Stress can cause several symptoms. These include anxiety, depression, migraine, headaches, elevated blood pressure and even heart disease. Did you know about how stress affects vision? Read on, to know more about it.
How and why stress affects vision
Under stressful conditions, your pupils dilate (become bigger) due to the adrenalin rush. This means more light can enter your eyes, helping you to see potential threats better. However, these high levels of adrenaline and cortisol can also result in blurred vision, as well as behavioural issues.
Common stress related vision problems
Not only does stress affect your vision, you may also notice one or more of the following symptoms. These include:
- Blurred vision
- Light sensitivity, or photophobia
- Eye twitching or lid myokymia
- Dry eyes
- Watery eyes
- Headaches and migraines
- Eye strain and pain
- Floaters
Near point visual stress
Near point visual stress is a specific eye stress that results following prolonged near work. When the eye gets tired due to near-vision focusing, the continuous stress on the eye leads to blurred vision.
This results in eye strain and pain, fatigue and headaches. These occur especially after or during near effort, for example, extensive reading or using screen devices.
How can emotional stress affect vision
Functional or hysterical vision loss is defined as the loss or decrease in vision in the absence of any disease or structural abnormalities. It is a type of “conversion disorder.” In this, the patient is not aware that he or she has a vision loss due to emotional stress. In contrast, malingering is defined as a disorder when the person pretends to have vision loss.
Patients with hysterical vision loss report a significant decrease in vision, and constriction of visual fields. They typically describe their vision as blurred, and as if looking through through a narrow tunnel (tubular vision).
How to Manage Stress
Stress is an integral part of life. Here is what you can do, to manage stress better.
Take frequent breaks
Exercise
Spend time outdoors
Meditation
Deep breathing techniques
Healthy, balanced diet
Meaningful social interactions, including helping the needy
Get counselling, if required
