(ANSWERED)
I get its to prevent dust etc from getting in, but when sleeping your body is usually relaxed and not tense, but dead people aka people who can litteraly not be tense dont have their eyes closed but slightly open, why do we sleep with our eyelids closed if they stay open when theyre not moved by muscles, doesnt our body then have to like constantly put a bit of restraint on the eyelids to keep them closed? or has it just become so natural that it barely matters
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Not a scientific answer, but the idea that your body has to tense certain things even whilst sleeping isn’t completely foreign to you, after all, your body has to maintain breathing and bladder control whilst sleeping (at least for most people). Breathing in particular involves muscle usage. Your heart still has to beat. You can still maintain many functions and yet be at rest, it doesn’t mean all motion and work has stopped for your body.
Edit: what I should have said in conclusion is, though somethings require effort for your body when it wants to mostly rest, somethings have such a big pay off it’s worth operating whilst at rest. Keeping the eyes protected from dirt and dust when you are unconscious and can’t avoid it with manoeuvring is of high enough value to expend effort keeping the muscles tense when sleeping.
Eyelids are naturally almost closed, as you can see from your example. As for why they are closed, for the purposes of eye health that’s the easiest solution. During the day you need your eyes open but not does this only exposed to dust and such, but to drying, which is the sure fire way for the eye surface to get damaged in time. That’s why you blink frequently, to restore the tear film that protect the eye and finetunes optics.
Lids being closed circumvents that (Though it does cause the eyes to get oxygen a bit poorly which lead to a slight swelling of the surface. This is why you can often notice your vision can be a little off in the morning.)
Sleep also activates the parasympathetic (rest state) part of the autonymous nervous system, which among other effects lightly closed your lids.
With all this said some people do not sleep with their lids closed. Sometimes it may be a habit, and ever their blinking is poor and it can be resolved with some mindful blinking to “teach” The system to act properly. Sometimes it can be a hormonal issue. Yet occasionally there’s no clear cause and the person needs to have their lids taped or wear special blindfolds to prevent issues.
If you’re curious about if you should have such an issue it is usually in line with common dry eye symptoms. An eyecare professional can also diagnose it with ease, incomplete lid closure awake or sleeping leaves a very distinct mark in microscope examination.
Your corneas will dry out without blinking. That is incredibly painful and rarely can get infected. Without healthy corneas your vision is in jeopardy.
Because your eyeballs would dry out and that would be painful. Try keeping your eyes open without blinking and see what happens.
>your body is usually relaxed but not tense
Sleep is an incredibly active process. Repair of muscle damage and clearing of waste in the brain are the two major things that come to mind, but no neurologist would ever say the body is dormant. Keeping the eyelids closed is one of those “the body does this while it sleeps as part of the process” things.
If your eyes are open, all the work for image processing is going to be doing work. If you close your eyes the work needed for image processing is vastly reduced.
Your body has two types of “moving”. As mentioned above things like your heart beating, breathing, your eyes; these things happen automatically. The other type is intended movement, like raising your arms.
The body, while asleep is active. It can theoretically do almost everything you can do while you are awake (including driving for example), even though most of the time it just stays still.
In the same way, the eyes can be opened and closed during sleep without disrupting sleep, however most of the time they are closed. Why is this? For protection from dust, to retain moisture and reduce sensory input to the eyes
Your eyelids are controlled by several muscles. One set opens the eyelids, the other set close the eyelid.
The close eyelid muscles (obicularis oculi) are not under conscious control, and are kept lightly contracted all the time. When awake the open eyelid muscles (levator palpebrae superioris) are strong enough to overcome the slight contraction and keep the eyes open.
So when those muscles relax when you sleep, your eyelid automatically close. Its like breathing.
Because having your eyes open that long without blinking would be horrible to your eyes.. imagine leaving a marker without a cap out on a table. It also protects our eyes from injury while we are unconscious, whether from you accidentally scratching your eye while you are asleep to an insect or something landing on your exposed eyeball. It also helps create a dark environment and helps relax the muscles in your face
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