At first, I really feel confused—positive, the present has its emotional moments, nevertheless it’s a comedy. What am I doing that makes her suppose I am upset? After which I notice: She most likely thinks I am crying. “Oh yeah, I am good!” I reply shortly. “My eyes water when I’m yawning.” Whereas it’s the reality and I do know she trusts me, I fear she thinks I am mendacity to avoid wasting face. In spite of everything, doesn’t it appear sort of random that yawning principally makes you cry?
If this has occurred to you, relaxation assured that it’s not as bizarre (or worrisome) as it might sound. Mainly, when your eyes scrunch up throughout a yawn, they push out tears. “[The] tightening of the facial muscle tissue across the eyes after we yawn causes the pool of tears that usually coat our eyes (i.e. our tear movie) to ‘overflow,’” explains Dagny Zhu, MD, a Harvard-trained specialist in cornea, cataract, and laser refractive surgical procedure and a surgeon with Nvision Eye Centers. “Facial muscle tissue additionally put strain on the lacrimal gland, which ‘squeezes’ out tears.”
Whereas the tearing doesn’t have a transparent evolutionary function, Dr. Zhu did share an attention-grabbing scientific proven fact that might be behind this. “Some studies present yawning is a approach for our brains to ‘cool off,’ which will be achieved by [the] secretion of tears, much like sweating,” she says.
Why it won’t occur each time, or to each individual
Nevertheless, chances are you’ll be studying this and pondering, “Why do not my eyes water when yawning?” or “This solely occurs to me now and again—what does that imply?” A few honest questions! Personally, I’ve observed the eye-watering is worse at sure instances, and for seemingly no purpose.
Based on Dr. Zhu, there’s no definitive clarification, however she does have some theories. “Some folks with autoimmune diseases have impaired tear manufacturing resulting from inflammatory injury inflicting dry eye,” she says. “Counterintuitively, different folks with dry eye disease may very well tear extra as a reflexive response: As a result of their eyes are at a continuing state of dryness, their tear manufacturing is all the time in overdrive.”
For reference, the opposite signs of autoimmune diseases embody issues like fatigue, swollen glands, digestive points, joint ache, and extra. So far as dry eye disease, chances are you’ll discover extra signs resembling eye burning or itching, eye redness, sensitivity to gentle, feeling like one thing is caught in your eye, and blurred imaginative and prescient. A number of different causes of watery eyes which might be unrelated to yawning, however doubtlessly nonetheless at play, are allergic reactions, seasonal adjustments, make-up, and issues with contact lenses.
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In any case, it’s finest to speak with a trusted health-care supplier in case you’re involved that your eyes watering could be one thing greater than an occasional factor. In any other case, there’s probably not a purpose to fret, no matter whether or not your eyes water (or not) mid-yawn.
Are you able to cease your eyes from watering when yawning?
Whereas it’s not an issue, let’s face it: Eye-watering (and yawning) will be ill-timed, a bit awkward, and annoying, even in essentially the most comfy of conditions. Is there a strategy to stop it? “There’s no actual strategy to cease our eyes from tearing when yawning, nevertheless it’s typically factor to maintain our eyes lubricated,” Dr. Zhu says. So, normally, I suppose it’s extra a matter of reframing your perspective than fixing a bodily situation.
Nevertheless, in case you expertise extreme, fixed tearing; eye burning; or different eye issues like those listed above, “it may be an indication of illness and must be evaluated by an ophthalmologist,” Dr. Zhu provides. In different phrases, keep watch over it (pun absolutely supposed) and you need to be simply positive.
