What blinking tells you about your health

UF Health Podcasts

Blink once if you can hear this. Blink twice if you want to know what your blinking says about your health.

All of us blink on average 14 to 17 times every minute, according to the Cleveland Clinic. That means if you were to sleep 8 hours at night, you would blink somewhere between 13,000 and 16,000 times a day.

Blinking serves several purposes. It keeps the surface of our cornea clean and protects our eyes from approaching objects.

However, a change in your blinking habits might point to a health problem. Slow or infrequent blinking can be an early sign of Parkinson’s disease. Several studies have found that the rate of a spontaneous blink aligns with the activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. The lower our dopamine level, the more we fixate on one object and the less we blink.

Conversely, increased blinking indicates sleepiness. Those who are suffering from pain or experiencing very bright lights blink more frequently.

Excessive blinking often occurs when our body attempts to overcompensate for dry eye disease, such as Sjogren’s [show-grins] syndrome. Dry eye disease is common for those who use screens at work.

Experts encourage you to adopt a “blind working” technique to give your eyes a break. Blind working involves closing your eyes during brief breaks in your workday, such as during a telephone call or waiting for a program to load on your computer. This approach combats the effects of heightened screen time, which is known to damage the glands that keep our eyes healthy.

After all, life goes by in the blink of an eye — or two — so be sure to protect them.