Overcoming Anxiety Affected Eyes
There are a lot of anxiety symptoms that you can learn to easily manage, but your eye symptoms are not usually one of them. All of the ways that anxiety affects the eyes are the direct result of adrenaline pumping through your body, and until that adrenaline goes away, it’s nearly impossible to stop your eyes from reacting the way they do.
The key to managing eye issues resulting from anxiety is to learn how to manage your overall anxiety symptoms.
- Make sure you’re breathing slowly. Over-breathing can cause you to hyperventilate, which may lead to further anxiety and further eye symptoms.
- Find a distraction. Distractions take you out of your mind and away from the thoughts that are causing you stress. They can even decrease the severity of your anxiety attacks.
- Exercise. Some people’s anxiety make finding the strength to move difficult. However, research shows that exercising a few times a week, or daily if possible, can burn excess energy as well as the adrenaline that leads to eye issues. While strenuous activity that increases your heart rate is best, even going for a walk around your neighborhood or on a treadmill at home can be beneficial.
All of these strategies are only temporary and are meant to address immediate anxiety so that your affected eyes begin to relax. Some people also find closing their eyes to be helpful, since eye problems sometimes create their own anxiety.
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Eye Anxiety Floaters And Flashes
So as mentioned above flashes may be important to have a physician look into. The reason is that it can be a signal of a retina problem.
But it isnt uncommon to experience this even in healthy eyes. Sometimes it can be like a someone took a picture that you just catch out of the corner of your eye or look like there was lightning that you just noticed out of your peripheral vision.
When it comes to floater, they can come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and have to do with the gel behind the lens of your eye.
When that gel bumps up against the retina, it can cause a flash.
In general, the floaters that you see can look like squiggly lines, rings, circles, odd shapes, hoops, loops, straight and jagged lines. But what you are seeing isnt really the object. Its actually the shadow of the object because of the light filtering in.
In most people, these get more severe with age. Most of the population will experience it by the time they are in their eighties.
Now if you are worried about it, and you probably dont need to be, let me see if I can describe what is happening.
Have you ever been at a swimming pool where the sun is shining into the water and you can see weird lines at the bottom of the pool? The ones that are shadows because the light is blocked by something either on the surface of the water or in the water?
Your eye works in a similar fashion, so a very, very small dot can make a larger shadow appear for you. They typically appear to be swimming.
Low Vision Stress And The Brain
Challenging life events and any other stimuli that lead to stress are called stressors. They are part of our daily lives. However, in what way the body and mind react to any specific stressor depends on the brains interpretation and the bodily reaction to it. The brains appraisal determines whether a physiological stress response is elicited and affects the body and, if so, how stress causes pathophysiology of vision loss.
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Can Stress Raise The Pressure In Your Eye
Glaucoma is a devastating disorder that affects millions of individuals worldwide. Many evidence identifies the development of glaucoma is influenced by various factor mechanism such as increased intraocular pressure, psychological stress, decreased neutrophinesupply, hypoxia, ecotoxicity, oxidative stress, and the involvement of autoimmune processes. Among the factors, psychological stress appears to be a life-threatening factor which has a significant part in increase in ocular pressure and glaucomatous neurodegeneration. Scientists have related a life of stressful experience with glaucoma, finding that anxiety and depression are higher in patients with the undiagnosed glaucoma.
Do You Know How Stress Affects Your Eyes
Stress impacts us mentally and physically, but did you know it can affect our vision?
When we are severely stressed and anxious, high levels of adrenaline in the body can cause pressure on the eyes, resulting in blurred vision. People with long-term anxiety can suffer from eye strain during the day on a regular basis. If you become highly sensitised to any slight movement, over time the strain from other senses can cause muscular tensions and headaches.
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Stress And Your Vision
We all know stress can lead to high blood pressure, but did you know that an optometrist can see signs of high blood pressure simply by looking at the back of your eyes? Thats because the eyes are the only part of the body where small blood vessels capillaries are directly visible. This means we can see if the vessels have become thickened, narrowed or even burst. If we detect any of these signs, youll be referred to your GP for precautionary general health and blood pressure assessments.
If left undetected and untreated, high blood pressure can potentially lead to blurred vision or floaters . Other symptoms of stress and the eyes include strain, soreness or twitching of the eye lids.
Stress-related eye conditions can be temporary. But if you have any on-going concerns about your vision, they might be related to other health and eye conditions. If you notice any changes with your eyes, get in touch with Leightons friendly eye specialists. Were here to provide you with the eye care you need.
At Leightons, we dont stop at standard. Were dedicated to bringing you the most thorough ways of testing your vision and the health of your eyes, to help detect eye conditions sooner. For the best possible eye care, we highly recommend our Ultimate Eye Examination.
What Are Common Stress
Most stress-caused eye issues are temporaryif you have a consistent issue with your eyes, no matter whats going on in your life, the problem is likely with your eyes instead of your stress level. Make sure to see an eye doctor if you have persistent eye trouble.
