Brain Expert: 'If You Have Brain Fog, Fatigue or Burnout — It Might Be Your Eyes!' | Bryce Appelbaum

1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee0:00

   I wanted to start off by asking you about vision. In terms of symptoms that might-

2. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum0:08

   Yeah

3. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee0:08

   ... indicate we've got a functional vision problem, what would you say they are?

4. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum0:13

   So absolutely it starts with reading and screens, because so much of our life is stuck up close. And so somebody who avoids reading or is losing their place or skipping words or skipping lines or not remembering what they're reading, or their attention seems like it drains so quickly with reading, those are clear signs of something with the eyes not working as well together as a team as they could or should is in play. But then eye strain and headaches and tired eyes and dry eyes, those are all absolutely issues with vision where the stress of what they're asking of them, they're no longer able to, to meet the demands of.

5. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee0:52

   What about things like brain fog or just general fatigue in life-

6. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum0:58

   Yeah

7. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee0:58

   ... or even things like burnouts?

8. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum1:00

   Yeah.

9. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee1:00

   Do you think vision problems can play a role in those things as well?

10. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum1:04

    I think vision is a direct reflection of brain function, and so if there's fatigue cognitively, if there's brain fog, if we're tired or we're losing productivity throughout the workday or throughout just the day in general, very often vision is playing a role in what's taxing the system. And when you think about functional vision problems as being brain problems that are manifesting through the eyes, our vision can only withstand what our brain is asking it to do.

11. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee1:33

    Yeah. I believe, Bryce, that when most people think about vision, they're actually thinking about their eyesight. Okay, so I'm someone who has worn contact lenses and/or glasses for many years. So when I think of vision, I think about the power of my lenses.

12. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum1:55

    Yep.

13. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee1:55

    You know, is it getting stronger? How much can I see without needing to put something on my eyes or in my eyes?

14. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum2:04

    Yep.

15. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee2:04

    Okay. But I think it's really important that we get that differentiation clear right at the top, okay? Vision and eyesight, they're not the same things. Perhaps you could explain to us why they're not and why we need to know that.

16. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum2:19

    So appreciate you bringing this up. So eyesight is a symptom. Eyesight is how well we can see at a certain distance, and pretty much every eye doctor is, is heavy set on this pursuit of seeing 20/20, 20/40, 20-whatever, to allow somebody to see crystal clear at the far end of a dark exam room on this tiny letter chart. But there is so much more to vision than just eyesight. Vision is how our eyes move together, converge, track, focus, process information. How we derive meaning from the world around us and then direct the appropriate action. So eyesight is a symptom. Eyesight is glasses or contacts. Vision is brain, and vision problems are brain problems, and there are so many solutions and fixes out there for vision problems that extend way beyond just getting new glasses or new contacts.

17. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee3:14

    You said eyesight is a symptom. Are you saying then these two things are different, they're related but different? You have vision, which is brain-

18. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum3:23

    Yep

19. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee3:23

    ... and eyesight, which is how well we can see and read certain things, right? Are you saying that if we focus on vision and improving the various aspects of our visual system, which I've been doing all week with you, and we're gonna talk about that shortly, that as a byproduct, your eyesight may and can get better?

20. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum3:49

    Absolutely. Eye- eyesight is a reflection of vision. So somebody who notices far away keeps getting blurrier, or their eyesight fluctuates throughout the day, sometimes it's clear, sometimes it's blurry. The more tired they are, the more reading they're doing, the more fatigued they are, the more their vision changes. That is the symptom of some underlying vision problem, and so often in today's world, that stems from the focusing system, the inside muscles of the eyes not being able to withstand stamina or not having flexibility or not working together like they're supposed to, or the outside muscles of the eyes, the eye coordination system, each of these systems becoming fatigued or becoming burnt out the more that you're asking of them. And then eyesight starts to change because the visual system and the eye-brain connection is either damaged or not functioning at its potential.

21. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee4:49

    What's become very clear to me over the past few years, and especially since I've got to know you and come and done your five-day intensive, is that the visual system may well be one of the most neglected areas in our health, for our health.

22. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum5:11

    I know I'm biased. It's not maybe. It, it 100% is.

23. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee5:14

    No- no one's talking about this.

24. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum5:16

    N-

25. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee5:16

    There is a real interest in health and wellbeing, whether that be to increase our health span or our lifespan, but most people who are thinking about that are talking about things like nutrition and sleep and movement, and of course these things are important. But no one's talking about vision or the visual system. That's a problem, isn't it?

26. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum5:39

    It is a huge problem. Vision is the new microbiome. We're gonna look back on this in a few years and realize vision is responsible or at least influences so many aspects of longevity, consciousness, happiness, productivity, critical decision-making, even interpersonal connection, and none of us even had a file on it.

27. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee6:02

    Yeah. That's it. None of us even had a file on it, because if-You know, if we have a problem with our eyesight and we go and see an optician, typically, and I can't speak for every optician in, in the world, right? But, but my experience, and what I think many people's experience is, is they go and get their eyes checked, and if there's an issue, they get corrective lenses, whether it be in glasses or contact lenses.

28. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum6:31

    Yep.

29. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee6:32

    And that's it. It's kind of like, "Yeah, I'll see you in a year."

30. BADr. Bryce Appelbaum6:34

    And that's the reactive model.

Episode duration: 1:48:13