Can stress cause eye floaters?
Everyone gets stressed out once in a while. Whether it be career related issues, personal work piling up, or possibly even issues in the family, there are a variety of stressors that could negatively affect you at any given time. As we know, stress often has a detrimental impact on a person’s physical well-being. Furthermore, stress can be very hard on the eyes; thus, many people in our community wonder: can stress cause eye floaters?
Eye floaters are caused by deterioration of the vitreous humor, which often happens when people age. With this being said, stress alone is not responsible for eye floaters appearing.
How stress affects your vision:
In a stressful situation the human body produces a hormone known as epinephrine. Epinephrine, otherwise known as adrenaline, is responsible for the “flight or fight” response that all humans will exhibit in a rough situation. Adrenaline causes your pupils to dilate so that the world around you is seen more clearly. Being stressed out all the time will result in constant dilation of the pupils, and ultimately eye strain. Stress induced eye strain is often accompanied by symptoms such as:
Sensitivity to light
Reduction of peripheral vision
Blurred vision
Dry eyes
Twitching in the eyes
Despite the fact that stress itself cannot cause eye floaters, it can certainly make a pre-existing condition worse. Experiencing the above symptoms in conjunction to the eye floaters you’re already seeing will make it seem like your eye floaters are greater in number. In reality, the above symptoms are just contributing to the root problem, therefore making your eye floaters stand out more.
If you feel as though your eye floaters are increasing in number abnormally, please schedule an appointment with an ophthalmologist to ensure that the issue is benign. A rapid increase in eye floaters can indicate a retina tear which is a medical emergency.
Reducing Stress Levels:
Taking some time to unwind is of utmost importance if you’re feeling stressed out. Consider deep breathing routines, exercise, yoga, or meditation as ways to relieve stress in your life. Moreover, you can try and isolate the problem that is giving you a hard time and then try to resolve that problem if possible. Besides the above methods, ways to reduce stress include:
Taking a warm bath, preferably with epsom salts.
Going for a walk in nature
Listening to calming music or white noise.
Addressing the issue with family or friends
Conclusion:
With eye floaters and stress both being very common occurrences, it is no surprise that people often wonder: can stress cause eye floaters? Simply put, stress cannot magically make eye floaters appear, but it can certainly make a pre-existing condition worse.
If you are a person with eye floaters, take a look at your daily routine to see if one or more of your obligations are causing unnecessary stress. Eliminating stress will undoubtedly take a lot of strain off of the eyes, and your floaters will likely seem less apparent.
