Page 172 - The Power of Light, Colour and Sound for Health and Wellness draft

What the two mentioned categories of light stimuli both have and must not lose is salience.
Salience is the reason why the will to see can be kept and
the mental habits that arguably caused the refractive
error can be strongly countered during the said trajectory
from the frst cue light signal to the fnal reward light
signal. Thanks to the activation of this mighty
physiological mechanism the refractive error of the eye
may now be adequately challenged, by means of a
powerful prolonged neurochemical “imbalance” of an opposite kind. In the neurochemical terms, it is about an augmented activity of the vital neurotransmitter the levels thereof had previously been too low or insuffcient, both generally and in the situations when they were badly needed. Most common among school and university attending population, such situations cause either frequent overemotional reactions and anxiety or disinterest in the matter, arguably accompanied by the outbursts of myopia.6 Petrifed as mental habits, such reactions impact the eyes which, once captured in myopia – even slightest one, never let go of the squint as its companion. Thereafter myopia can only increase.
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6 “These changes were observed during retinoscopic examination of children while performing various tasks (the categorising and the reasoning ones, requiring coming to an answer what is it and what is to be done, respectively, a.c.). They (Gesell, et al., 1949.) note that the variations which are observed in a single session in a single child are not random, but are correlated with variations in his visual acts... The refex showed a defnite against (myopic) motion when the child fxated the examiner’s face. Similarly, the refex brightened and showed an against motion when an interesting toy was proffered. As the infant’s hand came in, there was a with (hyperopic) motion, followed by brightening as the hand grasped the toy. During tactile-visual exploration of the toy, there was a succession of against, with and against motion... These two distinguishable phases have their counterparts in the plus- minus (myopic-hyperopic) and minus-plus adjustments of the oculo-manual prehensory apparatus. Skeletal, visceral and cortical factors are simultaneously involved but the manifestations are not fortuitous. They are lawfully correlated with the functional and maturity status of the action system. (p.176-177) It is this author’s contention that the retinoscopic changes observed and described above are due to the isometric muscular and the metabolic changes which occur during categorising and reasoning tasks. This is certainly in concert with Bates’ ideas about the development of myopia (and other visual problems), which Bates (1920) related to peripheral manifestation of mental strain: Every thought of effort in the mind, of whatever sort, transmits a motor impulse to the eye; and every such impulse causes a deviation from the normal in the shape of the eyeball. Bates held that refractive problems are due to habits of thought which develop as a result of the unhealthy conditions imposed upon individuals in educational and vocational activity. The cure, he felt, must reside in fnding ways to change these faulty habits which lead to loss of mental control and to poor vision”. Raymond L. Gottlieb, O.D., The Psychophysiology of Nearsightedness, p.64
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