Simple Ways To Improve Your 40 Year Old eye sight
Once you get over 40, it’s all about mind, body, organs, and senses. Here’s how to keep your sensory perception 20/20.
Keep you eye’s exercised for optimum performance.
THE BRIEF
Time to read: 3 minutes 40 seconds
Time to action: 10 minutes
Mantra: Vision is about more than seeing what’s in front of you
Main message: Whether you’re a professional athlete or training at 40+, there is a sporting edge to be gained by training your vision
Stat: 20/20@40+ = <36%
“It's like a finger pointing the way to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all that heavenly glory.”
Bruce Lee’s martial arts mantra makes his point well – vision isn’t a single-point destination. You may want to improve your vision because you’re getting older. You might be spending more time in front of screens. Perhaps you want to increase your competitive edge at 5-a-side… whatever your reason, it’s just as important to train your eyes as it is your thighs.
Peripheral vision, focused sight, and dynamic visual acuity (the ability to see fast-moving objects) are all skills akin to muscle reflexes. These create coordination, reflex responses, and reaction timing. Improving them, as with training body and mind, is just a question of practice.
Here’s how to exercise those tiny muscles lodged inside your skull for peak performances…
Improve your sporting vision at 40+
We’ve compiled drills you can do at home to build the micro muscles in your eyes. This programme works on 4 key areas:
1. Depth perception
2. Reaction time
3. Hand-eye coordination
4. Peripheral vision
1/4: DEPTH PERCEPTION
Time: 2.5 minutes
What you need:
Tennis ball
Training partner
What to do:
Stand across from your partner with your feet hip-width apart and slightly bent knees.
Ask your partner to hold a tennis ball in one hand whilst you close one of your eyes, using your hand or an eye patch.
Now ask your partner to throw the ball at you.
Catch the ball, open your closed eye, and throw it back to them. Your partner can also close one of their eyes.
Perform this drill for 1 minute, completing one set with your right eye closed, one with your left eye closed, and one with a greater distance between you and your partner.
2/4: REACTION TIME
Time: 2 minutes 30 seconds
What you need:
Metre ruler (or stick measuring 1 metre)
Training partner
What to do:
Instruct your training partner to hold out a ruler at shoulder height.
Position your thumb level with the zero-centimetre line on the ruler.
Aim to catch the ruler between your index finger and thumb immediately after your training partner drops it.
After each catch, measure and record the distance between the bottom of the ruler and the top of your thumb where the ruler was caught.
Repeat this process 4–5 times to gather multiple measurements.
Calculate the average distance by adding all the recorded spaces and dividing by the number of measurements.
Compare the average distance against the provided chart.
Excellent: <7.5cm
Above average: 7.5–15.9cm
Average: 15.9–20.4cm
Below average: 20.4–28cm
Poor: >28cm
3/4: HAND-EYE COORDINATION
Time: 2 minutes 30 seconds
What you need:
Tennis ball
Training partner
What to do:
Position yourself 2 metres away from a wall.
Upon your training partner's command of "Go!", start the stopwatch.
Begin the exercise by throwing a tennis ball with your right hand and catching it with your left hand.
Then throw the ball with your left hand and catch it with your right hand.
Continue this cycle of throwing and catching for 30 seconds.
Your training partner should count and keep track of the number of successful catches during the 30 seconds.
After 30 seconds, your training partner should stop the stopwatch and provide you with the count of successful catches.
This test aims to measure your coordination and agility in throwing and catching the tennis ball. The number of successful catches can indicate your level of skill and hand-eye coordination.
4/4: PERIPHERAL VISION
Time: 2 minutes 30 seconds
What you need:
Tennis ball
Football
Training partner
What to do:
Ask your training partner to hold a tennis ball and a football approximately 3–4 feet away.
Your partner then throws the tennis ball through the air and rolls the football along the ground.
Your task is to catch one ball with one hand and kick the other ball.
As you progress, challenge yourself by crossing your arms whilst making the catch.
Perform 3 sets of 5 catches, then switch roles with your partner.
ENERGY RABBIT
Not simply a life coach, but an award-winner in the wellness sector with over a decade of experience. Rabbit specialises in the accessibility of information – if there is a theory worth exploring, Rabbit will work out how easily it can be integrated into your everyday life.
