Have you ever had a moment where you’d really like to fall asleep or take a nap, but you’re not able to due to outside circ*mstances or even just not able to fall asleep? During those moments, we might just shut our eyes, hoping that resting them with do just as good of a trick as a quick nap. But does resting your eyes replenish us at all?
The Benefit of Resting Your Eyes
Although resting with your eyes closed doesn’t start up your REM cycle and allow you to clock in some sleep time, it does still provide some hefty benefits. Closing your eyes calms your mind and relaxes your muscles and organs. Many refer to it as “quiet wakefulness”.
When you rest your eyes, you essentially tell your body it’s safe and can take a break from focusing or thinking. Dr. Chiara Cirelli, a neuroscientist from the University of Wisconsin, explains that “while we’re awake, all of our neurons are constantly firing, but that when we’re asleep, the neurons revert to an ‘up-and-down’ state in which only some are active at a given time” and that “during some stages of sleep, all neuron activity goes silent.” When you rest your eyes, the neurons will never go completely silent, but they do actually take a break and reduce stress.
Resting your eyes can also serve as a sort of reset for an overactive brain: it increases alertness, improves your mood, and stimulates creativity and mental clarity. It can be a great tool to use when you’re stuck on a problem or in a debate with someone. When we’re in these modes, we tend to continue to try to think harder as if digging deeper will help. However, often when we walk away from a problem, whether that is literally going on a walk to clear our mind or resting our eyes, that provides the best solution. Just pause, close your eyes for a few minutes, and when you come to, you’ll likely be a bit more productive.
The Downside of Resting Your Eyes
While resting your eyes can give your brain, muscles, and organs a tiny break, it doesn’t do much else. During the deeper stages of sleep, your body is replenishing itself in many ways. Sleep is essential for repairing cells, producing new cells, releasing growth hormones, and deeply resetting our brain. Sleep can help us remember new information, it can help us get over a cold, stimulate our appetite, and provide many other benefits.
Conclusion
Resting your eyes is a good way to relax your body and replenish your eyes before it needs to take on more tasks, but it is in no way a substitute for sleep. Your body needs the replenishing benefits of sleep to function properly and restore itself. If you’re struggling with sleeping at night, resting your eyes and hoping that you’ll drift away, the best thing to do is to do some type of low-light activity such as reading. Sometimes when we sit there with our eyes closed, the only thing we can think about is how we aren’t falling asleep, then we become agitated and it’s even harder for us to fall asleep. However, if we can empty our thoughts, resting our eyes can actually help us achieve sleep by relaxing our muscles and mind.
At times, people also rest their eyes because they’ve been staring at a computer screen all day or work in a profession that requires laser focus. If that is the case, closing your eyes does actually help moisturize your eyes and reset them to a certain degree. If you’re struggling with straining your eyes and needing to rest them often, don’t hesitate to speak to an Orange County eye doctor, like Dr. Ghosheh of Advanced Eye Medical.
Conclusion. Resting your eyes is a good way to relax your body and replenish your eyes before it needs to take on more tasks, but it is in no way a substitute for sleep. Your body needs the replenishing benefits of sleep to function properly and restore itself.
But is taking a quick rest - closing your eyes, putting your feet up and clearing your mind for a couple of minutes - as beneficial as getting some sleep? The concise answer is 'no'. There are numerous claims relating to the benefits of rest to mind and body. However, nothing compares to the benefit of sleep.
For the record, shutting your eyes for a few minutes is not the same as a good night's sleep. If you are in sleep debt or have chronic sleep deprivation, this won't help you recharge in the way you will with real sleep. But there is a lot you can learn from resting with your eyes closed.
During rest, you can be present to whatever is emerging in the moment. This means you can rest while reading, walking, practising yoga or engaging in other restorative activities. Sleep is very different. Sleep is an immersive and complex process that is vital for the health of every tissue and system in the body.
Understanding the Connection Between Sleep and Eye Health
During the deepest phase of sleep, blood flow to the eyes increases, delivering essential nutrients and flushing out harmful toxins. This process aids in the restoration and repair of cells in the eyes, which is crucial for maintaining healthy eyes.
However, various factors can influence this, including age (deep sleep decreases as you age), lifestyle (diet, exercise, stress), and overall health. If you're consistently waking up feeling tired or unrefreshed, it could indicate that you're not getting sufficient deep sleep.
Scientists evaluate that sleeping 5 hours a day is too little and should not be maintained for a long time if you do not want to suffer from the above diseases. Try to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night. And for a good night's sleep, practice good sleep hygiene.
Not getting enough sleep can lead to having dry, itchy, or bloodshot eyes. The eyes may produce less tears after a night of insufficient sleep. This can open the door to eye infections. You may experience eye twitches or spasms when you have not had enough sleep.
In adults, a nap typically includes all the stages of sleep but in different proportions than regular nightly sleep. Naps are a useful stopgap for people who struggle to get enough sleep at night. But health experts agree that napping does not provide the same restorative power as a full night's rest.
We all benefit from taking time out from the stress and anxiety in our lives. Rest is no substitute for a poor night's sleep. Don't settle for staying awake at night — be proactive about your sleep. Try to get good sleep each and every night.
Through the literature review, Dr. Bernhofer formulated a theoretical definition of rest: Rest is a beneficial state that is intentional, temporary and restorative. Rest involves cessation, minimization or change in physical, mental or spiritual work, fatigue, trauma, illness or stress.
Most adults with healthy sleep patterns take anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes to fall asleep on a typical night. Some people fall asleep much more quickly. While falling asleep within minutes of lying down may sound desirable, it could be a sign of insufficient sleep or a medical condition.
Try to make it a habit to blink more often when looking at a monitor. Take eye breaks.Throughout the day, give your eyes a break by looking away from your monitor. Try the 20-20-20 rule: Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds.
Skipping out on sleep can lead to eye spasms and twitching. This can make it difficult for you to read, focus, do your work, or even drive safely. A more serious negative side effect of sleep deprivation is having dry, itchy, bloodshot eyes. Dry eyes can be painful and cause irritation.
Try Artificial or Real Tears. Over-the-counter or prescription eye drops relieve dry, tired eyes. Use them even when your eyes feel fine to keep them moisturized and stop your symptoms from coming back. Or, if you prefer to make natural tears, remember to blink more often, especially when you're on a digital device.
The stages fall broadly into two categories: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-REM (NREM) sleep. There are three NREM stages. When you fall asleep, you typically enter NREM stage 1 and then cycle between NREM stages 2 and 3. After that, you go into REM sleep and start dreaming.
Sleep needs can vary from person to person, but in general, experts recommend that healthy adults get an average of 7 to 9 hours per night of shuteye. If you regularly need more than 8 or 9 hours of sleep per night to feel rested, it might be a sign of an sleep or medical problem, Gamaldo says.
Our eyes are busy replenishing when we sleep, and they need at least five hours of sleep per night. Without adequate rest, our eyes can experience several side effects, including eye spasms (myokymia), popped blood vessels, optic nerve swelling (Papilledema), and dry eyes.
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