Full Transcript Summit Introduction and Guest Welcome 0:00 Hello and 0:01 welcome to another very special interview for the Reversing Alzheimer's Summit. 0:05 I am your summit co-host, Doctor Kristine Burke, and over the last decade, 0:09 I've helped many patients reverse their cognitive decline. 0:12 And that is why I have co-founded two neuro brain health software 0:16 designed around preventing and reversing neurodegeneration, 0:20 to help both patients and practitioners be extraordinarily successful in this work. 0:25 In this summit, I'm bringing you interviews 0:27 with thought leaders who can help you understand the pillars of brain health 0:31 and the root causes of cognitive decline. 0:33 I want you to know what you need to know to prevent and reverse 0:37 cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease for yourself and your loved ones. 0:41 I am very pleased today to introduce you to my friend and my eye doctor, 0:47 who is the absolute best doctor, Bryce Appelbaum. 0:50 Doctor Bryce is a neuro optometrist, a Ted speaker, 0:53 founder and CEO of My Vision First, a private practice 0:57 specializing in diagnosing and treating vision problems for all ages. 1:02 He has become the trusted authority for functional vision 1:06 through vision performance Training, his screen fit virtual vision 1:09 training program and neuro optometric rehab services. 1:13 Doctor Bryce has supported thousands of patients to optimize 1:17 their vision, improve brain functioning, heal post concussive syndrome, 1:21 and engage with life through a fresh lens, no matter their circumstances. 1:25 Doctor Bryce knows that 2020 eyesight does not mean perfect vision 1:30 and recognizes that while humans are not meant to stare at screens all day, 1:34 we can train our eyes and our brains to have 1:37 the appropriate foundation to thrive in this digital world. 1:40 Today, Doctor Bryce is going to reveal how we can take action 1:44 to ensure our eyes and brains work harmoniously 1:47 in a world where everything is trying to overwhelm our visual symptoms. 1:52 A very warm welcome to you, Doctor Bryce. 1:54 Thank you so much for being here. 1:56 It is such a pleasure to be here. 1:58 I'm so excited to, to chat and to educate, empower 2:01 the audience here about what we can do for our functional vision. 2:04 There is so much to learn in this arena. 2:07 So much that I have learned from you. 2:10 Why don't we? 2:11 Maybe we start off by talking about the difference between 2:14 eyesight and vision, because I know that was a little bit novel to me. 2:19 And it's such a crucial distinction 2:21 that once you get this, a lot of this other stuff makes a ton more sense. 2:25 So eyesight really is just a symptom, 2:28 and it's letters on a lot of charts, street signs, and it's kind of 2:31 what the teacher writes on the board if you're a child. 2:34 And that's what we have glasses for and I say matters, 2:37 but vision is far more complex. 2:39 Vision is how our eyes move together and converge and track and focus 2:43 and process information and really how we derive 2:46 meaning from the world around us and then direct the appropriate action. 2:49 So really, eye sight is glasses, vision is
Eyesight vs. Vision Explained 2:52 brain and vision problems are brain problems. 2:56 And there's a fix and a solution for so many of these brain problems 3:00 with vision performance training, vision therapy, lots of treatments 3:04 that are out there that can teach people how to use their eyes 3:07 to rewire the software of their brain to change how they're using vision. 3:12 Yeah, it's so fascinating how much 3:16 the neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to change, 3:19 alters the way we can perceive things through our vision. 3:23 I know that was really eye opening. 3:25 Not pun, not intended, but kind of funny. 3:27 And it was really eye opening for me when we did my assessment, 3:31 just to realize that there were things that I wasn't even aware of, 3:34 that my eyes were doing, or that my vision my brain was doing or not doing. 3:41 Maybe talk a little bit about how we can rewire our brain 3:44 through vision training and how how that happens. 3:49 So neuroplasticity exists for every brain at every age. 3:53 And so many people think that cognitive decline happens 3:56 as we age, and visual decline happens as we age. 3:59 But although that happens, that's not normal. 4:02 That's just common, right? 4:03 I mean, there's actionable things we can do to slow down 4:06 and not allow that to to be a thing. 