WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Early research published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology suggests that sleeping without a pillow might help lower pressure inside the eyes.
During the project, researchers studied 144 adults with glaucoma, of different age groups. Some had normal tension glaucoma, some had high eye pressure, and others had primary open-angle glaucoma, the most common type.
Between October 2023 and April 2024, participants shared their medical history and lifestyle habits (such as smoking and alcohol use) and underwent full eye exams.
The researchers measured eye pressure, called intraocular pressure (IOP), in the right eye every 2 hours over a full day. They checked it while participants were sitting and lying down. When lying down, they also tested with the head raised using two pillows, then measured again after 10 minutes. Each person went through this process multiple times, both with and without pillows.
Results showed that about 67% of participants had higher eye pressure when their head was raised with pillows compared to lying flat. On average, the increase was small, but noticeable. The researchers noted that eye pressure was slightly higher and more unstable when using pillows. They explained that high eye pressure can damage the optic nerve and lead to glaucoma, which is a major cause of permanent blindness.
Researchers think that using pillows may change neck position, which could press on veins in the neck and affect how fluid drains from the eye. This fluid helps maintain eye pressure and shape. They also found that blood flow to the eyes decreased when pillows were used, which may reduce oxygen and nutrients reaching eye tissues.
'Patients with glaucoma may therefore benefit from avoiding sleeping postures that induce jugular venous compression to mitigate postural IOP elevation. Such behavioral adjustments represent a simple yet potentially effective adjunctive strategy for optimizing long-term IOP management in clinical practice,' the authors recommended.
However, this was an observational study. Also, the researchers stressed that the number of people in each subgroup was relatively small, more research is required.
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
