Today we’re going to look at a more advanced version and use of the multi-sized font chart.
Click Here for Multi-Size Font Chart
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Today we want to look at a more advanced version of the multi-sized font chart exercise. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, you need to got back to last week’s blog and check it out because in that blog we have a pdf attachment. You can print this out. I go through the basics of utilizing this particular chart to helpfully improve your near and distance vision.
This is a fantastic tool, like I said, if you need more background information on it, go watch last weeks blog. The basics are pretty simple.
We’re going to do 4 different versions, a multi-sized font exercise where we’re going to find the lowest level of font that we can read comfortably at a normal reading distance. We’re going to keep both eyes open. We’re going to bring it in really close, focusing on one letter, and then we’re going to push it back out, focusing on one letter. The whole goal here is to have a small enough font size that you can create a visual blur both near and far.
You want to maintain the area of the visual blur for 5 to 10 seconds, try to relax your eyes and ask your brain to see it more clearly. You do that with both eyes open, and then one eye covered, then the other eye covered, and then finally, you repeat with both eyes open again. Ideally you’re aiming for 5 to 10 repetitions, the blur, holding 5 to 10 seconds in each position. You do this twice a day. Again, that’s all stuff from last week.
Now the advanced version of this, we’re going to add in simple head movements. It doesn’t seem to most people like this should be that challenging, but in general what you’ll find, you find here, let’s say I’m looking at the size 4 font, and I choose one of the letters, I’m going to look at the E and make it nice and tall, relax my face, relax my eyes, bring it in until it starts to blur a little bit, and then I’m going to push it out. Push it out, push it out until it starts to blur.
Then I go back and forth. Then I just get an idea of my basic range, and I’m again asking my brain, “Hey, get right on the edge of the blur and try and clear that up” because that up regulates the functions of the brain. Once I’ve done that, I now want to start doing that same process while my head is in motion.
Maybe going back and forth, nice and slow, while I’m doing head rotations, and I want to make sure I do rotations in both directions. The challenge here, obviously is a little coordination issue, but you’ll find, or what most people find is as they do this, their vision gets worse. There’s a are very complicated set system between your inner, your eyes, and some other stuff in your brain that are supposed stabilize your eyes at all times.
A lot of the mistakes that we see in traditional visual training is people do all of their work basically with their head still. Now if you spend your entire life with your head still, that’s okay, but we need sharp vision as our head is in motion.
The advanced version of this particular drill, as I said, is to do the same blur motions while going through 6 different head motions, so I’m going to do it in rotation to the right, rotation to the left. I’m going to do the exercise with my head in extension and my head going in flexion. I’m going to go back and forth. I’m also going to do it with my head going in lateral tilts, right, and left.
Again, most people find that they need to go up 2 or 3 font sizes when they start adding the head motion in just because it’s more confusing, there’s a lot more stuff going on, and it requires additional coordination of your visual musculature and your brain and vestibular system, so much more challenging, although it’s pretty simple.
I want to make sure that you have both these systems or both the basics and the advanced version because again, I use this particular exercise personally everyday, and I found it immensely valuable over the last 5 or 6 years. If you have any questions about this one, you can let us know. It’s pretty simple, again, just go back to last weeks, make sure you understand how to use the multi-sized font chart, and then from there, as you grow more comfortable, you want to make sure that you’re adding in head motions to the multi-sized font chart.
Practice, it will benefit you tremendously, particularly if you start thinking about using your eyes in a more natural, realistic fashion where your head is also in motion.
Good luck with this. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks.