4:08 When I was in school and every doctor currently in school, we're 4:11 taught that there's this critical period for vision development 4:14 and that you blow out the candles on your eighth birthday, 4:17 and then all of a sudden what you see is what you get. 4:20 And neuroplasticity for vision ends, which is so crazy to think about. 4:24 But literally, that's the wrong interpretation of old research. 4:29 And it's talking about vision lost, not vision gained. 4:32 So if you or I were to cover one of our eyes for six months with an eye 4:36 patch and take it off, 4:38 you know, I would be sensitive to light, but we would still be able to see. 4:41 But if you did that same thing with a six year old, and had he or she wear an eye 4:45 patch for six months, take it off, there would have been eyesight lost 4:49 because that's a critical period for a developing vision. 4:52 But any brain at any age can be rewired 4:56 in terms of new neural connections, new pathways 5:00 accessing areas of the brain that we're bypassing or not tapping into 5:04 with the right work, with the right motivation and with the right compliance. 5:07 And so, you know, most of the patients I work with 5:11 are here from stress, from the environment and having adaptations 5:15 that occur because of that or visual developmental delays. 5:18 But more than half of my practice is concussion and traumatic brain 5:21 injury rehab, because we can tap back in and reestablish function 5:26 when there's all of this disorder, especially when there's an acute event 5:29 like that. 5:31 It's so 5:32 fascinating how you can take the assessment of how your brain 5:36 is processing information, and then create that specific 5:40 rehab protocol that helps to retrain those parts of your brain. 5:46 And it just it really emphasizes 5:49 how much, much control really power 5:52 we have over what happens with our brain processing and vision here, 5:57 but also in neurodegenerative disease and how much we can really do that 6:02 we thought wasn't possible before 100%. 6:05 And it really all stems from this proactive approach, right? 6:08 When we know what we can do is having a challenge out occur and then just plain 6:14 playing defense, I mean, at all of health care is on a reactive approach. 6:18 We're starting to shift, but especially with with vision and with the eyes. 6:22 I know I'm biased, 6:23 but there's more of a disconnect with the eyes than any other area of the body. 6:27 And anyone who's anywhere. 6:29 Everyone goes to the eye doctor 6:31 and you're seeing these tiny letters far away across the across the room. 6:34 And apparently that's the be all, end all. 6:36 But we're not looking at 6:37 the functional skills associated with Nir and with depth perception 6:41 and with eye coordination and with focusing, and, 6:45 you know, all the critical skills 6:46 that we need to navigate through space and live a fulfilling life. 6:51 But yet we get blurred vision. 6:53 We get things not as clear as they used to be.
Neuroplasticity and Vision Training 6:55 And all of a sudden it's okay, you need stronger lenses or stronger contacts, 6:59 but really that's taking a symptom and just feeding the symptom 7:03 rather than uncovering the root cause, which may be a focusing stem on a problem 7:08 or an eye coordination problem, or focusing flexibility problem where 7:12 far away is blurry, 7:13 let's say because of a near problem, because of too much screen time. 7:16 Because of too much Nir stress. 7:19 Well, if we don't address the problem, 7:22 then it's here's what the stronger that becomes, you know, normal. 7:25 You go down the same vicious cycle and your prescription is changing 7:28 indefinitely versus stopping the train in its tracks and saying, okay, well, 7:34 let's develop the proper use of the inside and outside muscle systems of the eyes 7:38 and get the brain to respond to that information appropriately. 7:41 And then the need for a symptom to shift, 7:44 like a clarity no longer is there and sometimes can even be reversed. 7:48 So, so much can be done when we're looking at the person 7:51 behind the eyes, not just the eyes. 7:52 And really recognizing that that these vision problems, our brain problems. 7:58 One of the things that 7:59 you explained to me that made it feel more, 8:04 I guess, attainable or reachable, that you could make a difference 8:07 in how you, how your brain perceives what your, 8:10 what your eyes are seeing is talking about the, the muscles that are controlling 8:15 our eyes that are moving the lens and creating our focus. 