vision

Vision and headaches We know that challenges with our vision can cause headaches. Squinting in bright light or straining the eyes to bring hazy text into focus can easily result in strain or pain in the eyes, temples, top of the head, or elsewhere.  What is less widely acknowledged is that wearing prescription glasses can also cause headaches. An overlooked cause of headaches—and other pains too—is the poor posture we often adopt when wearing glasses. In this post I will be looking at the posture traps to avoid with eyewear—and how to turn wearing glasses to your postural advantage. 

My passion for researching posture has taken me far and wide. I was in a village in Burkina Faso in western Africa when I first noticed how people there would track the conversation from speaker to speaker mainly by using their eyes, rather than by turning their heads. Along with their excellent body posture it contributed to a strikingly well-centered, dignified bearing.

This young man in Burkina Faso demonstrates the dignified bearing that comes with an appropriate amount of eye tracking.

Comparing what I saw in Burkina Faso with what I was used to seeing back home, I realized that in the US, and the wider industrialized world, we move our eyes a good deal less and our necks a good deal more

Is there a relationship between your eyeglasses/sunglasses and your posture? In the years I have been teaching people to restore their primal posture, I have discovered that glasses can hurt – or help - your posture, especially your neck posture. Here are some guidelines to help you maintain, and even improve, your structure as you aid your vision.