Every other body system—pulmonary, circulatory, nervous, skeletal, and muscular, just to name a few, shows marked long term physical changes, called adaptations, to stresses. See Selye for the basics.
Why would the optic system be any different? We know beyond a reasonable doubt that myopia is a kind of environmental maladaption. The only question is what stressors cause it and which can act as training stimuli to mitigate or reverse it.
That’s not to say that training stimulus will look like exercises. I don’t really know what it will look like. I do know however that my own myopia stopped progressing when I stopped letting my optometrist change my prescription.
I would not be at all surprised if the standard of care is actively harmful and significantly contributing to the skyrocketing myopia rates. But good luck funding that study or getting enough optometrists to go along with demonstrating their entire field has been screwing up for a century.
Exposure to bright light is the key factor. It is especially important during childhood, when the eyes are still growing and developing.
Once elongation of the eyeballs sets in during childhood and the teen years, there is generally very little (if anything) that can be done about it in adulthood. Adults' eyes do not change shape very much after a certain age.
So-called "eye exercises" of the future will probably look something like having children look at bright lights or spend time outside in sunlight for some period of time each day.
Why would the optic system be any different? We know beyond a reasonable doubt that myopia is a kind of environmental maladaption. The only question is what stressors cause it and which can act as training stimuli to mitigate or reverse it.
That’s not to say that training stimulus will look like exercises. I don’t really know what it will look like. I do know however that my own myopia stopped progressing when I stopped letting my optometrist change my prescription.
I would not be at all surprised if the standard of care is actively harmful and significantly contributing to the skyrocketing myopia rates. But good luck funding that study or getting enough optometrists to go along with demonstrating their entire field has been screwing up for a century.