Eyeball Squish
And how to avoid it
Have you ever woken up from a nap to find the sight in one of your eyes was really blurry? The first few times this happened, it freaked me right the heck out. It wasn’t a blurriness that I could wipe away, it was persistent and only resolved itself with time.
Noting the pattern, I got curious and discovered that one of the causes of blurry eyesight after sleeping can be pressure exerted on the eye while sleeping. Boom, solved! I had just switched to a firm memory foam pillow and tend to sleep on my side. My eye was getting squished overnight, and it took some to right itself each morning after becoming unsquished. I quickly changed my pillow, and the problem went away.
There are a few lessons to be learned from this experience worth passing onto you, my fellow nappers:
Ensure your pillow firmness aligns with your sleeping position, so you avoid eye squish
If you use a sleep mask, don’t make it too tight; no one wants double eye squish
When you need to nap in an awkward position, such as on an airplane or at a desk, be thoughtful about where you place your head, so you don’t put pressure on your eyeball while catching some z’s
When you wake up from a deep, restful nap, the last thing you want is a jarring experience when you realize you can’t see straight; be mindful of potential eye squish!