I was actually looking for information on hangnails because I get so much and wanted to do something about them, but then I came across interesting information about why we blink. I’ve never thought about that before, but come to think of it, why do we blink? There must be some kind of benefits for us because it’s hard not to blink when we try. So my question of the week is “why do we blink?”
Why Do We Blink?
Did you know that an average adult blinks about 10 to 15 times every minute!? I’ve never realized how much we blink…
According to Go Ask Alice! blinking keeps our eyes clean and moist. When we close they eyelids, three different types of fluid coat the eyeballs. First fluid is tears that are released by the tear glands in the eyes. Second fluid is lubricating oil that is produced by sebaceous glands found between each eye lash that keeps tears from evaporating too quickly. That sounds so interesting… And the third fluid is mucus that further lubricates the eyes and helps tears adhere to the surface of the eyeballs. These fluids help flushing out dirt and other things that get in the eye.
Blinking also protect the eye from objects entering into the eye. We blink with instinct for this reason when something moves quickly toward our faces. It is all about protecting our eyes!
Another interesting information I found about blinking is that it is also connected to our concentration and information processing. When we are in deep concentration, we blink much less than when we are not concentrating. That is because we can “forget” to blink when we are focused on a task even though muscles that control blinking can relax so quickly that it does not obstruct our vision. Not blinking can cause gritty, tired eye feeling, and our eyes become dry and itchy. Therefore, when our eyes feel too tired from studying or writing papers, we just may need to blink a few times!
Facts About Tears!
So, tears seem like the most important thing to protect and keep our eyes clean, and serve many other functions. But why are tears so important?
According to Wikipedia, there are three types of tears; basal tears, reflex tears, and physic tears. Basal tears keep our eyes wet, nourished, and clear of dust. This is the kind of tear we produce when dust enters the eye, and also when we are fighting against bacterial infection. Reflex tears results from irritation to the eye by particles or substances such as onion vapors, tear gas, or pepper spray. These tears help to wash off the substances from the eye. Physic tears, another words crying, is due to strong emotional stress or physical pain. These tears have a different chemical make up than the other kinds of tears; it has connection to the part of brain, the limbic system which is involved in production of basic emotions.
The physic tears, emotional tears, are believed by many as a unique human phenomenon, possibly due to humans’ advanced self-awareness. However, some studies suggest that elephants and gorillas cry as well.
*Pictures are taken from www.zblob.com/eye.jpg, journals.concrete.org.au, and
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