Interview with Marsha McCulloch

Here’s a great episode I wanted to share with you all again. In this episode, Dr. Sam is interviewed by Marsha McCulloch, a blogger who writes for Vitacost. He talks about the effects computer use is having on our eyes, vision, and wellness. He offers many tips on how to take better care of your vision while being on screen time. Enjoy the show.

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SUMMARY KEYWORDS

eyes, people, exercises, screen, blue, lens, eyedrops, breathing, omega, glutathione, based, called, stress, exhale, important, create, reduce, technique, blog, light

Hello, everyone, it’s Dr. Sam, I’d like to welcome you to my EyeClarity podcast. This is a show that offers cutting edge information on how to improve your vision and overall wellness through holistic methods. I so appreciate you spending part of your day with me. If you have questions, you can send them to hello@drsamberne.com.

Hey folks, it’s Dr. Sam and I want to welcome you to another EyeClarity podcast. We have a very interesting show today I was interviewed for an upcoming blog by Marsha McCulloch. And she is very interested in how screen time is affecting our eyes. And so she’s going to be asking me a lot of questions about what can you do to protect your eyes from all the screen time, so everybody enjoy the show.

And a class which, if you’re not familiar, is a large online retailer of natural products owned by Kroger corporation. So they put out blogs regularly several, several times a week. And so really, in this article, I want to focus on how people can protect their eyes against all the digital eyestrain especially since with people using screens even more with COVID. I think this is especially relevant right now. So I want to talk with you just about what people can do to protect their eyes and how these screens are affecting their eyes and so forth. So, questions, I’ll just dive right into the questions that I have you.

Yeah, please do. Yeah, please. Please just fire away and I’ll do my best to to answer.

Okay, so how, what would you tell consumers as far as how continuous screen use affects our eye, or just all of our digital devices, staring at them so much?

Well, it’s certainly, you know, since the COVID pandemic, I think that I’m seeing more and more people with complaints. I mean, a variety of complaints, blurred vision, double vision, dry eye, redness, neck and shoulder pain. And the severity depends on course, how long you’re on your digital device. You know, I just saw a teacher that came to see me and she has been teaching online eight hours a day. And, you know, she’s just having this accumulated ice stress, and her prescription is getting worse. She’s very worried about it. And the syndrome is actually called the computer vision syndrome. And this was coined by the American Optometric Association. And so it’s, you know, it’s a growing problem of fatigue, people are not getting outside as much. So there’s the EMF pollution, there’s the blue, blue blue light issue we can get into. So it’s definitely taking a toll on our eyes. And I’ve laid out a lot of things that people can do to take better care of themselves. We can get into that. But, you know, you’ve you’ve identified a, a really important trend that I don’t think is going to change anytime soon.

Right. I agree. And so you mentioned blue light, what should people know about blue light in terms of device usage and how it can affect their eyes?

Yeah, so blue light is a very chaotic wave frequency. So it’s very, it’s a very short wave form. And not all blue light is bad for you. But between 404 160 nanometers, that segment of blue light is is very damaging for the eyes. There was a research study that the French government put out, that discovered that they found that excessive blue light exposure, affected our eye health or retinal health. It can accelerate things like macular degeneration, dry eyes. And this is across the board phones, tablets, computers, LED light TV, that blue light exposure, at the very least is going to cause an accelerated form of eyestrain and eye fatigue. And we also know that blue light, especially if you’re exposed to it after 6pm suppresses the melatonin production, which is important in our sleep cycle. So blue light is definitely a very important piece to the puzzle.

And that’s why I recommend a couple of things. First of all, I think it’s important to wear a blue blocker pair of glasses that deflects the highest amount of blue light. You can also get things on your digital devices that also deflect some of the blue light. And then there are some dietary things that you can also do. There’s carotenoids, like the lutein, zeaxanthin, acid Xanthine. These are plant based well as to Xanthine is more of a marine base, but they’re Carotenoids are antioxidants that protect the macula, from things like ultraviolet radiation and blue light exposure. So we’re back to the more you know, eating the green leafy vegetables actually, like the rainbow diet of, you know, the fruits and vegetables that are important as antioxidants that support eye health and reduce oxidative stress and inflammation. And I believe that blue light is one of those factors coupled with stress, visual stress, that creates a deterioration in your eyesight envision.

