A human is not a reptile, fish, or insect. Sleeping with eyes open is not the best idea for them. Nevertheless, it is possible.
Not everyone can sleep with their eyes open. For most, this phenomenon may seem strange and even frightening. In fact, this feature can cause significant harm to health, so it should be eliminated in a timely manner.
How to sleep with your eyes open and is it possible to learn this?
A healthy person cannot sleep with their eyes open, so learning to do so is practically impossible. For full sleep and rest, the body requires complete darkness. It is this darkness that promotes the production of melatonin — the hormone responsible for beauty, youth, and health. Moreover, sleeping with your eyes open can negatively affect the functioning of all organs and systems of the body.
Nevertheless, some people strive to master this way of sleeping to rest unnoticed, for example, during lectures or at work. In reality, it would be better for the body to immerse itself in a short but full sleep with closed eyes. Even 10 minutes of classic rest or a light nap can help restore strength. Here are a few tips to help you quickly regain energy:
Find a comfortable place to rest. It is important that you are not distracted by outside noises during your daytime sleep. This is necessary for the brain to fully immerse itself in sleep even for a short time.
Use sunglasses or a sleep mask. Falling asleep in bright light is quite difficult, so these accessories will help make your daytime rest more effective.
Set an alarm. Do this taking into account the time needed to fall asleep and wake up; usually, 5-10 extra minutes is enough.
Drink a cup of tea or coffee before sleeping. This advice is suitable only for those who do not have cardiovascular problems. The fact is that caffeine starts to take effect about 25-30 minutes after consumption, so during awakening, you will feel alert.
Immediately after waking up, drink water, take a walk, or do some light exercises. This will help the body to recover faster and feel invigorated.
Lagophthalmos — sleeping with your eyes open
During sleep, a person does not perceive smells and does not hear sounds, and since they close their eyes, they do not see either. However, people suffering from lagophthalmos — a condition that prevents them from closing their eyes — also do not see anything during sleep (even when their eyes are open). During sleep, the brain does not perceive insignificant sensory signals from the organs.
Surprisingly, lagophthalmos is quite common. Up to 20 percent of people worldwide have experienced it at least once. This condition is sometimes observed in infants, but in most children, it quickly resolves without treatment.
Lagophthalmos can be hereditary and, if left untreated, can lead to serious complications over time. Most often, due to this condition, people cannot fully close their eyes or experience problems with blinking. But not always.
There is a variant called “nocturnal lagophthalmos,” where people blink normally but predominantly sleep with their eyes open. Most of them are even unaware of their condition.
Causes of acquired lagophthalmos:
facial trauma or skull base fracture;
aneurysms of the blood vessels in the brain;
inflammation of the parotid salivary gland;
tumors of the cerebellopontine angle;
infectious diseases such as chickenpox, poliomyelitis, infectious mumps;
result of poorly performed plastic surgeries on the face;
middle ear diseases.
How to tell if I have this condition?
The eyes of a person suffering from lagophthalmos are in constant tension, as they do not receive the necessary rest. There is a chance that the cornea may completely dry out, and the person may wake up with blurred vision. There have been cases where people developed ulcers on their eyes due to lagophthalmos. If a person experiences dryness, itching, inflammation, frequent infections, and their eyes tear up after waking, there is a possibility that they suffer from lagophthalmos.
Can lagophthalmos be treated?
Yes, and it is often not complicated. Patients use a mask before sleeping.
However, in the most “advanced” cases, lagophthalmos is treated through surgical intervention. During this unusual operation, a gold implant is inserted into the upper eyelid (to make it heavier) and the lower eyelid is “pulled up.”
What other conditions can cause people to sleep with their eyes open?
Sleeping with eyes open or half-open, or somnambulism — is a condition of the nervous system that can arise due to a number of serious diseases.
after a stroke;
due to thyroid problems;
with eyelid pathology;
with nervous system diseases;
with sleepwalking;
due to brain dysfunction;
with facial nerve paralysis;
with tumor formation behind the eye;
with enlargement of the eyeball;
during symblepharon (a condition where the conjunctiva of the eyelid adheres to the conjunctiva of the eyeball);
with eyelid eversion.
