What are vision problems?

Childhood vision problems can usually be traced back to kindergarten age and to a source that could have been eliminated if recognised in time. We are often less concerned with our eye muscles than any other muscle in the body. These muscles need training much like other muscles in our body. Since we never train them, we cannot really relax them either.

In the majority of the cases, disturbances in vision are caused by the overworking of the eye, which results in eye muscle tension. Physical and mental relaxation is the only way to release muscle tension. When the eye is no longer strained, it will improve and work better. In other words, when there is less strain on the eye, the images we see are also sharper. If you teach your child how to better use their eyes and how to frequently exercise and relax their eye muscles, then vision disturbances are less likely to develop.

As far as functioning is concerned, vision problems are caused by faulty refraction. During normal vision, rays of light enter the eye and are focused onto a single point found on the retina. Vision problems occur when light is no longer focused in the right place. Myopia (nearsightedness) occurs when light focuses in front of the retina, and it prevents the person from seeing distances clearly. Hypertropia (farsightedness) occurs when light focuses behind the retina, and it prevents the person from focusing on objects in close proximity.