There’s a whole ‘war’ that goes on with our peepers during our snoozing.
There is truly no greater joy than getting into bed after a long day at work, drifting off to the land of nod.
However, waking up the following morning is not so fun, especially when you drag yourself out of bed, take a peak in the mirror and find a load of gross yellow goop in the corners of your eyes.
It’s a pretty universal experience, yet while we’re all used to just wiping it away and pretending that the human body isn’t totally disgusting, not many of us really know what that ‘yellow sleep’ actually is.
After a TikTok user shared the truth behind why we get it, people have been left in sh0ck.
“If you have ever woken up in the morning and you have some crust on your eyes,” Andrew Huberman explained. “And you know that crust, that kind of yellowy stuff, sometimes it’s yellow, I know this is kind of gross.”
He continued: “That’s actually dead bacteria that your eyes have successfully defeated during your night’s sleep.
“So when you wipe those away, you’re taking the casualties of a war that you won during your night’s sleep and you’re whisking those away.”
Yep, the eye produces a small amount of oils and mucus to stay moist and, as you don’t blink when you get some shut-eye, the discharge can collect in the corners.
It can take a variety of different forms with the most common being crusty, sticky, thick, thin, white, clear, or slightly yellow.
People were mind-blown when they found out the reason behind the crust, taking to the video’s comment section to share their thoughts.
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One said: “I refuse to lose even when I’m sleeping.” Another user rightly commented: “Starting the day with a victory.”
A third user said: “When I was in kindergar[t]en i put them in my tea,” followed by a skull emoji. We don’t even know what to say to that one.
Now, while eye discharge is totally normal and shouldn’t be a cause for concern, if you eye has lots of sticky yellow pus on the eyelashes, this can be a sign of conjunctivitis.
The eye condition is caused by infection or allergies and while it usually gets better in a couple of weeks without treatment – it’s still a right pain to deal with, making your eyes red, burn, itch and feel gritty, as well as producing pus that sticks to the lashes.
In order to help ease the symptoms of conjunctivitis, the NHS recommends:
– Wash your eyelids with clean water. Boil the water and let it cool down, then gently wipe your eyelashes with a clean cotton wool pad to clean off crusts (1 piece for each eye).
– Hold a cold flannel on your eyes for a few minutes to cool them down.