8:20 And that, like you said, we think about that as being just 8:23 the eyesight part and the only fix for that is glasses and changing our glasses. 8:28 But talk a little bit about some of the things that we can do 8:32 that can help us to keep those muscles strong, 8:35 to not lose their ability to create sharp vision for us. 8:40 Absolutely. 8:41 So the two main muscle systems 8:44 are the inside muscles and the outside muscles of the eyes. 8:47 So the inside muscles control our focusing system. 8:50 That's our accommodative system 8:51 that allows us to make something clear, keeping it clear. 8:54 That's really letting us know what something is. 8:58 Outside muscles controls the eye coordination system, 9:00 the eye pointing that lets us know where something is. 9:03 And in a normal, healthy brain, those two systems, the what and the where 9:07 provide the same feedback so that things that are single and clear for us. 9:12 Yet life takes place in the dynamic fashion, right? 9:15 So if our focusing system is like an old school camera lens stuck on 9:19 manual focus, we're relying on glasses or adjusting our body to compensate. 9:24 But if we can get that muscle system to be on an auto focus like an old camera lens 9:29 that does it all on its own unconsciously, then we have the ability 9:32 to make things clear at all distances and keep them clear. 9:35 Now everybody, as we age, those inside muscles of the eyes and the lens 9:40 inside of the eye become a little bit more rigid, a little bit more inflexible. 9:44 And usually in the mid 40s or so you'll be there in a couple decades, Christine. 9:48 But when you, you start to hold them 9:49 farther away like this and your arms are long enough, 9:52 and then it's like, all right, let me go grab reading glasses. 9:55 And really the equivalent of that is kind of 9:58 like saying, my knee hurts, I'm going to go jump into a wheelchair, 10:02 right? 10:02 I mean, you don't just give up. 10:04 You figure out what caused the issue and you work your way backwards 10:07 and solve those problems. 10:08 And that's really what's occurring with our focusing system. 10:12 You know, as we age, it does become less robust. 10:15 However, just like any muscle in our body, if we stop using it, 10:19 we lose voluntary control. 10:21 So doing specific eye exercises and specific things, 10:25 depending on somebody's problems or what their goals are, can allow us to keep 10:30 what we have for longer and at a minimum, prolong 10:33 the need to increase near glasses or readers. 10:36 Many cases avoid the need. 10:38 Some cases even make it so you go back when you don't even need them anymore, 10:42 but you got to do the work. 10:44 So, you know, I always the people who always say that eye exercises don't 10:48 work, I always say they're the same people that are sharing that normal exercise. 10:52 It doesn't work. It works. 10:54 You just got to do it. 10:55 So, you know, 10:57 if you're not going to do the work 10:58 and you're going to be on screens all day long 11:00 and you're not going to get outside and you're gonna have a sedentary lifestyle, 11:04 then likely your visual system is going to adapt to trying to meet those demands, 11:08 just like your body would adapt if it's under stress. 11:12 Yeah. 11:12 It is really true. 11:13 And we spend so much time in front of screens 11:17 and not enough time practicing the other part. 11:20 I know that was the part because of my work, because of what I do, 11:23 that was the part that was hard for me because I'm in front of a computer screen 11:27 most of the day. 11:28 So proportionately, I spend so much time focusing close 11:32 and so little time focusing on the distance. 11:35 And it was really remarkable the amount of change, the improvement 11:40 that we got in my clarity for distance, 11:43 which was I thought that was really amazing. 11:45 Yeah. 11:46 So screen time requires different eye movements 11:49 than reading a printed page or doing anything in the distance. 11:53 There's more of them. 11:54 They're less less organized. 11:56 There's the contrast, 11:57 there's the brightness, there's the glare, there's the 2D versus the 3D. 12:01 But I think one of the clearest takeaways from all of this is if we were to squeeze 12:05 our fists as hard as you can, after a few seconds, your hand starts to hurt. 12:10 But if we just squeeze and like, 12:11 go and squeeze and like, oh, you could kind of do that forever, almost.