But when you have a massive deadline or your children all get sick at the same time, you may notice these problems:
- Tunnel vision. You may lose some of your peripheral vision and feel like you can only see straight in front of you.
- Sensitivity to light. You may feel like bright light hurts your eyes or makes it difficult for you to see.
- Eye twitching. Maybe one, or both, of your eyes will randomly spasm.
- Very dry or very wet eyes. While these are opposite symptoms, either one can be caused by stress. It all depends on how your body responds to a difficult situation.
- Blurry vision. When caused by stress, blurry vision will probably be mild instead of severe.
- Eye strain. Eye strain may be caused by something simple, like staring at your computer screen too long at work. However, it can also be caused by stress.
- Eye floaters. Eye floaters are tiny spots that swim across your vision.
These symptoms are usually not terribleyou can live with them without seeing an eye doctor. The problems are more annoying than debilitating. However, if they last a long time or are very uncomfortable, you should still see a professional just in case.
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How Do You Prevent Stress From Affecting Your Vision
If you are suffering a panic attack and notice your eyes are affected, you can take a few steps to deal with the issue on the spot:
- If youre driving or operating machinery, stop immediately.
- Practice regulated breathing exercises to regain control. Breathing in and out through your nose will help calm your nervous system.
- Find a distraction, such as a song, a movie, or a friend to talk to.
- Perform a mild exercise such as walking or a light jog .
- Close your eyes for a minute or two while resting.
These techniques may help your vision return to normal after a few minutes. Unfortunately, these are only temporary forms of treatment that can be used after a panic attack. You should visit a medical professional to stay proactive in your fight against stress.
Do you experience any vision problems when you are in stressful situations? Are you concerned about vision problems that youre not sure are stress related or not? Contact Silverstein Eye Centers today at 358-3600 or request your appointment online. We can serve you at our convenient location in Independence/Kansas City.
What Is The Relationship Between Your Eyes And Anxiety
Eye anxiety is what people search for in their attempt to describe a situation, in which it feels like anxiety is having an impact on their eye health or at least they are experiencing one of the following temporary , semi-permanent or recurring conditions of the eye.
Typical symptoms include the following:
- Blurred vision as if you should be wearing glasses or your prescription suddenly changed
- Floaters dots, squiggly lines, odd shapes, blotches, rings, or circles seen in bright light or when eyes are closed.
- Eye flashes may seem like a flash of lightning seen out of corner of eye.
- Eye strain your eyes feel like you have been reading at the computer for excessive amounts of time
- Eye twitch a muscle twitch in your eye that last for a while and wont go away
- Watery eyes like youve been crying or people might ask you if you have, you may have to remove your glasses to wipe them occasionally
- Dry eyes this feels a bit like eye strain mentioned above, but its a burning feeling
- Light Sensitivity The feeling you as if the light were significantly dialed up and your eyes have a hard time adjusting.
The problem is that it is often hard to distinguish a temporary problem from something serious.
Its kind of like sore joints, tendons and muscles surrounding a sprain versus a broken bone.
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How To Reduce Pupil Dilation
Unlike other symptoms of anxiety, pupil dilation is not something you can control directly. There are no exercises to prevent pupil dilation, and you can’t “talk your eyes down” from being dilated. Your pupils are a part of your body that are automatic, so if they change size in any way, you simply have to wait for it to return to normal.
The “treatment” for pupil dilation is simply to control your underlying anxiety. The good news is that there are plenty of techniques and treatments that are extremely effective at controlling your anxiety symptoms.
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Experiencing Blurred Vision Or Lack Of Focus From Stress
Here I would encourage you to think about the effects of high-blood pressure on the eyes.
If you have ever had your eyes dilated, the optometrist can see the effects of high-blood pressure on the eyes. If you have been stressed, you might find that your blood pressure is up as well, although, it doesnt have to be for you to experience blurred vision.
This is one of the areas where I would have a lower threshold to getting it checked out by a professional since blurred vision can be a result of many other things.
My husband is allergic to peanut butter. One day, he was working on some financial stuff.
He noticed that he started having trouble reading the numbers.
When he looked at a series of numbers , he could only make out the 1 and 2 and 5 and 6 when looking directly at the number.
His vision was significantly impaired directly at the normal focus level of his eye. Of course, he freaked out.
He later discovered that the kids had made themselves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and used the same knife. Inadvertently, they had put peanut butter in the jelly jar.
When my husband made himself some toast with the jelly, he experienced some level of temporary blindness, but it was only for a certain focal width / range.
It was a scary experience.
So, you may want to think about what things you have been eating / drinking. Could this have had an impact on your vision?
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Stress And Vision Loss In Glaucoma
Glaucoma is an appropriate example of how an eye disease can be influenced or caused by mental stress. The biological response to mental stress and the pathogenesis of glaucoma share numerous common features sufficient to justify the mental stress based etiology .2). The principle mechanisms are intraocular pressure elevation, vascular dysregulation, and an imbalance of autonomic nervous system regulation and immunological aspects .
