While adequate length of uninterrupted sleep helps our brain function and promotes overall body health, its absence leads to health issues by far more serious than general physical fatigue. Irregular sleep cycle can lead to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, metabolic dysfunction, diabetes, obesity, as well as vision diseases.
Ophthalmology department at Mayo Clinic, USA, found that sleep deprivation and irregularity leads to blurred vision and eye discomfort; while those conditions are not considered as major health problems, in chronic stages they can bring about major vision issues. In addition, sleep deprivation initiates development of glaucoma – the second most common cause of untreatable blindness.
A regularly sleep-deprived person can develop ischemic optic neuropathy – vascular optic nerve lesion characterized by sudden, painless loss of vision in one eye commonly noticed after awakening. Lack of regular sleep can also cause papilledema- swelling in the optic nerve due to increased inter-cranial pressure which eventually leads to gradual vision deterioration.
Therefore, it is not worth it staying up so late, turn off your computers and go to bed soon 🙂