Eye Muscle Systems and Screen Strain 12:15 Our focusing muscles are these sphincter circular muscles behind our pupil. 12:19 So when we look close they lock in. 12:21 When we look far, they relax. 12:23 When we're on screens, they're literally locked in under tension. 12:27 Over time. 12:29 And if you're trying to lift weights and your back tension over 12:32 time is a good thing. 12:33 But if you're trying to be productive and engage your screens, tension over time 12:38 is what contributes to headaches and eye strain 12:41 and fatigue and dryness and light sensitivity. 12:45 And then far away starting to get blurry as a result of this near demand. 12:49 And so something as simple as just taking vision breaks. 12:52 I know that's seems almost too easy, but if you think about it, 12:56 I know when you're plowing through all you work for it. 12:58 You know, 12:59 you could probably look at your watch and realize, wow, like it's 13:02 it's evening time right now, right? 13:04 Because you're so locked in. 13:05 If you even set an alarm and every 20 minutes, 13:08 let's say, take a break for 20s and look 20ft away. 13:11 20 2020 rule. 13:13 You're allowing that that that system to disengage and to ration to come back. 13:17 And that's really the longest we should go before looking away is 20 minutes. 13:20 It could be as often as possible, 13:23 but the more breaks you take and especially movement breaks 13:25 and even getting outside and getting natural light, 13:28 the more you can function better for longer at the level that you're at. 13:33 But again, if we're so myopic and so locked in on the screen, 13:38 that's creating additional stress from the environment that most of us don't 13:42 have the foundation in place to support, we're not visually ready for screens yet. 13:47 With the right work, with the right motivation, you can get to a place 13:50 where screens don't cause damage to the eyes in the brain 13:54 other than, you know, what comes from certain neurotransmitter release. 13:58 If you're messing around and doing, you know, certain 14:01 pleasure seeking activities on a screen, let's say. 14:04 Yeah, I mean, one of the things I did in my, in my new office is 14:07 I set it up so that my computer screen is by a window, 14:12 and so I can just look up now, gaze at a distance out the window 14:17 to create that break in, in my visual focus. 14:21 And it's such an easy thing, like, that's such a great take home action point. 14:25 Like, that's a very easy thing to be able to do 14:28 for anybody that spends a lot of time in front of a screen and just have that, 14:32 have that break in, look, look into the distance for a bit. 14:36 Can I add one more easy win? Yeah, yeah. 14:39 So the average person blinks about 15 times in a minute. 14:43 And when we look at screens it goes down to about three times 14:46 a minute, which means we're literally blinking less fresh. 14:50 Tears are going up over the front surface less. 14:53 The windshield wipers are cleaning off 14:54 the road, less the brain then sends the signal. 14:57 My eyes are dry, release more tears, but then the tears 15:01 come out more in the watery fashion to lessen in an oily fashion. 15:05 So your own tears actually evaporate faster than they would and drain quicker. 15:09 And we go on this negative feedback loop 15:11 and then inflammation steps in and you know all about inflammation. 15:15 And so as simple as this also sounds 15:19 blink more take blinking breaks or remember to just look away 15:22 and look at that window that you so intentionally set up for your new set up. 15:27 But blinking is 15:28 something that we almost take for granted. 15:31 And now dry eye syndrome and digital vision disorder are now 15:36 diagnoses that weren't around that too long ago because of 15:40 what's now occurring for our society, from from all these screens. 15:44 Yeah, it really is. 15:45 I mean, it's just the way it's the way of life now. 15:48 But we didn't we created that way of life without being intentional about 15:52 the protection side that we need to have as well, 15:54 which is what I love about these really practical, practical tips. 15:59 What do you think is happening in the Alzheimer's brain 16:04 that also contributes to impact 16:07 on the the vision, the visual processing of the brain? 16:10 And are there any specific things that you think people who are either early 16:14 in the cognitive decline process 16:16 or at risk because of family history or further along, like what are 16:20 what are the things 16:21 that we need to be paying attention to, or maybe even early warning signs? 16:24 So having problems navigating 16:28 through space and in our environment 16:31 is one of the earliest, 16:34 easiest signs of Alzheimer's disease, where 16:37 it's not 16:38 normal behavior, something's different, and it's almost like you're lost in space. 16:43 And you know, those visual, spatial, functional vision issues that occur, 16:49 they make it really hard to feel safe. 16:51 And they can lead to confusion and they can lead to disorder. 