Right, okay. And with these blue blocker glasses, so is the person supposed to look for blue blocker glasses that specifically block like that 400 to 460 nanometer range?

Yeah, you know, that’s a great question. In the marketplace. These days, we’ve got blue blocking tints, which are yellow, and orange. And they’re blue blocking filters, which don’t create a tint, but they block the blue light. So first of all, you’re looking for a lens that’s going to block in that range. My research found that my patients would come in and they’d say, I have the tent, and it makes things too dark. It also creates an imbalance of color getting into the eyes, and it dilates the pupil too much, which negates what we’re trying to do. Because if you have a dilated pupil, then more of the bad light is going to get in. So about five years ago, I invented something called a blue blocking filter. So it doesn’t make the tint. There’s no tint in the lens. But what it does is it blocks the damaging blue light and reduces the glare. It increases the acuity and clarity. But it doesn’t create an imbalance of color getting into the eyes. And it also keeps your pupil at a normal state. So what I would recommend for people is they look for a blue blocking filter. And that’s going to be healthy, healthier for her for their eyes. I sell one on my website, but they’re readily available. So go for the filter over the tint. And that would be the best protection.

Okay, wonderful. And then you kind of diving into exercises to help the icon that digital eyestrain? Are there a few key exercises that you recommend to people?

Yeah, definitely. You know, on my website, I have a whole section, it’s free for people. And it’s called the AI clarity program. And I have many exercises on there that actually can help either reverse eye problems, or if you want to be proactive, preventing eye issues. So there have three main ones that I like one is more of a eye brain body exercise, and that’s called the Moro reflex. Most people have never heard of it. But the eyes actually originate from the brain. And so when we work with eye exercises, if we can engage the brain with the eyes, that is the most effective way. So in this moral reflex, it’s actually a movement pattern that you’re moving with your body, your eyes and your head. And what it actually does is it reduces the stress pattern in your brain. And when we’re at a digital screen all day, our sympathetic nervous system is overworking our adrenals are working harder or producing cortisol can affect our thyroid health.

And so this Moro reflex exercise is I call it a stress buster. So if you do it for a minute or so, it rebalances your nervous system so that you’re reducing your your stress now not just stress in the eyes, but also in the brain and the body. So the first one is the Moro reflex integration number two is an exercise that combines palming and hum name. So this, I discovered this many years ago that when you can put sound into the eye tissue, it actually relaxes all the compressed tissue in and around the eyes. So the way you do this one is you rub your hands together for a few seconds, place the palms over your eyes, your eyes are closed, you take a normal breath in through your nose, when you exhale, you make a humming sound, and you keep your mouth closed. On the exhale. If you do six or eight of those palm hums, you’ll notice immediately when you’re done, your eyesight is clearer, you’re feeling more refreshed, you’re getting more moisture into your eyes. So it is a game changer very quickly in getting your eyes to discharge the stress that’s been accumulated.

And then the third exercise that I have on my website is called the animal eye chart. This is an eye stretching exercise, you know, like you stretch any muscle, what it does is it brings more blood flow, and it relaxes the muscles. So in this particular stretching exercise, you’re stretching each eye, one at a time, you’re looking at a chart while you’re stretching it, when you’re done with the exercise, you’re going to have more visual flexibility, more relaxation, there’s going to be a rejuvenation in your eye focusing. And so if you take a few minutes throughout the day and do these exercises, you’re going to be able to recharge your eyes and replenish regenerate the debilitating effects that the screen time has, by interrupting your work day by doing these eye exercises. And they they work really, really well.

So how is someone sitting at a computer, let’s say hours a day, how often should they do these exercises?

Well, I would say once every two hours would be, you know, a great program. And then the second thing that I would add here is something called the 2020 20 rule. And this one you do every 20 minutes, every 20 minutes, you look up and out at 20 feet. And you do that 20 seconds. So when you release your focus at you know the screen, and you look at 20 feet, you immediately release the muscles into a more relaxed state. And if you do that every 20 minutes, you just need to do it for 20 seconds, it again breaks that repetitive eye movement pattern that we get into you know, you’ve probably done this, I know I have where you get so engaged in what you’re doing that two or three hours go by, and you’re still staring at the screen. So you put a little timer on and every 20 minutes, you just take a break, you look up and out. And that’s another really easy way to just break the cycle of the I stress that starts to accumulate when you do a lot of screen time.

