# What is "sleep" (in your eyes) and why doesn't it accumulate while you're awake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 25, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-sleep-in-your-eyes-and-why-doesnt-it-accumulate-while-youre-awake/604068 "2011-11-25T18:34:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-sleep-in-your-eyes-and-why-doesnt-it-accumulate-while-youre-awake/604068/1 "2011-11-25T18:34:08Z")
What exactly is “sleep” made of? Mine is usually vaguely greenish and hard and clumped onto my lower eyelashes, (sometimes my upper lashes). What is it made of? Why does it only collect while I’m asleep and not while I’m awake? It’s not like I’m constantly touching my eyes to clear them while I’m awake or anything. Second question: is sleep the same stuff as “eye boogers” (the gooey, whitish-green stuff that you get in the corners of your eyes, day or night)? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-sleep-in-your-eyes-and-why-doesnt-it-accumulate-while-youre-awake/604068/2 "2011-11-25T18:37:55Z")
I think it’s mucus or something similar, and what you’re describing is the difference between the stuff when it’s wet (eye boogers) or dry (sleep). And the reason it doesn’t build up when you’re awake is that you’re constantly blinking it away. But I’m trying to find a cite for all that. EDIT: [Here we go. Man, does this stuff have a lot of names.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheum) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-sleep-in-your-eyes-and-why-doesnt-it-accumulate-while-youre-awake/604068/3 "2011-11-26T04:14:11Z")
Optiboogers … I think I will call it that from now on! 😃 I have chronic dry eye from some of the meds I take, so I get them forming day or night. I am frequently using synthetic tears to combat the dry eye. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-sleep-in-your-eyes-and-why-doesnt-it-accumulate-while-youre-awake/604068/4 "2011-11-26T04:40:44Z")
When I was a little kid, the stuff would literally glue my eyes shut during the night. When I woke up in the morning I would actually have to pry my eyelids open with my thumb and forefinger. Hurt like a bitch sometimes, too. Is that normal? I think it stopped happening when I was about ten or so. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-sleep-in-your-eyes-and-why-doesnt-it-accumulate-while-youre-awake/604068/5 "2011-11-26T04:57:10Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > When I was a little kid, the stuff would literally glue my eyes shut during the night. When I woke up in the morning I would actually have to pry my eyelids open with my thumb and forefinger. Hurt like a bitch sometimes, too. Is that normal? I think it stopped happening when I was about ten or so. That happens to me sometimes at the height of allergy season. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-sleep-in-your-eyes-and-why-doesnt-it-accumulate-while-youre-awake/604068/6 "2011-11-26T07:56:06Z")
It’s your eyeballs melting while you sleep. It means you think too much before you fall sleep. Either that, or the bedroom heat is turned up to high. Regardless, this is the proximate cause of myopia, astigmatism, and the need to wear reading glasses. In bad cases, you’ll literally wake up blind, clutching at runny orbs of goo that used to be your eyes. Or maybe it’s masturbating that causes it. I forget. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-sleep-in-your-eyes-and-why-doesnt-it-accumulate-while-youre-awake/604068/7 "2011-11-26T08:21:31Z")
Yo, **OpalCat** , this post might just as well go in your coinkidink thread because just yesterday when I woke up I had a good sized chunk of “sleep” in my eyes and immediately thought of [BOB LIND – “Elusive Butterfly”](http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/bob_lind/elusive_butterfly.html) lyrics where it goes: > [@](#): > > And if the sleep has left your ears > You might hear footsteps running through an open meadow and I was tempted to start a thread asking how many people actually get “sleep” in their ears. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-sleep-in-your-eyes-and-why-doesnt-it-accumulate-while-youre-awake/604068/8 "2011-11-26T15:57:31Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > When I was a little kid, the stuff would literally glue my eyes shut during the night. When I woke up in the morning I would actually have to pry my eyelids open with my thumb and forefinger. Hurt like a bitch sometimes, too. Is that normal? I think it stopped happening when I was about ten or so. That happened to me when I had pinkeye, so I know what it’s like and you’re right, it does hurt like a bitch. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-sleep-in-your-eyes-and-why-doesnt-it-accumulate-while-youre-awake/604068/9 "2011-11-27T14:26:57Z")
It happened to me once when I was majorly sick. It was the first and only time ever happening, and caused a major WTF moment. Everyone on campus was sick as balls, and apparently a lot of people were experiencing this for the first time. A friend of mine was mentioning the layer of slime that had sealed his eyes shut, and I was like, “Oh gods, yes! That happened to me, too!” Anyway, thanks for the link, **Marley**. Why does it weird me out that my eyes are secreting phlegm?\* \*I know, I know, it’s not actually phlegm, but still. Maybe I’ll start calling it eye phlegm. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-sleep-in-your-eyes-and-why-doesnt-it-accumulate-while-youre-awake/604068/10 "2011-11-28T08:30:08Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > When I was a little kid, the stuff would literally glue my eyes shut during the night. When I woke up in the morning I would actually have to pry my eyelids open with my thumb and forefinger. Hurt like a bitch sometimes, too. Is that normal? I think it stopped happening when I was about ten or so. That used to happen to me as well. I used to feel my way to the bathroom and bathe my eyes open with warm water over the basin. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-sleep-in-your-eyes-and-why-doesnt-it-accumulate-while-youre-awake/604068/11 "2011-11-28T16:44:27Z")
I rarely have more than a tiny speck of two of the stuff in the forward corners of my eyes when I awake, and it’s easily rubbed away. When I had pinkeye once, though, I had a lot more, and yes, it was wet and disgusting. Our cat often wakes with grit in his eyes. He always seems to appreciate it when I remove it for him as part of a good scratching. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-sleep-in-your-eyes-and-why-doesnt-it-accumulate-while-youre-awake/604068/12 "2011-11-30T19:42:01Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > That happens to me sometimes at the height of allergy season. For me, it was never that bad unless I had conjunctivitis. Gah-ross!! I’d have to stumble to the bathroom and press a damp washcloth against my eye to get it pried open.