16:56 And all the mental health that comes with that. 16:59 And, you know, I think when that happens, 17:02 we're using our brain in different way than it's wired. 17:05 We're allowing mal adaptations or bad habits to manifest. 17:09 One of the most common visual consequences 17:13 that we see is our depth perception drops, 17:16 or we start to have this kind of competition over sensory input, 17:20 where our brain starts to pick one eye rather than using both together, 17:24 and then it starts to suppressor, ignore input from one eye, 17:27 and then all of a sudden the world goes from 3D to 2D. 17:31 But it often does that in different pockets of space 17:34 or in different positions. 17:35 And you don't really realize it because your other eye 17:39 that's acting more dominant is taking over. 17:43 But then all of a sudden you're reaching for a glass and you're not 17:46 visually guiding the motor control the entire way, 17:48 because you reach for glass a thousand times, 17:50 and then you knock the glass over because there's a mismatch of 17:54 where you think it is and where it is, or when we're driving. 17:57 We're not able to react to information in the periphery or in front of us at 18:02 the same rate, or with the same accuracy as we could previously, because, again, 18:07 our brain stopped using our eyes together as a team in certain scenarios. 18:11 You know, that can also lead to, misperceptions and mis identifications. 18:15 So the misperceptions are really 18:19 what are the most commonly talked about as I related with Alzheimer's, 18:24 because it's usually damage involving occipital lobe in the back of the brain. 18:28 And if there is damage there, that could make looking at like
Vision Changes in Alzheimer's Disease 18:32 a dark carpet seem 18:34 like it's a hole, because your brain is literally 18:39 perceiving it differently 18:40 than what it is, or with the misidentification, 18:44 you know, maybe that's the temporal lobes or the parietal lobes that are more 18:49 for kind of understanding where and navigation, 18:53 you know, that can be not interpreting what you're seeing accurately in terms 18:56 of where it is or when it's arriving at you. 18:59 And again, and it just leads to this insecurity in our environment 19:02 and in our surroundings, which can be really, really scary. 19:06 And I have a patient currently that, you know, said this was one of the best things 19:11 that happened to him because it forced him to get rid of all clutter, 19:16 because he could never find his keys when he'd come in, 19:19 because there was just stuff everywhere. 19:21 And so when you got rid of all the clutter and he knew my keys go in the key bowl, 19:26 then every time he came in and became so habitual 19:29 that he stopped losing them, but otherwise he couldn't 19:33 he couldn't look for the keys here and here and here, but couldn't 19:35 open up periphery to see the whole space, to then localize accurately. 19:39 So I think those are some of the most common ones functionally. 19:42 And then there's definitely changes that occur structurally 19:45 where the eyes can be one of the most that one of the best 19:50 early detection sites for changes with certain types of protein deposits. 19:55 I mean, even as early as like the 2000s, you know, there were these 20:00 beta amyloid proteins found in our lens inside of our eyes, 20:04 and they look very different when a cataract 20:07 develops there, or 20:10 a deposit forms there different from normal. 20:12 You know, this is something that we need to get, 20:14 you know, do more testing or research on or 20:17 in the retina, the 20:18 inner layer of the eye that's responsible for allowing us 20:22 to have the image focus there for our brain to that interpret 20:25 it changes to the retina very often mirror 20:29 the same changes that happen to the brain or population. 20:32 And, you know, that's better than anybody. 20:34 So, you know, I think being on top of your health 20:37 and being on top of your awareness is really the best advice, because 20:42 when you start to notice things different, we got to figure out the why behind it. 20:46 Yeah. 20:46 I think that's such an important point that we accept 20:50 so many things as just consequences of aging, like you said earlier. 20:55 And really, they're all warning signs. 20:58 They're telling us something has changed and it's not necessarily 21:03 something horrendous or something really, really bad. 21:06 But it does mean that things are shifting. 21:08 As I was listening to you in that last segment, I was thinking, 21:12 it's like it's like other things 21:14 that we do in neurodegenerative change with brain retraining, 21:18 where what often happens as we get older is that we just fall into patterns, right? 21:23 We do things in the same way or in a similar way, like, 21:26 you know, you get up, you go in your kitchen, 21:29 you make your cup of coffee and you kind of just follow this exact same pattern. 