How does Sleep Influence how your Eyes Feel?

Sleep and Dry Eye Disease appear to have an interesting relationship. Sleep Disorders have been shown to have a positive association with the incidence and severity of dry eyes. Sleep deprivation can cause reduced tear production, quicker tear evaporation, increased saltiness of the tears (tear hypertonicity); and shorter sleep durations have been shown to be associated with drier eye symptoms. So poor sleep appears to make our eyes produce less tears and feel worse.

On the other hand, those with Dry Eye Disease also have reported poorer sleep quality and quantity, greater daytime sleepiness, more sleep disturbances, and having an increased prevalence, incidence, and severity of sleep disorders compared to those without Dry Eye Disease patients.

So is sleep the chicken or the egg? And of course, which comes first? While we currently don’t know what we can say is focusing on good sleep habits could have a positive impact on your dry eye signs and symptoms.