How to Improve Your Peripheral Vision for Speed-Reading & More

Is it possible to strengthen eye muscles? Do you want to expand your vision field?

The authors of 10 Days to Faster Reading explore how to teach your eyes to take in more information at once. By doing so, you can read faster and more efficiently. Of course, a wider field of vision is beneficial for more than just speed-reading.

Keep reading to learn how to improve your peripheral vision by practicing several techniques.

How to Improve Your Peripheral Vision

In 10 Days to Faster Reading, Abby Marks Beale and the Princeton Language Institute offer a variety of strategies to help you reach your reading goals. To this end, they explain how to improve your peripheral vision, which allows you to increase the amount of text your eyes take in at one time.

(Shortform note: If you want to increase your eyes’ ability to absorb visual information, your eyes need to be strong overall. There are many exercises you can do to strengthen your eye muscles, improve circulation in your eyes, and hone your vision. These exercises also decrease your chances of eye strain, which would impede your ability to read. For example, three times a day, roll your eyes in a circular motion 20 times. Widen the circle as far as your eyes will allow. Rest your eyes for 10 seconds, then repeat the process by rolling your eyes the other way. This strengthens your eye muscles, so you can use them for longer periods without them getting tired.)

The authors note that you can read faster by expanding your vision field—the full extent of what you’re able to see when your eyes pause. As you read, your eyes flit from one part of the page to another in rapid movements. When your eyes pause on a spot, they absorb information. Expanding your vision field allows your brain to take in more information each time your eyes land on a piece of text.

(Shortform note: Though they might feel still, our eyes are actually moving when they pause to look at something. A 2013 study suggests that these movements enhance our peripheral vision (and thus our vision field). These minuscule movements are called microsaccades. Scientists previously thought that microsaccades served no significant purpose, but the researchers in this study found that they alter our visual perception, improving our eyes’ ability to send visual information to the brain. This enables us to see from the corners of our eyes and absorb more visual information—like the words in a text.)

Practice the following exercise to expand your vision field.

Exercise: Widen Your Peripheral Vision

In this exercise, the authors describe how to train your eyes to see more to the left and to the right of your peripheral vision when you’re looking at a fixed, central spot. Start by creating a page of several rows of randomized characters (such as numbers or letters), putting three per row. In the first row, space the characters closely together, and widen the space between the characters in each subsequent row.

Starting at the top, go down the rows, keeping your eyes trained on the central character in each line. While focusing on the center, you should still be able to see the characters to the right and left in your peripheral vision. As you move through the rows, it becomes more difficult to see all three characters because your eyes must work harder to take in the information on either side. Practicing this regularly with ever-widening spaces between the characters will help you expand your peripheral vision and read with greater efficiency.

Further Ideas for Improving Peripheral Vision

In addition to increasing your reading speed, exercising your eyes can help prevent them from getting irritated or strained. Likewise, improving your peripheral vision helps increase your awareness of the world around you.

If you want to continue improving your peripheral vision but would like to try a variety of exercises, there are many you can use in addition to the authors’ suggestion. Generally, they involve focusing on a central point (as in the central character in each row) while gradually spreading your awareness outward. For example:

Exercise #1: Go to a public place and sit down with a piece of paper and something to write with. Pick a spot to focus on, and write down everything you can see, including whatever’s in your peripheral vision. Repeat the process several times, and each time, try to increase the number of things you write down.

Exercise #2: Take a straw and draw a black line around its circumference midway between the two ends of the straw. Place the straw horizontally on top of a glass. The length of the straw should run left to right as you’re facing it. Grab two toothpicks, and fix your gaze on the black line in the middle of the straw. Without moving your eyes away from the black line, try to put the toothpicks in either end of the straw. Your brain must use the information in your peripheral vision to complete the task.

How to Improve Your Peripheral Vision for Speed-Reading & More