Speed Up Peripheral Vision, Build White Matter
A Community Consciousness and Brain Health Essay.
A 2017 study in the Journal of Neurotrauma suggests that the peripheral vision reaction time indirectly measures white matter integrity in the posterior corpus callosum [connection between right and left hemispheres of the brain]. This is a brain region frequently damaged by mild traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Womack, K. B., C. Paliotta, et al. (2017). “Measurement of Peripheral Vision Reaction Time Identifies White Matter Disruption in Patients with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.” J Neurotrauma 34(8): 1539–1545.
Within seven days after the injury, patients received an MRI scan and a battery of neuropsychological tests. Nine uninjured control subjects received similar testing. The patients 18–50 years of age were included if they had a post-resuscitation Glasgow Coma Scale >13 and an injury mechanism compatible with mild traumatic brain injury. Healthy controls were either age- and gender-matched family members of the TBI patients or healthy volunteers.
Researchers found that the patients with the worst white matter levels had the worst test scores and the patients with the most mild white matter deficits had the best test scores. “Patients could be stratified on the basis of crossed-uncrossed difference on the Stroop 1, Controlled Oral Word Association Test, and the obsessive-compulsive component of the Basic Symptom Inventory tests.”
Reverse engineering the Journal of Neurotrauma article indicates that exercises that increase peripheral vision and exercises that speed up reaction time may encourage white matter integrity and brain healing.
Reverse Engineer Brain Trauma
A sign / a symptom dissolved / exercise increases / peripheral vision / see the sides / way out to the right / way out to the left / speed up the brain / react with sight / insight fast / and faster still / the brain will work / white matters / gray matters / corpus callosum / creating in reality.
These three exercises: peripheral vision, blinking speed and the left-right looking exercises can each change vision and the connections within the brain in a different way.
Peripheral Vision Exercise
Look straight ahead with the head and eyes. Reach out your arms to the right and left at shoulder level with arms straight. Reach backward then slowly bringing the hands and arms forward as if to clap in front of you. Arms are straight the whole time. Look straight ahead but look for your hands moving into view. Stop moving the hands when you see them. Move the hands and arms backwards slightly. Wiggle the fingers on the right then left then right again. Can you see them? Stretch your vision to your hands and wiggling the fingers all the while looking straight ahead. Make this a practice every day expanding peripheral vision.
Blinking Speed Exercise
Look around at the light. What can you see? Do you see red and blue? Is the room or landscape painted with yellow or pink? Now start blinking you eyes. You can blink fast or slow or vary the rate as you go. Ask yourself questions as you blink for a minute or so. What do I see that is red? How many chairs are there? Do I see anything that is triangular? Notice the colors, numbers and shapes as you blink. Then after a minute or so stop blinking and look around. What has changed? Is the light brighter? Are your eyes more comfortable? Are colors more vibrant? Open to seeing what is around you.
Left Right Looking Exercise
From the field of NeuroLinguistic Programing (NLP) comes the idea that when we are recalling certain kinds of memories or imagining something, we move our eyes in a particular direction: up, down, sideways, gaily forward, right and left.
For example, moving the eyes to up and to the left is thought to indicate the recalling of remembered imagery. The premise of this exercise is that moving the eyes, strengthening the muscles, exercising them up and as far to the left as possible activates the eyes and enhances our ability to remember images, in other words improves our memory.
Take a deep breath in and relax your eyes. On the exhale look to the left, as far to the left as possible while centering the head in a relaxed way over the shoulder. Repeat this three times for each direction. Inhale and relax the eyes. Exhale and move your eyes in the specified direction.
Take another deep breath in and on the exhale look to the right, as far to the right as possible while the head remains facing forwards. Do this three times.
After the third deep breath exhale and look up and the left (enhance visual memory) as you think about your best friend’s favorite color. What color is he or she always wearing?
On the fourth exhale look down and to the right as you think about how you felt in your body this morning. Were you happy or sad? What emotions were you feeling? How did your rib cage feel or your shoulder?
On the fifth exhale look down and to the left as you listen to your intuitive sense. What should you make for dinner tonight or what should you wear this morning?
Take a deep breath in as you relax your eyes. On the next exhale look up and to the right as you imagine the contours of a boat or an airplane that you could build that is nothing like anything that has ever been seen before. Up and to the right is the domain of visualization, imagined images of something you have never seen before.
Notice What Changes
Notice how comfortable your eyes are as you do these exercise. Are there some directions that are easier to look than others? Do they become more comfortable over time? Is it becoming easier to remember things you have seen or heard before? Are you expressing more creativity at work or school?
Originally published at ABI Magazine, Acquired Brain Injury http://tinyurl.com/ybajub6o and https://www.academia.edu/34244903/Speed_Up_Peripheral_Vision_Build_White_Matter on August 1, 2017.
