The surprising health benefit of sleeping without a pillow
How your pillow could be affecting your eye health
- A new study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology suggests that sleeping with two pillows may increase internal eye pressure in glaucoma patients.
- Researchers found that eye pressure rose in over two-thirds (67 per cent) of patients when lying on pillows compared to lying flat.
- The study indicates this increased pressure may be due to the compression of the jugular vein, which takes blood from the head back to the heart.
- Ultrasounds on healthy volunteers confirmed that a high-pillow position led to significant constriction of the jugular vein's lumen.
- Experts suggest that glaucoma patients could benefit from avoiding sleeping postures that cause this compression, though further research is required.