Why do dark bags form under your eyes from lack of sleep?
In: Biology
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I’m not a doctor, so here’s the relevant except from an article I found after a 15-second Google search.
> When the body is tired, production of the chemical cortisol is dramatically increased to help give you the energy you need to stay awake. Among many other things, cortisol actually increases the volume of the blood in your body, which causes the blood vessels (including the ones below your eyes) to engorge to accommodate it. As we’ve already mentioned, dark circles are mostly caused by us seeing our blood vessels / blood through our skin, so it stands to reason that when those blood vessels are engorged, they’d be easier to see, even in people who may have been blessed with thicker skin below their eyes.
Source: https://gizmodo.com/what-causes-dark-circles-under-your-eyes-1584754813
It can also be genetic – as in melanin distribution. I’m very pale but had the dark under-eye (and darker lids), since I was about 8. I loved to sleep, I was never sleep deprived (or anemic), but yeah.. got in trouble at school too for ‘wearing brown eyeshadow’ and the teachers would never believe me until they tried to clean it off and they couldn’t. I wasn’t embarrassed or shamed about that btw, just bored with the constant explaining.
I don’t really get dark bags and I find myself having black of sleep often.
Also.. guys who have dark bags.. are so hot
As a follow-up question, besides the chemical reason for it, there has to be an evolutionary reason, right? It must be beneficial to communicate to the group that you need sleep. Do other primates react similiarly?
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