Can You Sleep With Your Eyes Open?

It's not necessarily fun (nor on purpose), but yes, some people sleep with one or both eyes partially open. Learn how nocturnal lagophthalmos works in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/sleep/disorders/can-fall-asleep-with-eyes-open.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Hey brain Stuff Lauren Bobi Bam here. The old saying
sleep with one eye open isn't so metaphorical for everyone.
Take for example, Mel mom in Kansas whom How to
Work spoke with via email for the article that this
episode is based on. Well, she has a son who

(00:22):
regularly sleeps with both eyes about half open, and she said, oh,
we joke around and say that Jack is afraid he's
going to miss something. The family wasn't too weird a
doubt when he started doing it, though, as they had
experienced it with an older daughter. Mel said, a long
time ago, we asked the doc. He said kids usually
grow out of it. In her daughter's case, this wound

(00:43):
up being true, but it's not unusual for people to
sleep with an eye or two open indefinitely. The condition
is known in medical circles as nocturnal lack ofthalmus, and
is characterized by the inability to completely close the eyelids
while sleeping. Most people are unaware that they're sleeping this
way until someone tells them, but they may wake up

(01:04):
feeling tired or experiencing eye pain. As much as of
the population has experienced nocturnal lack of thalmus. It's a
variation of the wider condition of lack of thalness, which
describes any circumstance where you can't close your eyelids completely
even when you're trying. It's usually caused by an improperly
functioning seventh cranial nerve, the facial nerve that's responsible for

(01:27):
the muscles that control the movement of both eyelids and eyebrows.
That improper functioning can be triggered by a litany of issues,
like trauma to the face or the skull, a thyroid disease, tumors,
or damage from infections, among other things. Sometimes simple heredity
is the culprit. Whatever the cause, it's unlikely that anyone

(01:49):
is able to get good sleep with their eyes wide open.
That's because your eyes need to close or at least blink,
in order to keep your eyes lubricated and healthy. House
of Works also spoke by email with Dr Ivan Schwab,
a clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Optimology. He explained,
as far as I know, few people, if any, could

(02:10):
sleep with their eyes fully open, because as you sleep,
the upper lid muscles will relax and close, but if
there were no upper lid coverage available, it might be possible,
but would be difficult to sleep and quite detrimental to
the eye with drying on the surface I surface drying
is an uncomfortable problem that causes a burning sensation that

(02:31):
may even wake you up in the middle of the night.
This drying and irritation is called exposure carrotitis. If it
becomes really problematic, there are options. The Schwab said the
best way medically is to apply ointment and tape the
lids closed, over that these measures must be done each night.
In many, but not all cases, there are surgical options

(02:53):
to raise the lower lid or lower the upper lid.
There are also special eye goggles that can be worn
at night to keep the eyes moist. However, although this
is a problem in humans, a number of other animals
evolutionarily developed the ability to sleep with one eye open.
This is called un hemispheric sleep. Half the brain stays

(03:14):
awake while the other half sleeps. Animals like fruit backs, porpoises,
bottlenose dolphins, and birds are known to do this, likely
because as potential prey, they need to be able to
stay partially alert in order to stay safe. In these cases,
the open eye blinks as normal so it doesn't dry
out in today's episode is based on the article can

(03:38):
You Fall Asleep with your Eyes Open? On how stuff
Works dot com written by Leo Hoyt. A brain Stuff
is production of I Heart Radio in partnership with how
stuff Works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang.
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