Stress decreases peripheral vision. Under stress we get tunnel vision. Unless we have trained ourselves not too.

 

And, of course, stress greatly diminishes learning ability. It actually shuts down parts of the brain.

 

Peripheral vision training actually has a stress reducing effect. Low stress is necessary for learning. Not to mention making life more enjoyable.

 

We tend to not use our peripheral vision well because we rely too much on our focal vision. In most individuals focal vision is dominant. Focal vision and peripheral vision should work well together. Two parts to an efficient system. Yet usually they don’t. And this causes confusing signals to be relayed to the brain. The resulting overload causes distractions. Leading to poor attention skills.

 

I’ve seen many children and adults who had attention problems that, after a little eye stability training and then, peripheral vision training, resolved their attention difficulties. They became far more relaxed and focused. They developed better attention spans quickly. The resulting reduced stress levels and longer attention spans allowed them to learn at a much faster rate.

 

Eye Stability, Peripheral Vision, Spatial Awareness, And Stress 

 

In many people with attention issues the eyes are very unstable. They jump to whatever draws their attention for that instant

 

When these people try to learn anything that requires coordinating the body in a new way, trouble ensues. The rapid eye movement and spatial problems add to the coordination confusion.

 

The brain is directed by the eyes. Whatever our eyes focus on, the brain assumes to be the most important thing to concentrate on at that moment. And it can only concentrate on one thing at a time. We simply lose awareness of everything else.

 

The problem of texting and driving demonstrates this. This attention problem is why texting and driving is so dangerous. Those that text and drive simply become unaware of the fact that they are operating a vehicle. Even though their life is dependent on remembering that they are in the driver’s seat. When they look at the text, it grabs their full attention, and they forget. Creating a very dangerous situation. 

 

In other words, our eyes can direct our mental attention to the unimportant and cause us to forget the important.

 

If the eyes are unstable the brain changes what it is focussing on constantly. It is getting massive signal overload and just can’t process it all. Attention span becomes non-existent.

 

That is why eye stability is the first thing we work on. It’s a relatively easy fix. It’s almost always an issue. Without it nothing else has much of a chance of working.

 

Expanding the Peripheral

 

The second reason reading is improved through perceptual training has to do with the relationship between stress and feild of vision..

 

When we become stressed we get tunnel vision. Our vision narrows down tightly. This is a result of switching into the sympathetic nervous system. Fight or flight mode. The amygdala sets this in action. 

 

It’s easy to assume that the brain, and specifically, the amygdala is in charge of the whole stress process. We assume its a top down leadership. Except that’s not exactly true. It also works in reverse. The brain checks in with the body to check emotional state. Yes, the amygdala tells the body to stress out, but it also monitors the body to know when to turn the stress back off. It’s a positive reinforcement loop. If the body position and eyes reinforce that we are stressed then the stress continues or even increases. Sending more stress reinforcing signals to the brain. 

 

If we know how, we can break that loop and return to our normal, healthy, stress free state. But the most efficient way to do it is with the body, not the mind. We cannot logic away an emotion. We can use our body to tame an emotion. 

 

Anything we can do with the body, that is the opposite of what the sympathetic nervous system tells it to do, will tell the amygdala that all is well. No reason for alarm. An expanded peripheral vision is one of those things. The amygdala assumes that if we do not have tunnel vision we are not stressed. It assumes that if we are breathing deep and slow we are not stressed. It assumes that if are posture is upright and strong we are not afraid. It assumes if we are moving in a strong and confident way that we must be in control of the situation. The more of these signals that it gets the more it turns off the stress response and returns our brain to a normal, healthy parasympathetic state. A state where learning can occur.

 

Once we train ourselves to expand our peripheral vision we can use that tool, and others, to relax and destress the mind. Putting us back into a learning state. Our logic can’t do it but our body can.

 

Of course for some strange reason we all try to use logic, it just never works.

 

Learning cannot happen while our nervous system is in the sympathetic state. Not only are the learning centers of the brain shut down but actual blood flow to them is shut down. Most children who are having difficulty learning are under huge levels of stress. Making learning nearly impossible. In this state pushing more academic work on them will not help, it will only make it worse. Yet that’s what generally happens

 

Helping them learn to calm the nervous system is essential. Do that and the learning will come naturally. 

 

There are various other mind-body techniques that are also highly effective at regulating the nervous system. We use these both in the Learning Success System and in our martial arts training. They are an integral part of maximizing the learning process. Especially for a struggling student.