Fatigue and vision

[PrettyCandles]

I'm having difficulty focusing. Not in the cross-eyed drunk way, but struggling to switch between near and far vision. I'm also having to face what I'm reading (instead of being able to read a street name or roadsign by just glancing at it over my shoulder) and needing brighter light than normal.

This is scaring me, because I'm already very shortsighted and a year ago one of my eyes decided to suddenly age so I need reading glasses for that eye.

I'm knackered right now through lack of sleep over the past few nights. Could this be affecting my vision?

I would say its highly likely - I know when I'm sleep deprived it takes a while for my eyes to focus and sometimes even register what I am seeing. Sympathies - lack of sleep is really hard

Interesting thread. My vision has also gone odd, and I'm particularly tired atm. The GP has looked at my eyes, and can't detect anything odd, but my focus is definitely weird. Will be interested to hear other people's answers!

Did not want to leave your post unanswered. Focusing does require quite a bit of energy so if you already need reading glasses and are very tired the muscles that control the focusing may be strugging. If the tiredness is just a tempory blip, (such as if you are recovering from a cold or an unusual lack of rest) it should recover fairly soon but if not - seems it may be time to get your eye specialist to check you out. That difficulty of struggling/ being slow to refocus especially between near and far can be a sign of fatigue in the accommodative (focusing) mechanism ( accommodative spasm). Some people loose a little bit of their short sightedness at a certain age. Have you suddenly got lots of bits floating in your vision? If you have or there is feeling of a curtain in the way of one or other eye, go to get it checked straight away.

I never thought of focusing as requiring energy. It's such a small movement - hardly weightlifting! But if it does, then what's happening makes sense.

I wouldn't mind losing some of my shortsightedness, but instead I've added longsightedness.

No additional floaters, and no curtains or flashes. Both my parents have macular problems, so I've had the warning signs drummed into me.

When I have been extremely tired in the past I have found my eye sight deteriorates and focusing becomes much harder.

Its really normal and is the onset of something called presbyopia (which happens to most people usually between 35 and 50).

Presbyopia is where the lens in the eye begins to have less foccusing power and most people then need to wear either reading glasses or varifocals/two pairs of spectacles.

It is affected by light levels - the more light you have the better you see. And also by how tired you are.

Don't worry, but get an eye exam and have a chat with the optom, you probably won't need specs yet, but may do soon.

(Optometrist)