From aeulenbe@indiana.edu Ukn Feb 16 17:30:43 1995 Date: Wed, 15 Feb 1995 11:00:11 -0400 (EST) From: Alex Eulenberg Subject: Vision and Sleep Status: RO X-Status: Does sleep relax the eyes or not? (from sci.med.vision newsgroup) Walt Mayo (waltmayo@aol.com) wrote: >: Also... it's been clearly shown that the vast majority of people do relax >: both the EOMs* and the ciliary muscles during any closed eye activities... >: take a look at Mohindra retinoscopy and phorias.... phorias are by >: definition where the eye muscles move when fixation is no longer needed. *Extraocular Muscles Vic Cinc wrote: >I have to agree with walt here. according to bates the tension >is mental and then manifested physically. in other words what >i think bates is saying is that a pattern of mental >strain is applied unconsciously when trying to see an object. >sleep generally does not reverse this mental pattern, even if it does >give the EOMs and ciliary a rest. I think Walt's estimates of eye-muscle relaxation during sleep are -- what shall I say -- strained? This very morning I woke up before sunrise. I looked out the window and, by the streetlamp light, things were very clear. I looked into the closet. Things were very clear inside too. My eyes felt fresh and relaxed. Then I went back to sleep. When I woke up again, the sun had risen, light was pouring through the window, and my eyes were very cramped all over and vision was blurry. It seems sleeping in total darkness makes vision better when you wake up while sleeping in bright light makes vision worse and even gives you eye cramps. This is probably due to the iris responding to the light. --Alex =========================================================================