Association of sleep and sleep disorders with glaucoma

Abstract

The hormone melatonin plays a role in our natural sleep-wake cycle. Natural levels of melatonin in the blood are highest at night. Aqueous flow has a distinctive circadian rhythm, being lower at night than during the day. IOP fluctuates in a rhythmical diurnal pattern and this fluctuation is greater in eyes with glaucoma. Sleep apnoea is a type of sleep disorder breathing that causes intermittent pauses in breathing during sleep, leading to transient nocturnal hypoxia and hypercapnia. Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is one of the systemic risk factors for glaucoma which causes irreversible visual field (VF) damage.