What happens to your eyes whilst you sleep


Woman sleeping

From head to toe, sleep is important to your body. It allows your muscles to rest and recover after a busy day, it helps to keep your brain alert and your memories active and encourages a healthy immune system. Sleep is also vitally important to your eyes - it is the perfect time for them to recover from the activities of the day.

Throughout the day, your eyes are working constantly. There are many factors that can leave them feeling dry, irritated and tired. From laptops to smartphones, these days we are spending up to eight hours a day looking at our screens. This prolonged focus encourages your eyes to remain in an affixed unblinking state which can leave them feeling dry.

Driving for long periods of time also requires prolonged focus and can dry out and tire your eyes. Along with this, there are other environmental factors such as smoke, central heating and air pollution that can dry out and irritate the eyes.

Many of us also confess to getting an average of only six hours sleep, which is fewer than the recommended average.This lack of sleep can also deprive your eyes of the vital rest they need to revive and recover, leaving them looking and feeling dry and tired.


Treating Dry Eyes at Night

There are many ways that getting more hours sleep can benefit your eyes’ health and appearance. During the night, while your eyes are closed, the natural lipid layer will restore. This can become weakened throughout the day, causing the feeling of dry, uncomfortable eyes. When the lipid layer restores, it reduces the aqueous layer in the tear film evaporating in order to keep the eyes hydrated.

As night time is the eyes’ natural recovery time, it can also be a good time to treat dry eyes using Optrex Night Restore Gel Drops. The high viscosity drops are designed to help restore your eyes' moisture levels at night, leaving them feeling refreshed* and ready for the day ahead. Before applying, make sure your hands are clean, then lowering the bottom eyelid, apply one or two drops to the pocket just inside the eyelid. The drops will naturally spread across the eye’s surface as you blink and drift off to sleep.


How Sleep Benefits the Eyes

As mentioned, nighttime is a good time to treat dry eyes - but there are many other ways that your eyes can benefit from a regular full night’s sleep. While you sleep, the muscles in your eyes which work constantly throughout the day have the chance to relax and recover. Without proper rest, these muscles can come under strain, and your eyes can appear tired or puffy with dark circles underneath.

Over time, getting a regular good night sleep can also help skin stay thick and less likely to wrinkle. Sleep encourages your body to produce hormones which can strengthen your skin’s elasticity; decreasing the likelihood of wrinkles.


Your Eyes While You Sleep

There are five stages our bodies go through during a sleep cycle, and different movements of the eyes are observed in different stages.

Stage 1: You drift in and out of a light sleep, the eyes move very slowly, and muscle activity slows. 

Stage 2: Eye movement stops and brain waves become slower. 

Stages 3 and 4: Also known as the ‘deep sleep’ phases during which there is no eye movement or muscle activity.

REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage:  When people switch into REM sleep, the breathing becomes more rapid, irregular, and shallow.  The eyes jerk rapidly in various directions and limb muscles become temporarily paralysed. 


Getting a Good Night’s Sleep

Understanding the importance of sleep is one thing, but for many of us, switching off at night is not as simple as flicking off a light switch. In fact, light is one of the very reasons it’s important to allow your eyes to rest. When it’s dark at night, our bodies naturally understand that it is time to sleep and begins the process of rest and recovery.

These days many of us confess to using digital screens late at night which exposes our eyes to unnatural light that can disrupt our ability to sleep. With this is mind, it’s good for both your eyes and your entire body to limit screen time before going to sleep. Other tips include sleeping with the lights completely off and exposing yourself to sunlight early in the mornings to regulate the rhythm of your sleeping pattern.

Your eyes and quality of sleep are intrinsically linked. From the minute we wake up, we expose our eyes to environmental factors that can leave them feeling tired and dry. Luckily, night time is also the perfect time to treat using Optrex Night Restore Gel Drops, helping to allow your eyes to make the most of the time spent asleep, and leaving them refreshed and ready for the day ahead! 


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