Are the workers' eyes healthy if they lie down to take a nap every day?

Office workers who work with computers all day long are always accustomed to taking a nap on their desks during the lunch break, especially those with myopia, who want to rest their tired eyes during the lunch break.

However, Dr. Sun Zhong, deputy director of the Glaucoma Department of Wuhan University Aier Eye Hospital (Hubei General Hospital of Aier Eye Hospital Group), said that sleeping on the desk for a long time may cause glaucoma. Therefore, office workers, especially those with myopia, who take a nap on the desk, should be careful of glaucoma knocking on the door.

Causes of glaucoma

Genetic factors: If one of the parents has glaucoma, the probability of their children suffering from glaucoma will be higher than the average person.

Sleeping on the table: You read that right, sleeping on the table. Some people are used to sleeping on the table, which can easily cause the eyes to be compressed by the arms, squeezing and deforming the eyeballs, not only causing the intraocular pressure to gradually increase, but also making it more likely for the angle to close, thus causing positional glaucoma.

Improper eye use: reading books, using mobile phones or computers in dim or strong light for a long time, staying up late, etc. will cause long-term eye fatigue, leading to increased intraocular pressure and causing glaucoma.

Emotional fluctuations: When people are emotionally excited, their intraocular pressure will rise and cause an acute attack of angle-closure glaucoma.

Glaucoma symptoms

Acute glaucoma: symptoms such as eye swelling, eye pain, halo vision (rainbow-like halos when looking at lights), migraine, nausea, and vomiting.

Chronic glaucoma: The early symptoms are not obvious, but in the middle and late stages there will be symptoms such as decreased vision, visual field loss, eye swelling and headache.

Congenital glaucoma: Infants and young children have symptoms such as photophobia, tearing, and blepharospasm.

Preventing glaucoma

The three principles of glaucoma prevention and treatment: early screening, early diagnosis, and early treatment.

People at high risk of glaucoma should go to the ophthalmology department for an annual examination, especially the three major items of slit lamp, fundus ophthalmoscope, and intraocular pressure.

For patients who have been diagnosed with glaucoma, appropriate treatment (including medication, laser and surgery, etc.) should be carried out, and regular follow-up visits should be carried out as prescribed by the doctor, intraocular pressure should be measured, and medication should be taken on time and in the right amount to prevent further development of glaucoma.

Dr. Sun Zhong kindly reminds you that the “vision killer” - optic nerve damage caused by glaucoma requires early screening, early diagnosis and early treatment. Reject glaucoma from knocking on your door!

Generally speaking, naps on weekdays are not too long, but lying still for ten or twenty minutes is enough to make our hands, face, and neck feel numb and painful, but its impact on the eyes is often overlooked. If you want to avoid hurting your eyes and there is no better way to take a nap, you can consider using some "artifacts" such as neck pillows to relieve the pressure on your eyes and face.

At the same time, if you have experienced eye discomfort due to long-term improper napping habits, whether it is slight and short-term blurriness or long-term dryness, itching and astringency, it is recommended that you go to an ophthalmologist for a detailed examination to avoid more serious consequences.