We all rub our eyes when we are tired, or frustrated, or just out of habit. Knowing what happens when you do it and how you can get rid of this bad habit is essential to not only your eye health, but your overall health as well.

Nothing startles, quite like the feeling of looking in a mirror and finding a pair of red, bloodshot eyes, looking back at you. The most frustrating part is when you haven’t particularly done any strenuous activity to cause that redness. The good news is that in most cases, the cause of red or irritated eyes is harmless and can be treated relatively easily.

At one point or another, most of us have experienced red, bloodshot or itchy eyes. If the whites of your eyes, otherwise known as the sclera, are noticeably reddened, there could be several potential causes.  Some of the most common causes include inflammation, broken blood vessels, infection, allergy or trauma.