do this for 3 to 5 minutes. It's amazing, even on a cold day, how warm the sun feels on your eyes.

Swinging

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, arms hanging loosely at your sides. Look out a window, or do this outside if possible. Shift your weight to your right foot, and swing your upper body to the right, letting the heel of your left foot come up off the floor.

Watch your surroundings as you swing. If you can see a tree out the window or in the distance, notice how it seems to move opposite to the direction you are swinging. This exercise is good for your eyes and your back.

Vision shifting
It's as simple as it sounds. Whenever it occurs to you that you've been spending too much time staring at that monitor right in front of your face, purposely shift your vision to look at the weave of the fabric on your sleeve, or the poster on the wall, or the tree across the street.

Where can you learn more?

This site offers illustrated versions of these Bates exercises and more, plus discussions of other methods people have tried for improving their eyesight. You can even sign up for a free email newsletter.

This site features a frequently asked questions (FAQ) write-up that defines in plain English the terms your eye doctor uses, such as convergence, divergence, accommodation and diopter.

This website also carries personal stories of people who have improved their eyesight without glasses, and essays on controversial topics such as prevention of myopia, and a deconstruction of glaucoma.

For $10, they'll send you 23 eye exercises with explanations of how each works and what you can expect it to do for you. They have a library of information that they will send members who send them questions (at no additional charge.)

Another book, even more thorough than Bates' The Bates Method for Better Eyesight Without Glasses, is Thomas R. Quackenbush's Relearning to See. Quackenbush's book covers right brain/left brain techniques, use of imagination to improve vision (reading fairy stories), and of course eye exercises.

No, I don't spend all day doing exercises for my eyes. I almost never spend more than 10 minutes on eye exercises. Sometimes during palming, I find myself meditating — that takes longer.

And one more website just for fun:

Magic Eye 3D — those patterns that turn out to be a dinosaur or interlocking rings when you look at them just right. This page tells you how to see them (if you've been having trouble).

And it informs us "Eye doctors use 3D images to rehabilitate depth perception, eye teaming, lazy eye, focusing problems, etc." So, it's not just fun — it's good for you. This website even has some 3D wallpaper for your desktop.

Before you go look at these websites or order these books, go palm your eyes for 3 minutes. And if you want either the Quackenbush or the Bates title, please order them from:

This site lists books I enjoy and think are important. You pay the same discount price here as you would if you went to Amazon directly.