Okay, and all of these exercises you discussed are those also all appropriate for children.

You know, I just did a blog. It was a three part blog on children taking care of their vision, through the you know, with all the online schooling that we’re doing. And in this in this blog I talk about these exercises are the best ones for kids. So absolutely. A couple other things about kids just briefly, you know, there are glasses that kids can wear, I call them stress relieving lenses. And if you go to a holistic eye doctor, he or she can calculate what is the best lens for up close. Now this is very different than a regular eye exam where you’re looking at a chart at 20 feet, and you get a lens that corrects the blur for 20 feet. This particular lens is calculated based on the child’s focusing response.

And once you figure that out, and you give them that lens, it’s a very low magnification lens, you put the blue blocker in there, it actually can help reduce myopia and astigmatism and helps prevent those things. Because it it relaxes your eyes and gives you more peripheral vision. So if you’re a parent, and you’re concerned that your child is starting to lose their distance vision, I would seek out a holistic eye doctor who can do this kind of a test. Because this stress relieving lens actually can be proactive at reducing the deterioration that’s going to occur if you’re in this you know near field guessing hour after hour, day after day, you go into what we call visual confinement. And this induces myopia, or nearsightedness, because your muscles get locked in up close. And then when you go get a distance prescription, that’s just treating a symptom. This approach is actually being proactive, it treats the cause, and it prevents myopia from occurring.

Okay, and our strategy leading minds is also appropriate for adults.

Absolutely. Now, the tricky part is that for adults, if they’re wearing a distance prescription already, what they can do is they can talk to their eye doctor about getting some type of a reduced prescription or a second prescription, that would be calculated based on the computer or tablet or whatever. Now if it’s if it’s an adult who doesn’t wear a distance prescription, then the calculation becomes a little easier, and this stress relieving lens would be appropriate. The one thing for adults to stay away from is using bifocals, or invisible bifocals, for your screen time. And the reason is, is because progressive lenses, they, they, they create three different levels of trying to see through one lens, three different layers. And so what’s happening is you’re reducing your peripheral vision, and you’re focusing through a hole to have to see the screen. And there’s a principle that I teach from, which is, the wider the field, the bigger the lens that you look through. And other words, when it’s one lens, the more relaxed your eyes are. So the point is, is that if anybody adult out there is using progressive lenses for their screentime get a single vision lens for your screen time. And that will completely open up your vision, relax your eyes, and it’s a much better optical system than trying to do something with a bifocal or, you know, invisible bifocal.

Okay, wonderful 20. And then this whole idea of relaxing i i assume that all the exercises, you talked about all help relax the I correct?

That is correct, yes, all of these exercises, help the the muscles relax. And you know, we have to bring in the mind and the brain and the body in this as well. But the whole idea is we want to bring another part of the nervous system in. That’s about relaxation, because when we’re on screens, we’re in the doing mode, we are doo doo doo and our muscles tighten up, compress, our breathing gets shallow. And then as I said, our adrenals are overworking our eyes dry out. So these exercises are meant to bring more relaxation to us. And it’ll help us sustain our ability to stay on the screen. Without all the symptoms that occur at the end of the day. You see, the thing is, is that when our eyes have oxygenation, hydration, we reduce oxidative stress, inflammation, and we’re preventing eye disease. Many eye diseases an eye deterioration occur because there’s lower oxygenation in the eye tissue, less blood flow. So free radicals start accumulating, and this leads to inflammation, and ultimately eye disease. And then you’re in big trouble.

Okay, and you mentioned that our breathing gets shallow or when we’re so focused, is this special breathing techniques that we should be doing while doing the eye exercises?

