Whether it have been with our siblings to prove a point or a competitive activity to fill break time at school, we’ve all done our fair share of staring contests. Hey, I bet you’ve even had one with your pet.
But usually, these matches only last a minute or so (at a push) and you’ve probably wondered what would happen if you actually held out for the long run
Even just those mere seconds of staring can leave our eyes feeling dry and itchy but if you stopped blinking for a few hours, there would be much worse consequences to your eye health.
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And a creepy simulation shows just that.
A YouTube short by ‘zackdfilms’ is said to show what would happen to the human eye if the eyelids were to stop from blinking.
It claims that after 30 seconds, the moisture ‘on your eyeball would start evaporating’.
Then, over a few minutes time, ‘the first layer would dry out’ across your eye.
“Since it relies on the eyelids to cover it with moisture,” the video adds.
As you might expect, it says that after about 10 minutes (although it could be much faster), ‘your vision would become blurred as the tear film breaks down’.
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The simulation then shows a red eyeball as it concludes: “A few hours later, all moisture would be gone, causing damage to the cornea which would significantly impair your vision.”
It is said we typically blinking between 14,000 and 19,200 times every day and Brimhall eye centre explains the reflex is essential in protecting maintaining our eye health.
There are three key things it lists that may happen if you don’t blink enough, or don’t blink at all.
Dry Eyes
The eye experts says if you’re someone who doesn’t blink enough, you may end up with dry eyes as the cornea won’t get the moisture and nutrients it requires.
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“Prolonged periods of no blinking can lead to chronic dry eye syndrome, which has symptoms like discomfort, gritty sensations, and burning/stinging eyes,” the team add.
Increased Risk of Eye Infections
As well as wiping away debris, blinking also gets oxygen to your eyes.
But if you don’t blink enough, you’re cutting all that back, both disrupting the ‘the even distribution of the tear film and increasing the growth of bacteria on the eye’s surface’.
Therefore, you may end up with an infection.
Corneal Swelling
And finally, this may be a consequence if you don’t blink. As the cornea doesn’t have any blood vessels, it relies on that tear film to replenish it with oxygen.
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The Brimhall eye centre adds: “If you stop blinking, your cornea may swell, leading to blurry vision, light sensitivity, and discomfort.”
Jess Battison