What Happens When You Are Stressed
Unfortunately, turbulent emotions like stress and anxiety are quickly becoming a pervasive part of many of our lifestyles, often spurned on by work commitments, family problems, and financial woes. This can create a number of health related issues due to the impact that stress can have on your body, stimulating what is known as your fight-or-flight reflexes.
When you experience stress or anxiety, your fight-or-flight reflexes are triggered and this can affect a number of different bodily functions:
- Your heart rate will become elevated
- Oxygenated blood and nutrients will be redirected to your muscles, heart and lungs
- Your digestive system will slow down.
In short, all that matters to your body is your immediate survival.
As a consequence, you may experience symptoms such as constipation or diarrhoea, or find your skin flaring up due to an increase in inflammatory chemicals like cortisol. Your sleep patterns will undergo some upheaval and eventually, your immune function may become weakened. These are the most obvious side effects of a bout of stress and its likely you may already associate a few of these with that particular emotion but how does stress impact your eyes?
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Stress And You Hearing
Prolonged stress can directly affect your ear health, causing conditions like hearing loss and tinnitus. As with your eyes, decreased circulation can also affect your ears, and chronic stress plays a big part in slowing blood flow.
When youre stressed, the extra adrenaline can decrease or stop circulation in the inner ear, damaging or even destroying the essential tiny hair cells inside your ear. This can cause gradual hearing loss over time, or even sudden hearing loss if circulation stops completely. If your hearing loss is a reaction to stress then it’s often reversible: first cut out the stress for improved circulation and then even consider rehabilitation of your hair cells through sound therapy.
If youre concerned about stress-induced hearing loss then look out for symptoms such as blocked ears, an inability to hear sounds at certain frequencies, a sensation of pressure in your ears, loss of hearing in one or both of your ears, sounds seeming more distant than usual, or tinnitus.
Are Electronic Devices Really Unhealthy For My Eyes Or Is It All Hype
Our heavy use of electronic devices is causing Digital Eye Strain for people of all ages. Hoya research shows that 61% of adults experience eye strain due to prolonged use of electronic devices. Nearly 25% of children are on digital devices 3 or more hours per day and 40% of Millennials spend 9 or more hours per day on digital devices. The benefits of technology have a downside, especially fatigue brought on by stress to the accommodative system. This stress can lead to headaches, dry eyes, blurred vision and difficulty when focusing from distance to near.
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How Do I Tell That I Am Developing Glaucoma
The real tragedy behind vision-stealing glaucoma is that most people afflicted with this eye disease do not even realize they have it. As a result, the condition goes undiagnosed and untreated, which too often leads to unnecessary blindness. Of the 2.7 million people in the United States with glaucoma, half are undiagnosed. Most are lulled into a false sense of confidence because glaucoma often displays no symptoms in its early stages. By the time it begins to affect vision, any lost sight is impossible to regain. The risk of developing glaucoma begins to increase dramatically at midlife, which is why everyone should have a baseline exam by age 40. The most important concern is protecting your sight. Doctors look at many factors before making decisions about your treatment. If your condition is particularly difficult to diagnose or treat, you may be referred to a glaucoma specialist. While glaucoma is most common in middle-aged individuals, the disease can strike at any age, with those having a family history of the disease being especially vulnerable.
Vision Loss: A Psychosomatic Disorder
Others have also suggested psychosomatic components in vision loss, some looking upon it as a consequence, but others as a cause. The available literature is summarized in Table and some psychosomatic considerations are now discussed. Though the general consensus seems to be that stress is only the consequence of vision loss, numerous studies indicate that stress can be a triggering factor for visual impairment. Though it is unclear if stress alone is a sufficient condition to induce vision loss, it is a least a well-recognized and critical co-factors when other pathological conditions are present, such as arteriosclerosis, inflammation, or, as in the case of FS, an endothelial dysfunction.
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The Mechanics Of Stress
We all go through periods of stress. Our bodies are adaptable and learn to deal with good and bad stress. It goes back to our hunter-gatherer days when we were faced with other predators. You might have heard of the “fight or flight” response. Our brain and body had to decide how we would approach a situation and what our best outcome for survival would be. Nowadays, its usually less life-threatening than being eaten by a tiger, but the physical response is similar.
When we are stressed, our body creates a surge of adrenaline and our pupils dilate. The idea behind this was to allow more light into our eyes so that we could properly scope out any threats. Our autonomic nervous system is responsible for our response to stress, so if we are stressed, our pupils dilate when were relaxed or tired, they constrict, explains Ophthalmologist Mithu Storoni in an interview. However, if dilated for too long , your eyes can actually become sensitive to light, which can, in turn, lead to eye strain or even blurry vision.
Interestingly enough, a study in the American journal Applied Ergonomics found that university students increased stress during exam period caused higher levels of intraocular pressure , which could lead to glaucoma.
