If you have glaucoma, you’ve likely noticed that your vision is slowly deteriorating as you get older. Aside from vision changes, you may also have noticed a difference in the quality of sleep you’re getting. In a 2019 study, researchers found an association between glaucoma and abnormal sleep duration, sleep latency, and daytime dysfunction.

Learn more about why researchers believe poor sleep parameters may be a risk factor or consequence of glaucoma.*

What they did 

Using data from the 2005-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the study examined glaucoma patients’ responses, age 40 and older, to a survey with sleep-related questions, which included:

• Amount of time slept
• Difficulty falling asleep
• Sleep disturbances (waking up during sleep)
• Having diagnosed sleep disorders, including sleep apnea
• Use of sleep medication
• Problems with sleepiness during the day

What they found 

The study found multiple associations between having glaucoma and various sleep problems among the study’s participants, which included:

• Three (3) times more likely to have glaucoma-related optic nerve damage if a person sleeps 10 or more hours a night
• Twice as likely to have glaucoma if a person falls asleep in less than nine minutes or more than 30 minutes
• Higher risk of having missing vision if a person gets fewer than three hours or more than 10 hours of sleep each night
• Twice as likely to have visual field loss if a person has trouble remembering things as a result of daytime tiredness
• Three (3) times more likely to have visual field loss if a person has difficulty working on a hobby due to daytime tiredness

What it means 

Michael Boland, M.D., Ph.D., one of the study’s authors and a glaucoma specialist at the Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, stated, “We already know that doctors should talk with their patients about the importance of healthy sleep for good overall health. With studies like this, we can add that glaucoma may be related to sleep health issues.”

Further research is necessary to continue to better understand the connection between glaucoma and disordered sleep. 

If interested, you can find the original study in the Journal of Glaucoma.

*Boyd, K. (2019, September 4). Eye-Opening Study: Relationship Between Glaucoma and Poor Sleep. American Academy of Ophthalmology. https://www.aao.org/eye-health/news/study-relationship-between-glaucoma-poor-sleep

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