Can Chronic Stress Impact Your Eyes Too?

Stress can also impact our vision quality, know how you can avoid this risk.

Are you aware of the fact that chronic stress can take a serious toll on your vision? Our eyes might not feel as tired as our body does but, the price it pays could be equally severe. Most of the time, eye issues caused due to stress are temporary but, if the issue continues to persist instead of getting better, then it is the problem of your eyes and not stress. But, how do we differentiate the symptoms of whether it is the stress causing issues to your eyes or is it some other factor? Make sure to see an eye doctor if you have persistent eye trouble and learn to recognize the symptoms.

Eye Problems You Could Get Due To Stress

Here are certain conditions triggered due to chronic stress.

• Tunnel Vision: This means loss of peripheral vision. You will only be able to see what is right in front of you.
• Sensitivity to light: Your eyes might become very sensitive to bright lights and you might even have headaches because of it.
• Eye twitching: If your eyes are hurting or twitching frequently, chances are it is getting impacted by stress.
• Very dry or very wet eyes: Stress can also lead to the symptoms of dry eyes or wet eyes. Depending on how your body reacts to the situation, you might experience excessive dryness or excessive tearing up.
• Blurry vision: Stress can also cause mild or severe blurry vision. This can happen in episodes that last for a few seconds or more.
• Eye strain: Stress can cause eye strain. This can happen when a person is working for too long with electronic devices.
• Eye floaters: If you are witnessing tiny spots across your vision, your eyes are under a lot of stress.

All of these above symptoms are not very severe. It is also not always mandatory to get checked by a doctor. But, these problems can be very irritating. It can last for a short time or for a long time and can be equally uncomfortable. It is better that you get checked by a doctor because otherwise, the discomfort will hinder you from going about your daily routine.

Why Do Our Eyes Get Impacted By Stress?

Stress increases the cortisol levels in our body. This severely creates an imbalance in the autonomous nervous system and vascular dysregulation which impacts our brain and eyes. When we are stressed or are scared, our body instinctively goes into fight or flight mode. This also leads to more production of hormones in the body which impact our heart rate. It speeds up the heart rate and also forces the brain to pump blood to only the internal organs and not the organs which are further like our eyes. This is how stress can also cause severe conditions like glaucoma or optic neuropathy.