Failing to sleep for enough hours can contribute to increased pressure in the eye. This is because the eyes do not get enough time to rehydrate and recover. This can lead to straining of the eyes, which in turn triggers glaucoma.
With the knowledge that IOP rises at night or whenever a person is prone, many doctors have advised their patients to sleep in an upright position.
Sleep deprivation and eye health
Not getting enough sleep can lead to having dry, itchy, or bloodshot eyes. The eyes may produce less tears after a night of insufficient sleep. This can open the door to eye infections. You may experience eye twitches or spasms when you have not had enough sleep.
Elevated eye pressure happens as the result of a buildup of fluid that flows throughout the inside of the eye. This fluid also is known as the aqueous humor. It usually drains through a tissue located at the angle where the iris and cornea meet. This tissue also is called the trabecular meshwork.
Fluid drainage failure causes the high pressure. Your eyes constantly make a clear fluid called aqueous humor that flows in front of your eye and then drains out. Normally, an equal amount goes in and out. If the fluid doesn't leave your eye when it should, your IOP increases.
Similar to its effect on other neurodegenerative diseases, vitamin D deficiency could thus be a significant factor in glaucoma pathogenesis, including its development, progression, and severity.
But not everyone with high eye pressure will develop glaucoma — and some people with normal eye pressure get glaucoma. Whether you develop glaucoma depends on the amount of pressure your optic nerve can handle — and this amount is different for each person. For most people, eye pressure above 21 is higher than normal.
The results indicated that people with a high anxiety-state and/or a high trait anxiety showed increases in intraocular pressure and heart rate.
Even after just one night without enough rest, we can feel drowsy during the day with slowed thinking, lack of energy, and an irritable mood. While the short-term impacts are more noticeable, chronic sleep deprivation can heighten the long-term risk of physical and mental health problems.
A more serious negative side effect of sleep deprivation is having dry, itchy, bloodshot eyes. Dry eyes can be painful and cause irritation. This can mean your eyes aren't getting enough lubrication to stay healthy. You may also notice vision problems like sensitivity to light or blurred vision.
Fluid buildup, eye trauma, medications, and other eye conditions are all potential causes of an increase in eye pressure. Typically, one of the keys to reducing it is treating the root cause. It's important to remember that higher-than-normal pressure doesn't guarantee severe problems.
That sounds simple enough, except for the fact that eye pressure varies – sometimes quite dramatically. “Pressure is highest typically in the morning, when you're just waking up, and lowest in the afternoon,” says Johnson.
Drinking a quart of water in less than five minutes has been shown to increase intraocular pressure; instead, advise your patients to drink small amounts of water often to stay hydrated.
Health experts recommend people avoid added sugars and refined carbohydrates to help prevent glaucoma or vision loss. In addition, coffee may increase intraocular pressure, so it is best to avoid or limit drinking it.
Some eye doctors treat all elevated intraocular pressures of higher than 21 mmHg with topical medicines. Some do not medically treat unless there is evidence of optic nerve damage. Most eye doctors treat if pressures are consistently higher than 28-30 mmHg because of the high risk of optic nerve damage.
Exercise for glaucoma patients may be beneficial. Research has shown that regular exercise may lower intraocular pressure (IOP) in glaucoma patients. It does not have to be rigorous exercise to have a beneficial effect, but rather a brisk walk every other day for 20 to 30 minutes.
Changes of mean IOP according to age. For the cross-sectional study, we used seven age groups classified by decades. Average IOP increased from 12.7 mm Hg in subjects in their 20s to 14.0 mm Hg in those in their 40s. Then IOP decreased from 13.9 mm Hg in those in their 60s to 13.1 mm Hg in those in their 70s.
Normal eye pressure ranges from 12-21 mm Hg, and eye pressure of greater than 21 mm Hg is considered higher than normal. When the IOP is higher than normal but the person does not show signs of glaucoma, this is referred to as ocular hypertension. High eye pressure alone does not cause glaucoma.
Magnesium may help patients with glaucoma by improving ocular blood flow. It also has a neuroprotective effect by inhibiting the release of glutamate, a compound that can induce oxidative stress and cause damage to the optic nerve.
Anyone can get glaucoma, but certain groups are at higher risk. These groups include African Americans over age 40, all people over age 60, people with a family history of glaucoma, and people who have diabetes. African Americans are 6 to 8 times more likely to get glaucoma than whites.
Glaucoma is a chronic, progressive eye disease caused by damage to the optic nerve, which leads to visual field loss. One of the major risk factors is eye pressure. An abnormality in the eye's drainage system can cause fluid to build up, leading to excessive pressure that causes damage to the optic nerve.