For many people, waking up feeling tired is an all-too-familiar feeling. Whether you are pulling long hours at work, suffering from insomnia or losing sleep after becoming a parent, it can be frustrating to never feel fully rested. In particular, the tired feeling in your eyes can be very unpleasant. Switching from contacts to prescription glasses can help make your eyes feel more comfortable.

Unfortunately, that won’t stop your eyes from being puffy and tired. Sadly, this telegraphs your exhaustion to everyone else. While there is no replacing a full night of rest, if you want to at least get rid of those bags under your eyes, you are in luck. The following remedies will help you cure those puffy eyes.

1) Apply a Cold Spoon

Applying a cold compress can help reduce inflammation and get rid of that puffiness beneath your eyes. A couple of metal spoons work very well for this. Take two of them and place them in the refrigerator for a few minutes. Then, lie down and place the chilled spoons over your closed eyes.

Lie like this for at least 10 minutes. Try to use the time to relax both physically and mentally (if you are very tired, consider setting an alarm just in case). The coldness of the spoons will cause the blood vessel around your eyes to constrict. After the 10 minutes are up, you should notice significantly less swelling.

2) Try Some Tea Bags

Some chilled tea bags are also a great option for treating the inflammation around your eyes. Caffeine is a diuretic that will reduce puffiness by constricting the blood vessel. Add this to the coldness and you will see some great results.

Soak your tea bags in warm water for a few minutes (you don’t need to brew tea, just get rehydrate the dry tea leaves). Then, place the tea bags in the refrigerator for a few minutes to chill. Finally, lie down and place the tea bags over your closed eyes for about five minutes.

3) Do a Cucumber Spa Treatment (At Home)

You may be familiar with using cucumber slices for eyes as a spa treatment. Of course, you can do it at home as well. Since you will probably be doing this in the morning, you will likely need to already have the cucumber. Place it in the refrigerator if it isn’t there already.

When it is chilled, slice a couple of pieces and place them over your eyes. The antioxidants in cucumber will help reduce irritation and the coolness will lessen the puffiness. Ideally, you should do this for about 30 minutes while relaxing. This is a slower option, but it is also a nice way to pamper yourself.

4) Cover It Up

Sometimes you have very little time and need a quick solution. While it may not be perfect, covering your puffiness up can help. Plus, you can always use this in combination with other techniques.

For example, you could grab your prescription safety glasses instead of your contacts. As mentioned above, this is usually easier on tired eyes. Additionally, the frames help obscure any bags under your eyes a little.

Makeup is also a popular solution. You don’t need to use anything fancy. Even just some tinted moisturizer or eye cream can help to blend in the dark circles and bags.

5) Massage Around Your Eyes

If you are short on time or don’t have other supplies, consider running your fingers under cold water then massaging around your eyes. Start in the inner corner of your eye then slide your fingers along the skin to the outer corners while pressing down.

This helps to drain the fluid from beneath your eyes. It will also cool down the area, reducing puffiness. Keep in mind that your fingers will heat up quickly, so you may need to run them under the water a few times.

6) Make Some Lifestyle Changes

The best way to address your tired and puffy eyes is to change some of your lifestyle. Obviously, the best thing you can do is get additional rest. However, the problem isn’t always sleep-related. You may want to cut down on sugar, stop using hair spray and switch to a hypoallergenic face cleaner.

While taking care of tired and puffy eyes with the above methods is fine every so often, none of these other tips are addressing the core problem. The only way to consistently avoid tired eyes is to treat yourself better.

Get the Right Glasses

One way you can be kinder to your eyes is to get the right prescription glasses. If you have an outdated prescription or scratched, damaged glasses, you may be straining your eyes unnecessarily. Marvel Optics has a large catalog of frames to choose from, so you can be confident that you will find something you love. Check out our options today.

Paul Petersen