Waking Up With Dry Eyes

Ever wake up with they eyes feeling more dry than before? You would join many; your eyes may actually be drying out overnight! But how is this possible? Don't we keep our eyes closed when we sleep?

When we sleep, for the most part our eyes are closed. However, in many cases, the eyelids may be open just a hair or a crack. When this is the case, all throughout the night, the tears that rest on the surface of the eye have a gap to escape and evaporate through. Lack of tears causes the eyes to continuously dry out overnight while sleeping.

This problem is made worse with air movement encouraging the evaporation (think ceiling or tabletop fans). While ceiling fans are great at keeping you cool on warm summer nights, they aren’t great for keeping the eyes well hydrated at night.

Turning off the fans is the first step to protect your eyes as you sleep. I know I know, easier said than done, but setting the air conditioner cooler will be more gentle on the eyes than large fans. But there are a variety of eye gels and eye ointments that are designed for the eyes to provide a thick protective coating keeping all the tears within the eye. The nighttime lubricating ointments are super thick and placing a thin strip on the eyelids prior to bedtime can ensure that the eyes stay protected throughout the night.

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