The Hidden Vision Crisis Holding Our Kids Back — Dr. Bryce Appelbaum on How Functional Eye Health Transforms Learning, Focus, and Family Wellness

What if your child’s struggles with reading, focus, or headaches weren’t behavioral—but visual? In this deeply personal episode of Everyday Ancestral, I sit down with my friend and functional eye doctor, Dr. Bryce Appelbaum—someone who completely transformed my daughter’s life and, honestly, how our whole family sees health.

Bryce is a neuro-optometrist specializing in functional vision therapy, and he's here to challenge everything you thought you knew about eye care. We explore how misdiagnoses like ADHD and dyslexia often trace back to the eyes and brain not working together, and why the solution isn’t just stronger glasses. From screen resilience tools to eye workouts you can literally do while brushing your teeth, this one is packed with practical takeaways for families, educators, and anyone glued to a screen.

Key Takeaways

The Role of Functional Vision – Understanding why eyesight and vision aren’t the same, and how treating the brain, not just the eyes, can resolve learning and behavioral challenges.

The Impact of Screen Time – Recognizing how early and excessive exposure to screens is disrupting healthy visual development and contributing to rising vision problems in kids.

The Power of Vision Therapy – Learning how retraining the brain-eye connection can reverse double vision, poor depth perception, and even eliminate the need for some glasses.

The Risk of Conventional Eye Care – Rethinking glasses as a go-to solution, and why prescriptions can sometimes create dependency rather than healing the root issue.

The Eye-Brain-Body Connection – Exploring how coordination, balance, and even emotional regulation are influenced by how we see and process the world visually.

The Red Flags in Children – Spotting signs like headaches, squirming during desk work, or avoiding reading that may signal functional vision problems, not behavioral ones.

The DIY Vision Gym – Practicing two simple daily exercises anyone can do to support their visual system while brushing teeth or using the bathroom.

The Family Connection – Creating buy-in by doing vision therapy together, and how connection, variation, and play can make it sustainable and even fun.

Where to Find Our Guest

Follow Dr. Bryce Appelbaum on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/drbryceappelbaum

Watch his videos on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@visionfirstwithdrb

Find him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-bryce-appelbaum/

Links & Resources

Take the free online vision assessment: www.myvisionfirst.com/quiz

Try ScreenFit for Free: https://james933--screenfit.thrivecart.com/screenfit-vision-foundations/675a18dbd68d7/

Get $200 off ScreenFit using the code ANCESTRAL at https://checkout.screenfit.com/screenfit-vision-foundations/?coupon=ANCESTRAL

Get 10% off Digital Performance Lenses & selected products using code ANCESTRAL: https://shop.myvisionfirst.com?bg_ref=lfVJSZsyNi

Learn more about MyVisionFirst at www.myvisionfirst.com

Get 20% off Pluck Superfood Seasonings using code EA20 at http://www.eatpluck.com