00:00 In this episode, the host introduces the podcast and its purpose, thanks the sponsors, and announces the upcoming topic of discussing the senses and their relevance to mental health.

06:14 Training and supporting your eyesight is crucial for maintaining vision as you age, and can also improve mental and physical performance, while understanding how the visual system works and how it impacts mood and alertness is important for everyone, especially young people, in order to enhance vision and build a strong visual system.

12:52 Light is converted into electrical information in the eyes and retina, which is then processed by retinal ganglion cells and compared by the brain to create perceptions of color and objects, leading to different visual experiences among different animals.

19:41 The brain makes guesses about what is in our blind spots and creates a sense of depth by comparing the information from both eyes.

26:14 Melanopsin retinal ganglion cells, which contain their own photoreceptor, regulate sleep rhythms, mood, hormones, metabolism, pain threshold, and learning ability, and can be activated by viewing the sun in the morning and evening, or by exposure to blue light if sunlight is not available, and getting two hours of outdoor time without sunglasses can reduce the risk of myopia.

33:21 Spending two hours outdoors each day, even with cloud cover, can significantly reduce the risk of developing nearsightedness and improve the health of the eye's focusing mechanism.

40:18 Accommodation is the eye's ability to adjust and focus on objects at different distances, and spending too much time looking at things up close can negatively impact eye health and reshape neural circuitry in the brain.

46:28 To maintain the health of your visual system, it is important to exercise your eye muscles and relax your face and eye muscles every 30 minutes of focused work, and ideally spend at least 20-30 minutes outside for every 90 minutes of looking at things up close or being indoors.

53:11 Looking up towards the ceiling can trigger areas of the brain involved in wakefulness, while looking down can lead to sleepiness and reduced alertness, and sleeping in a dark room can help prevent myopia.

59:49 To improve vision and eye health, spend at least 10 minutes a day looking at distant objects to relax the lens and muscles around the eyes, and engage in smooth pursuit exercises to train the eye muscles and motion tracking systems of the brain.

01:06:20 Practicing smooth pursuit exercises and near-far focusing for a few minutes every other day can improve vision and eye health, while flashing red light early in the day may help offset age-related macular degeneration.

01:12:19 Blinking for a few seconds every 5-15 seconds can help lubricate the eyes and improve vision, while occluding one eye early in life can lead to permanent changes in the brain's perception of the outside world.

01:18:32 Covering one eye early in life can lead to permanent changes in binocular vision, but it is possible to reverse this issue and improve binocular vision through eye exercises and balanced visual input.

01:24:54 Hallucinations occur because portions of the brain become underactive, leading to the visual system compensating by creating activity and hallucinations; to improve vision, one can practice with a Snellen chart and get their vision tested by a professional, as well as support their vision by eating vegetables high in vitamin A.

01:31:11 Supplementing with lutein may help offset the effects of age-related macular degeneration, but only for individuals with moderate to severe macular degeneration, and it does not have to be consumed through raw egg yolks.

01:38:33 Lutein and astaxanthin have various effects on ocular blood flow, fertility, skin quality, and more, and while they can be obtained through whole foods, supplements may be necessary to achieve sufficient concentrations; however, it is important to consult with healthcare professionals before starting any supplementation.