21:33 And you and I know that that neurons that fire together wire together, meaning 21:38 that the more you drive that same pathway, it's kind of like ruts in a dirt road. 21:43 The deeper those rut skid and the harder it is to do something else. 21:48 And so I'm just thinking with our vision, just like with other things, 21:52 we need to be challenging it to do different things 21:56 and to not just do the same things over and over again. 22:00 So fascinating it really is. 22:02 And our brains are brilliant in terms of what they're capable of. 22:06 And I mean all day, every day in my practice with our vision training, 22:10 we are arranging the conditions to raise to somebody's awareness 22:15 what their eyes are doing, where they're pointing 22:17 so they can know what it feels like, what it looks like, and the depth 22:20 that ensues 22:21 when the brain turns onto that information, 22:23 when we're tapping into those visual centers 22:25 and then reproducing that as we're adding movement 22:28 and balance and cognition and vestibular input, 22:32 because vision does not operate in isolation of these other systems. 22:35 So, you know, with the really thermal evaluation, you know, exactly 22:39 where the areas of opportunity for improvement are. 22:41 But then with the right brain 22:43 training protocol and in this case, visual brain training, I mean, we can 22:48 allow 22:49 somebody to recognize I can tell immediately if my brain 22:53 is shutting off input from one of my eyes, or if the world becomes 22:57 flatter than it normally is. 22:58 Or I can tell immediately if I start to lose fusion 23:02 and things split into two, I can very quickly pull them back in. 23:05 Or if things become blurry, that's a sign to me that I've done too much 23:10 or I ate the wrong food, or I need to take the right supplement or medication. 23:15 And vision as our dominant sensory system should be what is guiding and leading 23:20 and providing a safety and feedback for all the other sensory systems. 23:24 But very often when it's not, it can be so daunting and so scary 23:29 because, you know, you're you're not trusting what you're seeing. 23:33 And that's really the root cause of so many people as as we age, 23:37 avoiding stairs or escalators or curbs or, 23:42 you know, having falls that would have been avoided 23:45 had they vision guiding movement appropriately. 23:48 And yet this is not standard of care yet where somebody who shows 23:54 cognitive decline or even signs 23:57 of, of of not necessarily even decline, 24:00 but just inconsistencies, well, and even just preventatively like. 24:05 Right. 24:05 That's saying this should just be part of our eye health care. 24:09 It shouldn't be something 24:11 that we have to seek out separately because it's so important. 24:15 It's really crazy that this isn't just part of common practice. 24:19 And I know that that's part of your mission for sure. 24:23 I, I'm 24:23 trying to raise as much awareness as possible because, 24:27 you know, there's we're at this tipping point as a society now where 24:31 we've talked about screens being everywhere, 24:33 but they're kind of the new pandemic that we're all dealing with. 24:36 The average American is seven hours and four minutes a day on the screen. 24:40 The average 8 to 10 year old is six hours a day on a screen. 24:44 And these are average numbers, which means there's people 24:46 that have significantly more than that. 24:48 And, you know, we see what it's doing to our kids, 24:52 at least cognitive development, social development, 24:54 emotional development, but now vision development. 24:56 And then we're seeing with adults the sedentary lifestyle that,
Lifestyle, Nutrition, and Protective Strategies 25:00 you know, becomes a lot easier to stay inside and be stuck with this 25:04 machine blasting, this high energy, short wavelength light to our brains 25:08 and our lives, 25:08 which are not meant to be able to withstand that stress for that long. 25:15 Yeah. 25:15 I mean, it's a whole and we haven't even seen the full outcome 25:20 of all of that screen time, because that's really only been in 25:23 like the last 25 years, that it's been more significant. 25:28 You know, you mentioned, a little earlier supplements and other lifestyle changes. 25:33 What are some of the other things that people can 25:36 or maybe even should be doing to help protect their vision? 25:42 So supplement wise and nutrition wise, literally 25:46 anything that is great for brain health is great for our health. 25:51 The eyes are part of the brain. 25:52 They emerge from the brain in utero. 25:54 They're brain tissue. 25:56 And so anything that we want, anything that's going to maximize 26:01 health, vitality and function for our brain is going to do the same 26:04 for our visual system and for our eyes, specifically for the eyes. 26:07 There's green leafy vegetables and specific lutein and zeaxanthin, 26:12 which are great for the sweet spot of your eyesight for your macula. 26:16 Omega threes are great for so many 26:18 aspects of cognition and brain health, but really for visual function as well. 26:22 And for our Tir film to be more viscous so that our own tears 26:26 don't evaporate as quickly as they would otherwise. 