What is it about lack of sleep that causes eye irritation?
Excess fluid (edema) under the eye is one of the major causes of eye “puffiness,” and an increase in blood pressure is the likely culprit for many as a direct consequence to sleep deprivation. An elevated blood pressure causes vessels to constrict and invite fluid retention. Many of the known sleep disorders can also cause excess fluid or edema to occur not only in the eye area but in several parts of the body. Dark rings around the eyes—raccoon eyes—are a hallmark sign of poor sleep. The eyelid skin is the thinnest skin found anywhere in the body, so thin that it’s almost transparent. The darkness under the eye is really circulating blood in the soft tissues beneath the skin. Because lack of sleep affects blood circulation, it’s been theorized that sleep loss causes blood to pool under your eyes, giving you those dreaded dark circles. Red eyes simply mean you haven’t rested them closed lately. When your lids are open (working very hard at watching, reading, absorbing a computer screen
