Do you find yourself constantly tired at work or throughout the day?
If yes, then you’re not alone as more than 40 million workers are unable to get more than 6 hours of sleep each night, which is about 30% of the American labor force.
Unfortunately, sleep and eye exams are both usually taken lightly but research indicates that compromising on your sleep can lead to the deterioration of your vision and affect your eye health.
Here are Some of the Negative Side Effects of Sleep Deprivation:
Early Effect of Sleep Deprivation
Research indicates that there is a direct correlation between sleep deprivation and the dark puffy circles that form under the eyes. These dark puffy circles form as they tend to retain more blood and fluid around your eyes than normal.
Lack of sleep can also lead to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, and obesity without you actually realising that your vision is becoming affected. This can also cause blurred vision, eye spasms and dry eyes which can further lead to serious eye diseases at a later stage if not taken care of in time. The symptoms of sleep deprivation can start appearing when you constantly keep on getting less than 5 hours of sleep.
You can find yourself struggling to focus your vision and start seeing in double vision if you don’t get enough sleep.
All this is bound to happen as your ciliary muscle becomes exhausted, this muscle is important for reading and the extraocular muscle is the muscle which moves your eye around in its socket. Your vision suffers when these 2 muscles are not co-ordinated which leads to a misalignment between the eyes which cause double vision.
Long-Term Effects of Sleep Deprivation
Lack of sleep is a bad thing but severe lack of sleep over a long period of time can lead to serious long-term consequences for your vision. Suffering from lack of sleep for long periods can increase your chances of developing optic neuropathy which can cause a permanent loss of your vision. This occurs when the flow of blood to your optic nerve is stopped for a short time, similarly to a stroke that stops the flow of blood to the brain. This causes irreversible damage to your optic nerve which can cause blindness.
Here are some other problems that lack of sleep can cause:
- Dry Eyes can occur due to insomnia which prevents your eyes from staying lubricated with the necessary amount of fluid to keep your eyes well-lubricated with tears which are designed to keep your eyes awake and cleans them of any dirt that may get stuck there. Dry eyes can further lead to light sensitivity, pain, redness, itching and blurry vision.
- Eyelid spasms are also known as myokymia occur when our eyelids start to twitch involuntarily which can lead to distraction and fatigue on the eye muscles. This is normally harmless.
- Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy is a lot more common in people who suffer from sleep apnea. This is the gradual loss of your vision over time due to the inflammation of your eye vessels.
- Lack of sufficient sleep can lead to serious consequences for your vision such as popped blood vessels.
6 Suggestions to Improve Your Eye Health
- Consume less caffeine
- Set a good sleep temperature
- Be more active during the day
- Turn off any of your devices that have screens prior to going to bed
- Start exercising in the mornings
- Schedule regular eye exams with your ophthalmologist
You can also opt to use prescription medication to get some sleep but make sure to consult your doctor prior to this as it can create a dependency on it as well as the fact that your drug-induced sleep will not be as refreshing as natural sleep.
Getting your necessary quota of sleep is important if you want to maintain your eye health so don’t delay scheduling an eye exam with your ophthalmologist if you are suffering from any of the above health conditions.
Guest Blogger
Aaron Barriga is the online marketing manager for Insight Vision Center, an Ophthalmology Center in California. With a knack for understanding medical procedures and an interest in eye and vision health, Aaron loves to share what he knows and what he learns. He blogs to inform readers about the latest eye care technology and other topics related to eye care, especially LASIK. Aaron loves collecting coasters from the different bars and restaurants he visits during his travels.