26:28 But then also, 26:29 you know, there's a lot with light that has become really popular, and 26:34 blue lights kind of 26:35 become the new gluten, where that's all everybody's talking about. 26:38 And blue light is not bad for us, but it's actually really good for us. 26:42 But we want natural blue light from the sun to help set our circadian rhythms. 26:46 But artificial blue light, especially from screens, has blasting our 26:50 eyes and brains all day long. 26:52 We now know that there's a correlation with metabolic disease 26:57 and even some cancers when our circadian rhythms are 27:00 messed up because the sleep wake signal 27:03 is not being sent at the right fashion, because the cells in the back of our eye 27:08 whose sole job is to respond to light, they're overstimulated all all day long. 27:12 So and melatonin just keeps firing all day long. 27:14 So blocking blue light can be helpful. 27:17 But really it's the junk light. 27:18 It's the light from my environment 27:20 that causes this fight or flight response or this autonomic dysfunction. 27:24 And some people are way, way more sensitive than others. 27:27 I have probably 50 patients currently who literally can't 27:32 walk through any type of environment with LED lighting without immediately 27:37 wanting to retreat, because the pain and the discomfort 27:41 and the symptoms are so terrible that they just they need to pull away. 27:45 And we have plenty of patients who do everything they can 27:47 and their brains are still that hypersensitive to certain 27:50 wavelengths of light and to certain stress from environment. 27:54 So having the right types of glasses 27:56 to block blue light for certain people can be life changing. 27:59 We're big proponents of what we call digital performance lenses, 28:03 which are glasses specifically designed for screen engagement and performance. 28:08 Over time. 28:09 So they're not glasses that are compensatory. 28:11 They don't do the work for you. 28:12 They're therapeutic in that they give the brain the best opportunity 28:16 for the eyes to work together, whether it's 28:18 a low amount of balanced magnification or a low amount of prism, 28:22 whatever would be customized for that person. 28:25 But to make it so that the brain can use the eyes 28:28 and the inside and outside muscles 28:29 more efficiently without allowing these, these mal adaptations to emerge. 28:34 So I think the right optical set up, the right nutrition, the right supplements. 28:37 But then also really lifestyle, I mean, getting up and moving and being active. 28:42 And if you think about vision as a system that was intended to guide movement 28:48 and to scan the horizon for for dinner and for this danger, 28:53 right, we're now having those same eye movements on a screen. 28:56 So we really need to maintain flexibility and get outside and move more. 29:01 And there's really 29:02 great information coming out now about how protective even 90 minutes 29:06 a day can be outside for kids in terms of slowing 29:10 down the progression of nearsightedness. 29:12 Oh, wow. That's really fascinating. 29:15 You. Here's some stats 29:16 on nearsightedness that are incredibly alarming so far. 29:19 We're getting blurry because of near. 29:21 Yeah, right. 29:22 When we landed on the moon in 1969, about a fourth of America is nearsighted. 29:27 Today it's about 43% of America. 29:30 And it's estimated that by 2050, 50% of the world will be nearsighted. 29:36 And that's because of three things not enough time outside, 29:41 prolonged near work in the dark, 29:43 and too much excessive screen time. 29:46 So all of these we have control over genetics. 29:49 We don't always have control over. 29:52 But genetics only play somewhat of a role in that environment, 29:56 plays much more of a dominant role in terms of that progression, 30:00 in terms of severity and onset. 30:03 Wow. That is is definitely a startling statistic, 30:07 but cool that we have the ability to change it. 30:11 We just have to know about it. Absolutely. 30:13 And there's even FDA approved protocols and many protocols 30:17 not approved by the FDA that slow down the progression. 30:21 And almost there's something called ortho care allergy. 30:24 With your contact lenses, you sleep in at night that change the shape 30:28 of your cornea, kind of like a retainer for your eyes and then for your teeth. 30:32 It's essentially a reversible laser. 30:33 You can take them off all day long. 30:34 As you crystal clear, you put them back on at night. 30:36 And one of the best ways to slow down 30:38 the progression of nearsightedness, especially in kids. 30:41 Oh, that's really interesting too. 30:43 You have so many cool factoids to share. 30:46 The eyes are awesome. Nobody knows about them. 30:48 And then it's like hidden from from the world. 30:51 It is. It really is. 30:53 And it has been so focused just on the eye chart. 30:57 Right? 30:58 It hasn't. 30:59 The whole integration, the whole visual integration 31:02 hasn't really been explored before. 31:05 This process of of sit in a dark room and see how far away you can see something 31:11 which literally has 20 times the magnification up close 31:15 so that it does far away or 20 times the demand. 31:18 And yet still we're not even looking at most of the near task. 31:21 So anyone who's listening who has a ten minute eye exam at Costco,
