VISION MYTHS: READING IN DIM LIGHT CAN HURT YOUR EYES AND EYE EXERCISES CAN IMPROVE VISION

Reading in dim light can hurt your eyes.

Picture Anne Sullivan, the dedicated, selfless teacher of Helen Keller, night after endless night, reading in half-light, straining her own eyes to the breaking point. Makes you wish for indoor flood lamps, doesn't it? And yet, although inadequate light can cause temporary eye fatigue, it can't permanently damage your eyes. If it could, Abe Lincoln, who studied by candlelight—as did every scholar in the centuries before Edison—would have had poor vision. But why do it? Everyone ought to use good lighting—especially as we get older, when cataracts and other problems can dim our vision. Also, good lighting always makes it easier for your eyes to focus on what you are reading and helps to lessen fatigue.

Eye exercises can improve vision.

Sadly, for almost all of us, this one isn't true either. There are muscles in the eye, but they don't "shape up" like a flabby belly on a regimen of sit-ups. Only a small percentage of eye problems respond to eye exercises. Also, eye exercises can't prevent you from ever needing eyeglasses. Note: If an eye doctor recommends a course of eye exercises for you, please seek a second opinion; these ocular workouts are useful in some circumstances, but they have their limitations.

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