What is deliberate gaze dilation?

Deliberate gaze dilation is a technique that involves expanding your field of vision consciously to move from a narrow or tunnel vision to a broader panoramic view, which can have a calming effect on the mind. This is due in part to the stimulation of a specific circuit in the brainstem that controls alertness and is associated with stress. By dilating your gaze and seeing more of the environment in a panorama, the mind can relax while the body remains active. This technique is helpful not only for managing stress but also for raising the threshold of stress during physically demanding activities like running or cycling, allowing individuals to become comfortable in higher activation states while maintaining a calm mind 1.

Additionally, deliberate gaze dilation aids in a state of attention called "open monitoring," where an individual can recognize multiple targets or aspects of their environment at once. Panoramic vision allows for a wider angle of view, not just spatially, but also temporally, as it has a higher frame rate in processing visual information. This is beneficial for anyone, and can be trained to improve mental functions like focus and awareness, regardless of whether or not they have ADHD 2.

In the context of optimizing a workspace for productivity and focus, engaging in deliberate gaze dilation by relaxing the eyes and trying to perceive as broad a visual field as possible without moving the head can induce a state of lower resolution vision, contrasting the high-resolution focus gained from directing the eyes to a common point, known as a vergence eye movement. These different states of visual focus are mediated by two major channels in our visual pathways and can influence our states of alertness and cognition 3.