Can Stress Cause Eye Problems
Stress is known as a risk factor in numerous physical and mental conditions. It’s not surprising if you ask, “can stress cause eye problems, too?” Having stress which causes health problems such eye problems might affect your daily life. With all the stress people are experiencing, it’s easy to find those who cope in unhealthy ways.
Stress and the Eyes
When you sense danger, cortisol, also called the stress hormone, is released into your body. It’s useful for your survival because it prepares your body to fight or to escape. The effects of cortisol include boosting metabolism, increasing heart rate and dilating pupils.
If you cope by gluing your eyes to the screens, you’re also straining your eyes. Due to stress, you may find it hard to sleep which leaves you with tired eyes the next day.
Stress-Related Eye Problems
Pupil dilation is fine when it only happens a few times. If it’s prolonged, it can cause blurry vision. This problem makes it hard for you to focus on a task.
When you’re stressed, you may experience light sensitivity, too. This means light, or even just bright rooms and outdoors, hurt your eyes. This affects your concentration as well.
Eye strain and eye twitching are other negative effects of stress. The former may come with mild and temporary pain due to the lack of eye rest. As for eye twitching, it happens when the muscles surrounding the eyes spasm. The twitches may be distracting but they’re not painful.
If you don’t have enough rest, you may suffer from dry eyes as well. This happens because you don’t close your eyes enough. Eye floaters are stress-related, too. As the name suggests, this problem is best known for the tiny objects that look like floating or swimming in your vision.
Treatment and Self-Care
Thankfully, most stress-related eye problems aren’t life-threatening. They rarely last for a long time as well. However, you still need to manage them to avoid accidents.
Having enough rest is enough to improve the eye problem in most occasions. Soaking in a warm bath and getting a massage can de-stress you. In a way, they also help you avoid the aforementioned eye problems.
Most importantly, you should learn to cope with stress in healthy ways. Make nutritious snacks your comfort food. Jog, bike or walk with your dog instead of binge-watching or surfing the web for a long time. In case your eye problem lasts for several weeks, you should book an appointment with your eye doctor. You can visit Eye Laser Specialists’ clinic in Melbourne today.