Well, you know, it’s interesting, when you do the poem in the hum and you hum On the exhale, automatically, your breathing is going to get longer, slower and deeper. So it’s a very cool way indirectly, to improve improve your breathing pattern by making this humming sound on the exhale. I mean, there are more. You know, there are other breathing practices that you can do. I mean, it kind of depends on how much time you have. I mean, there’s things like pranayama breathing and different kinds of yoga breathing. It depends on what you’re interested in. You know, Chi Gong exercises also can be beneficial that address the breathing as well. I would say anybody that’s you know, working on screen time, you must pay more attention to your breathing pattern because what I’ve noticed is we have a much shallower inhale and exhale, the longer we’re on the screen. So we need to develop a breathing practice. So that helps oxygenate our brain body, bloodstream eyes. So, I would say yes, you know, there’s many ways to improve your breathing and I think it’s an important aspect. You know, there’s another point here that another way to oxygenate is to use aromatherapy and you can use diffusers, where you’re diffusing some some essential oils in your workspace. And in certain cases, you can use aromatherapy on your body, you know, like things like eucalyptus or tea tree. These are highly oxygenating. And if they’re high quality, they’re not adulterated. Essential oils is another very cool tool that helps us oxygenate our eyes, brain and body. And if people are attracted to that they can use use that technique as well.

Okay, that’s fascinating. So artists, certain oils, you would infuse, would you diffuse the eucalyptus and tea tree oil is that you mentioned or something else? Well, I

might do kind of a more calming essential oil, like lavender, or, you know, you could do say something like Bay Laurel or laurel leaf. So in other words, find an essential oil where you find the aroma pleasing, and, you know, we know that lavender universally can help bring more peace and calming and less anxiety. And that’s one that people if they’re not used to aromatherapy, lavender is one that you know, I know this one is familiar. So those would be you know, just the shortlist. And just find something that you know feels good to you, and you like the smell and then you’re good to go especially in the defusing part of it because that you can if you’re in a you know workspace, you can run that and it does bring your heart rate down and it improves your breathing. And so that’s a really easy technique for support.

Okay, wonderful. And are there any other tips you would like to offer as far as helping people relate digital eyestrain that we haven’t already talked about?

Well, I would be remiss to speak at least for a moment about eyedrops. Now, not all eyedrops are created equally. In fact, most eyedrops that are in the pharmacy with all the preservatives in them and the fact that they actually Dry your eyes out even more. And then there’s the pharmaceutical drops, which may help for symptoms. But there’s other side effects. You’re looking for a natural eye drop. Now one that I use that I have developed is called MSM, and this is a sulfur based eyedrop sulfur is the third leading trace mineral found in the body software helps us with inflammation detoxification. It’s moisturizing, so I’ve been able to put it into an eyedropper. And people love it for all their digital time you can get two percentages, I’ve made a 5% and a 15% MSM. So that’s one idea. Another idea would be to do homeopathic eyedrops.

So probably the two famous companies are Optique, and similar Iason. The key is is that when you’re using these natural eyedrops, wash your hands, and there’s two techniques that I recommend. One is called the eye bath where it’s better to do this where you’re lying horizontally, your eyes are closed, you take the bottle and you run the drops along the eyelashes, your eyes are closed a few times and then you immediately open your eyes, you’re gonna get six to eight drops immediately into your eyes. The second approach is I massage where you put a drop in the corner of each eyes with the eyes closed, and then you take your fingers and you lightly massage your eyelids and eyelashes. You see the eyelids in the eyelashes are a major limp of the eye. And it’s a place where inflammation really is increased especially from all the screentime so it affects our ability to produce tears. So these techniques using the natural eyedrops and you want to use them four to six to eight times a day. I mean you really need to keep them by your screen and put them in every hour to these are therapeutic. They’ll support hydrate and moisturize your eyes to more points. It’s important that you get enough healthy fats and oils into your diet.

There have been studies that correlate dry with low fat is an oil so making sure you’re getting those in your diet. And then for some people this works really well you can use a castor oil eyedropper and massage it on the eyelids before bed and this particular technique is very hydrating and moisturizing at bedtime. And you can keep your eyes from getting dry because they get mostly the most dry net dry during sleep. So that’s another technique as well. They’re also herbal compresses you can use you know red raspberry leaf tea or eyebright goldenseal. These herbal remedies uses used as compresses can also be very soothing for the eyes and the eyelids. So think plant based, but think natural think try to do preservative free. And this will support your eyes to be hydrated and moisturized during the day in the evening.

