After a good night’s sleep, when your body is refreshed, it doesn’t seem to make any logical sense why you would wake up with dry eyes, red eyes, or tired or irritated eyes. It is more common than you may think.
At the most basic level, your body isn’t producing enough or a high enough quality of tears to lubricate your eyes. It may be a sign of a more serious condition for some people. Let’s explore this further, from mild to severe.
The first thing to check is your environment. If it is too dry, or you have been exposed to smoke or wind throughout the day, your eyes could be drier all around. Be sure you are drinking enough water and feel correctly hydrated.
When you sleep, you have a much-reduced eye blink rate, if you blink at all. It is the blinking action that wets the eyes. Combined with slow metabolism, at night, tear production is decreased.
Suppose your eyes are irritated through lifestyle hazards such as computer vision, office, or gamer eye syndrome. In that case, it makes sense that you would wake up with dry eye syndrome. Try to avoid computer use an hour or two before bedtime and see if that makes a difference.
Lack of water in tears is the most common cause of dry eye. This could be due to age, side effects of various medications, or medical conditions such as diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, or other autoimmune diseases.
If your eye(s) doesn’t close fully at night, that can cause dry eyes in the morning. It could be due to a structural issue, such as surgery. If your 7th cranial nerve is weak, it may make it difficult to close your eye(s) entirely, and as a result, your eyes will dry out.
Reasons for nerve weakness could be due to past trauma to the skull, jaw or cerebellar artery. Bell’s palsy, which can distort the face due to weak muscles, can also affect the eyelid(s) ability to close. If the condition is serious, surgery may be recommended.
You can try some things at home, such as sleeping with a mask on, using eye drops and/or ointments, and using a humidifier at night to ensure adequate moisture in your sleeping environment. Suppose it persists or gets in the way of daily activities. In that case, it may be time to visit a dry eye expert and receive specific instructions to improve your eye health.
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