Night vision / biology question

[MiniMatt]

Imagine the scenario:

It's the middle of the night and because of:
(a) a bladder the size of a walnut or
(b) one too many Babycham the night before
... you have to visit the bathroom.

Past experience has taught you the value of retaining your night vision because waking the missus up through tripping over everything on the way back is detrimental to your health in more ways than one.

Leaving the bathroom light off is not an option, being detrimental to your health (when the missus finds out), the carpet, and your knees when the next day is spent scrubbing afore mentioned carpet.

So, how do you retain your night vision? I stumbled the other night upon an ingenious idea. At least I thought it was ingenious, but that was under the influence of afore mentioned Babycham so in hindsight it possibly wasn't.

Simply keep one eye closed. That way you retain night vision in one eye, colour vision in the other, and become some sort of hybrid all seeing superman.

Question time then - would that actually work or is the effect only that you think it works because you also think you're so damn clever for thinking it? I know about the rods & the cones and all that jazz from school, how the chemicals that work the rods get bleached out with bright light - but does that chemical bleaching get triggered within each individual eye or is it a global condition such that if one eye encounters bright light then the brain sends signals which screw up both eyes?

Of course, with one eye closed your depth perception is buggered up so you still may end up scrubbing the bathroom carpet the next day :D

[speedplay]

So, how do you retain your night vision? I stumbled the other night upon an ingenious idea. At least I thought it was ingenious, but that was under the influence of afore mentioned Babycham so in hindsight it possibly wasn't.

Simply keep one eye closed. That way you retain night vision in one eye, colour vision in the other, and become some sort of hybrid all seeing superman.




The forces are taught this in basic training...

[Bibio]

keeping one eye shut only works if you keep the eye you primarily focus with open (learnt this a long time ago when i used to do archery)

or to get your eyes used to a dark surrounding quicker try 'rapid eye blinking'.

[the white rabbit]

Good question :lol:

Photopigment bleaching/regeneration would be local to the eye in question, although there are other subtle neural changes that occur in the 'wiring' during adaptation apparently. Whether or not these subtle changes are consensual, I don't know. The pupil reflex of course is consensual, which of course suggests that the open eye must dominate that reflex, if the open eye is subjected to bright light.

What your visual cortex will make of all this, I am not sure as inputs get integrated from each eye related to the visual field there.

As I say to my students, do a search on www.pubmed.com (http://www.pubmed.com) and report back ;).

Edit, form what the others say above it obviously works, so that figures.

[MiniMatt]

And here was me thinking I was so damn clever. It was also a compelling argument for the application of alcohol to further creative thought. Damn, it was fun while it lasted :D

Um, how do you know which eye is your preferred one? Didn't realise that you could be left or right eyed.

[the white rabbit]

or to get your eyes used to a dark surrounding quicker try 'rapid eye blinking'.

How does that work?

[the white rabbit]

And here was me thinking I was so damn clever. It was also a compelling argument for the application of alcohol to further creative thought. Damn, it was fun while it lasted :D

Um, how do you know which eye is your preferred one? Didn't realise that you could be left or right eyed.

Point at something, close one eye then other. See if where you are pointing changes.

[Kinvig]

[QUOTE=MiniMatt;2008288
Simply keep one eye closed. That way you retain night vision in one eye, colour vision in the other, and become some sort of hybrid all seeing superman.
[/QUOTE]

s'what I do - though I've got naff all depth perception anyways so it makes no difference to me.

Though last time I had too much babysham & did that - I kinda fell into the wrong bedroom. Vicky was not amused. So, there's that!

[Bibio]

get a piece of paper and place a small hole in the centre, hold out paper with both hands at full arms length and at head hight then look threw hole in paper on a fixed item (dot on wall or something). not moving hands, arms or head close one eye then open then close the other eye.

the eye you focus with will have the fixed item still in its view, the other will not let you see the fixed item.

[Mr Speirs]

How about a wee torch sat next to the side of the bed???

I find that when its pitch dark keeping my eyes closed helps me more.
When its dark and my eyes are open my brain makes me stumble round like an idiot but closing makes my room memory kick in and I start to moves much better and feel around less.

[the white rabbit]

How about a wee torch

For a torch to help you find the bathroom, thats a good name :lol:

[dizzyblonde]

Nahh you lot have got it all wrong

what he needs to do is memorize where his Mrs puts everything around the room....after all she knows where everything is so why can't he

THEN, when you get out of bed, open your bl00dy eyes damn it, and look where your going!!

[custard]

sit down to pee?

[Spiderman]

I could bore you with all the tecnical stuff about cones and rods in your eyes but yeh the keep one eye closed thing is the most commonly agreed solution.

[Bri w]

A Lucazade bottle. They've got a wider neck, assuming you need a wider neck.

Saves getting out of bed at all!

[appollo1]

don't look directly at something look to the side and you will actually see better in the dark if the light has been on.

[Bibio]

How does that work?

haven't the foggiest but it works. i do it sometimes after getting blinded by oncoming traffic. i also do it when camping after sitting at a fire. it really does get your eyes used to the dark quicker for some reason. the trick is blinking at a fast rate of about 3-4 blinks a second and it takes practise.

[zobers]

http://www.johnny-light.com/

Now you can see where to aim. Just gotta persuade the missus to let you leave the seat up.

[Ed]

A gazunder?

[mr.anderson]

Get an iPhone and install the flash light app on it. Its free.

[the white rabbit]

haven't the foggiest but it works. i do it sometimes after getting blinded by oncoming traffic. i also do it when camping after sitting at a fire. it really does get your eyes used to the dark quicker for some reason. the trick is blinking at a fast rate of about 3-4 blinks a second and it takes practise.

I was a bit intrigued by this and there is a report with a reference by a chap called Stryker who, if the same one, is a neuroscientist of some standing. But I couldn't access the full papers that it might be in from 1990.

Anyway it was reported to work in about half of people. I can see how it would limit bleaching, but can't think how it would help regeneration. But clearly it does something somehow, on the basis of if it works, it works! (which is always a good starting point :lol:).

[xXBADGERXx]

Just Pee in the sink and save all this malarkey and tomfoolery man .

[DarrenSV650S]

Weren't we recently told to pee in the shower anyway