Why does shutting your eyes give relief when tired?

It gives your eyes a rest, do you wear glasses or should you?

@Tropical_Willie I have glasses for watching numbers on television.

Maybe time to see if you need new glasses.

Your eyes have lots of small muscles that move it from side to side, and help adjust the lens, and so on. There are a whole bunch of additional things going on as well, ranging from adjusting to light sensitivity, blinking, staying moist, clearing the tear ducts, and similar things that are not directly involved with seeing.

The muscles work hard. But they need to rest from time to time, too. Closing your eyes, or covering them with a cloth, lets those muscles relax.

My guess is most people can’t sleep with their eyes open. Closing your eyes is part of the process to fall asleep. It’s part of the relaxing process for your brain to go into sleep mode. The brain waves change.

Ok discovered that way that sunlight is better than dark. Going for a walk helped.