ScreenFit Offer and Where to Find Bryce 31:27 I'm sorry, but we need to be 31:28 doing more testing, and we need to have a more thorough 31:33 evaluation to best identify what's best for a person and what they need. 31:38 And nothing against doctors at Costco, but we need to be looking at eye health, 31:43 eye sight and vision and vision and a really thorough nature 31:46 that's making sure we have the right foundation in place 31:49 for reading, for screens, for driving, for sports, for all areas of life 31:52 that require careful use of the eyes, brain and body as the team. 31:56 Yeah. 31:56 Wow, that sounds like an amazing place for us to to pull this together, 32:02 because I could just keep talking to you about this for a long time. 32:05 Well, I mean, we spent a week together and never ran out of things to talk about. 32:09 Absolutely. 32:11 I think, you know, this has been such a valuable information, 32:15 not only just factually valuable, but 32:18 in expanding what we think about 32:21 is possible for the brain, because in the same ways 32:25 that you're accomplishing amazing transformation for vision, right? 32:30 That's the type of thing that we're accomplishing with reversing, 32:34 preventing, hopefully, ideally and reversing cognitive decline. 32:38 And I think the parallels with what we're doing are just super fascinating. 32:42 And they're they're so similar in terms 32:45 of catching stuff before there's a problem 32:48 identifying when there is a problem, how do you slow down and even reverse it 32:52 with the right work, but then also knowing we can all do better. 32:55 So let's be proactive and unlock so much of our potential and live 32:59 live long and die strong in terms of how we're we're using our brains. 33:04 Exactly, exactly. 33:05 And you've given us such really practical tips for things that we can easily do, 33:10 which I really appreciate too. 33:12 Now, I know you have a very active practice because I've been treated there, 33:16 but you have a special offer for our viewers today. 33:21 Yes, because they are in your tribe. 33:23 And so we're focused on brain health. 33:26 We have a online vision training program called Screen Set, 33:30 and this is a revolutionary program that's designed to teach you specific eye 33:35 exercises needed for screen engagement and to help reduce symptoms and promote 33:40 a healthy, mindful visual foundation to do what we're doing right now 33:44 staring at screens. 33:46 So it's 3030 lessons in each course. 33:49 And what we're offering for everyone listening, with code Aids summit 33:53 is $200 off the enrollment. 33:56 So the enrollment is normally $497 33:59 and with code 87, and you'll get $200 off. 34:02 So it's almost silly not to do this and you got to do the work, but view 34:06 this as kind of like body weight work instead of going to the gym. 34:10 If you do the right body weight work and you do it, 34:12 you can get into better shape and you can start moving and you 34:15 start seeing the results immediately. 34:17 And so this is a great way to make this more accessible to everybody. 34:21 That's really awesome. 34:22 And I know in just five days I have had remarkably noticeable improvement. 34:28 So it really it's worth the effort because you get the results. 34:32 You really do get the results for people who would like to know, 34:36 maybe how else to get in touch with you, or how they might be able to work with 34:39 you and your team. 34:40 Find out how you might be able to help them. 34:42 Where can they find you? You're so sweet. Thank you. 34:45 So my vision first.com is our website. 34:48 I'm. I'm in Maryland, right outside Washington, D.C. 34:51 we've got offices in Bethesda and Annapolis, Maryland. 34:54 And then you can find Screen Fit on there. 34:56 But also screen fit is its own entity screen fit.com. 35:00 And then social media. 35:01 Instagram is probably our best, best platform. 35:04 And it's at doctor Bryce Applebaum, but it's Applebaum misspelled L 35:08 instead of LA because my ancestors wanted to make life difficult for us. 35:12 Make sure you find it there. 35:14 Thank you so much. 35:14 And it's such an honor to be here and talking with you and empowering everyone. 35:19 Listening. 35:20 Yeah, it's has been excellent. 35:21 Thank you so much for joining us today. 35:25 Appreciate you having me. 35:26 So for you, my viewers, if you have enjoyed this discussion today 35:30 and I don't know how you couldn't have, please join us 35:33 for some of our other sessions where we continue to dive into my passion 35:36 solving the root 35:37 causes of cognitive decline and leading you to better brain health. 35:41 Thanks.
Comments