Repost from our Le Meow forum, an insightful list of suggestions by @nycmao.

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“eyes were really tired and I just wanted to keep them closed and rest them”

“My eyes are tired…all…the…time”

“Rubbing them a lot and just generally wanting to keep them closed and let them rest.”

From how you describe your situation it sounds a lot (to me) like Dry Eye Disease, which is extremely common. Not trying to give you medical advice here, etc. That having been said, there are a lot of simple and practical things you could do that might alleviate a lot of your problems and make you feel a whole lot better, so if I were you I’d try those things.

If I were you I’d do all the “dry eye” stuff for a month or so, for some people it can work miracles.

For a quick fix, you could try some preservative-free artificial tears, they’ll have PF in the name and usually come in individual vials or a special dropper. They’re kind of expensive, but you might see if they provide some immediate relief.

Most of the time Dry Eye Disease is caused by meibomian gland dysfunction, they’re little glands in your eyelids that put out an oily substance (meibum) that keeps your tears from evaporating. Its common for those glands to get clogged or dried up and stop working.

To fix it, you can try a rice sock if you like making things yourself, or for under $13 you can get a premade one from Amazon or the drug store. You put it in the microwave for 30 seconds and let it rest on your eyes for five or ten minutes, you should be able to feel the oil in the glands melting and it should soothe and heal your eyes if that’s indeed part of the problem. You could do that once or twice a day, before bed or when you have time for a five minute break.

You can also try some eyelid scrubs, I like to use hypochlorous acid 0.02% spray on a cotton ball, you wet the cotton ball and rub very gently back and forth on your lid margins where the eyelashes come out. I would try that morning and night, maybe three times a day if it seems to be helping.

I like to use castor oil on the eyelids… it helps me a whole bunch (morning, and before bed).

You might find you get a whole diopter or more of improvement right away just from the dry eye stuff if that’s indeed part of the issue you’re facing.

You can work with an eye doctor as well, they have various tests they can do to measure your tear film and that sort of thing, but it’s probably expensive compared to trying the DIY approach. They can also mechanically express your meibomian glands (you can do that yourself too if you’re brave and confident.)

Good luck with it! I found these things help me a whole bunch. I hadn’t particularly suspected that my eyes were dry, but they feel 10 times better now than they used to, I get far fewer headaches etc.

Anyway, from how you describe your eyes being tired all the time, I’d at least investigate further or give these ideas a shot and see if you get some dramatic improvement right away. In general rubbing your eyes isn’t the best idea and these ideas should work a lot better than rubbing your eyes. In my opinion it’s worth a try. You might find your vision gets a lot better and your quality-of-life will improve.

Omega-3 fatty acids are also generally considered beneficial, you could put olive oil on your salads or get some fish oil capsules to increase your omega-3 consumption.

I hope that helps you, or anyone reading this. If you try them please report back and let me know if it made a difference in addition to all the good advice in the thread above.

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Rice-Sock

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32422285/

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End of repost.

Note that best is probably to go see a professional and have a diagnosis established before venturing out experimenting.  It’s well possible that you’re experiencing some sort of medical condition that there are treatment course options for.

Cheers,

-Jake