Okay, I have a couple of questions based on that wonderful discussion. You just went through castor oil, eyedrops, do they make those that you can buy? Or do you just buy castor oil,

there is a company in in Boulder, Colorado, it’s an AI or VEDA company, if you Google it. It’s a hexane free organic castor oil eyedrop. So there’s no chemicals in it, it’s organic, that would be the best one to get. Certainly you could use an organic castor oil. And the key is you don’t need to put it in your eye you just take a drop on your finger and you’re massaging it lightly on the eyelids. So either one of those sources would would work well for people.

Okay, and you also mentioned healthy fats. Now I believe my read that GLA the fatty acid helps with dry eyes. I don’t know if that’s something that you found in your experience.

Yeah, so definitely, you know, the Omega three, you’ve got the DHA and the EPA part of it. You know, I recommend people take anywhere between mo maybe 1000 to 2000 milligrams a day of the Omega three, you know, our body doesn’t produce that. So, you know, and it’s tricky because we’ve got vegans out there and the vegetarian. So where are they going to get their Omega three, there’s algae based fats and oils. There’s of course, the flax, avocado oil, you know, there’s there’s different sources. But getting that balance of Omega three, Omega six and Omega nine people tend to load up on the Omega six, which can create more inflammation. But other sources of Omega three would be things like chia seeds or walnuts. So using organic, sprouted nuts and seeds work really well, like a chia pudding in the morning is a very high omega three source as an example. So you know, it kind of depends on where you are on the scale of whether you’re vegan vegetarian, or you eat animal products, and then looking for the best source Omega three with the lowest or the least amount of heavy metal toxicity, because that’s another issue that we have to deal with with the fats and oils.

But that’s kind of a broad brush of what people can look for. Around You know, avocados are a fantastic fat and also it has lutein in it, which is an important carotid Noid for the macula. So looking for those kinds of things, is the way to go. You know, I read a book a few years ago called taking it in, you can get it on my website, and I talk about what are the best foods for the eyes. There’s foods and then there’s also herbs you know, things like cilantro and basil and cinnamon. And so I go into all of those things as well. You know, asparagus has a high amount of glutathione and glutathione is a very important master antioxidant in our body. Studies have shown that low levels of glutathione may increase the risk of developing cataracts as an example glutathione a lot of people are deficient in glutathione so that’s another thing that people should take a look at in many foods contain glutathione the sulfur base foods, the cruciferous vegetables, and of course asparagus is one of my favorites. So I think that you know again, staying more in the plant based area rainbow diet, the berries, fruits and then the vegetables, adding your fats and oils. This is a great a great start. In terms of cleaning up your your digestive system, and that’s going to have a big impact on your eye health.

Okay, excellent. And anything I’ve caught you on, I’ll just email to you and you can check it. And then also, I wanted to verify, do you currently see patients in person in New Mexico or everything virtual?

Yeah, so I’ll give you the lowdown. First of all, you can go to Dr. Sam berne.com. And I have an incredible amount of free information, video blogs, written blogs, podcasts. We just got done with an AI Summit, where I invited seven other speakers and we did a week I did a weekend on Chinese medicine and vision and herbal medicine and vision and it was really, really good. And we’re going to do another one of the May 9 weekend. So watch for that. I’m doing a class February 20 that people can take it’s a Saturday, and then I’m doing a four week advanced workshop in March. All of this is on my website, I’ve got a webstore also, people are interested in that. And I do a limited amount of telemedicine appointments. Of course with COVID we’re really careful about our patient care, we do small patient care, but most everything is done through telemedicine and if people want to contact me do it through Hello@drsamberne.com. And my team will respond and we’re here to help we’re here to serve. And so that those are some of the offerings that I have. Okay, perfect.

Well, thank you so very much for your time. It’s just been wonderful talk. I can talk with you honestly for hours I think. So thank you so very much.

You’re welcome. Best of luck to you. Take care.

You too. Bye bye.

So that’s a wrap. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you so much for joining us today on the podcast and yeah, if you need any more information, you know how to reach me and until next time, take good care.

Thank you for listening. I hope you learned something from the EyeClarity podcast show today. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe on iTunes or Spotify and leave a review. See you here next time.