There are many factors that affect the quality of our sleep. It could be a crying baby, stress from a busy work load, or even the food we eat. Whatever the reason, the amount and quality of our sleep greatly affects our overall health, including our vision. Let’s discuss how sleep affects your vision.
When you’re not getting enough sleep, you put your health at risk in ways you may not realize. You might experience dramatic symptoms such as weight gain, brain fog, unpleasant mood changes, and increased blood pressure. You may even notice that you are more prone to illness when you haven’t been getting enough sleep, as it also compromises your immune system. Studies have even shown that severe and prolonged sleep deprivation can have the same affect on our mind and body as drinking alcohol!
Poor Sleep And Eye Health
Just like the rest of our body, when we are sleeping, our eyes replenish themselves and prepare to take on another day. One of the ways they do that is through the increased oxygen they get while we are sleeping. In order to be fully replenished, they need at least 5 hours of sleep each night. If you are getting less than those 5 hours, you may be noticing extra eye strain, increased dry eye, or even twitching eyelids. Here are a few tips to help your eyes get the rest they need at night.
Tips To Allowing Your Eyes A Good Night’s Rest
- Turn off blue lights before bed. Devices (cell phones, computers etc) are such a huge part of our lives these day. We use them for practically everything, and although the convenience of them is a huge benefit to us, the blue light they emit while we are using them can actually make it harder for us to fall asleep. In order to have a better night’s sleep, we should stop using our devices at least 30 minutes prior to bedtime. If that is just not possible for you to do, make sure you use the Night Time settings on your devices to lessen the blue light being emitted.
- Remove your contact lenses before bed. Contact lenses block the natural oxygen that our eyes get while we sleep. Over time technology has improved and made contact lenses more able to allow more and more oxygen to pass through them, but the best care and rejuvenation of our eyes comes through removing the contacts entirely and allowing as much oxygen as possible to help replenish our eyes.
Making sure you get enough sleep each night is a crucial part to not just your eye health, but your overall health as well. Turn off devices before bedtime and remove contact lenses to help your eyes get the rest they need. If you have other questions or concerns regarding your eye health, call us and let us help you. We are here for you. 435.359.2020
The content found on this blog is for information purposes only. It is not intended to take the place of professional medical advice from your eye care provider. Always seek treatment from a qualified health care provider with all your eye health and medical questions regarding your health.