Having ‘panda eyes’? Puffy eyes or dark rings are often a result of your body being tired, an allergic reaction or simply because you’re ill. No matter what caused your chronic eyebag, having them will make you look tired and ill, which is not desired if you need to look sharp for that crucial business meeting or when you’re on a hot date.

While you do need to focus on the reason for your puffy eyes – as they’re a symptom of an underlying problem – you can take steps to improve the look of your eyes. There’s no need to invest in expensive medication or constantly seek help from medical experts.

These seven home remedies have been used for years – in some cases centuries – to help improve the look of the eyes. They’ll work for redness, puffiness, and black circles under the eyes.

Cold tea bags

The great thing about this remedy is that there’s no waste! After you’ve drunk your cup of tea, pop the bags into cold water and then remove them to slightly dry them out.

The benefits from tea bags come from both the cold temperature and the tea itself. This method is especially beneficially if you opt for green tea bags instead of black ones since there are more healing properties in green tea.

Let’s start with how the coolness helps. When any part of your body is inflamed, it can end up hot and sore. You want to relieve the burning sensation, and that is just what the coolness of the tea bag will do. When you relieve the heat, you can help to reduce the swelling in the eye bags. The cold will help to dilate the blood vessels, pushing them further down into the body so that your eyes can stop swelling as much.

Green tea is full of antioxidants. Your skin will soak them in through some of the cold liquid, helping your immune system fight off whatever reason your eyes are swelling up and burning. Even if your swelling isn’t due to an illness, the antioxidants will help to reduce the inflammatory response that has occurred, helping to keep the puffiness to a minimum. The caffeine in the tea will also help to reduce the swelling and help soothe the skin under your eyes.

Place the tea bags over your closed eyelids and leave for 10-15 minutes. Repeat this a few times throughout the day, as often as you feel the burning need relieving. You should find the puffiness reducing throughout the day and into the first week of using them.

Do watch out for the tea. You want to avoid getting it in your eyes as it can cause irritation. Rinse out the eyes with cool water after using the tea bags.

Keep hydrated

Inflammation can occur when the body is dehydrated. Your body retains water, and this can happen all over. Of course, it leads to the unsightly problem of puffy and red eyes.

Your eyes will also be affected by dehydration. Your body takes fluid from wherever it can, which leads to dry eye and irritation. As you rub your eyes – admit it, we all do this at times – they become more irritated and start to redden and inflame.

The best thing you can do is make sure your body is as hydrated as possible. Try to drink at least 8 glasses of fluid throughout the day – no, this doesn’t have to be plain water! If you are ill, have exercised, or it’s hot, you will need to intake a little extra water to replenish the fluids that you are losing.

You can work on this by drinking a full glass of water before each meal. This won’t just keep you hydrated, but will also help you feel fuller before your meals. You’ll eat fewer calories, helping you to lose weight, which could contribute to inflammation in the body.

Try to avoid carbonated or caffeinated drinks. They dehydrate the body further. Water is the best, but green tea, cordials, or green smoothies can help you get the fluid intake.

Also, keep the amount of salt you must a minimum. High sodium levels in the body dehydrate you and lead to water retention.

Place cucumbers on your eyes

How many times have you seen people use cucumbers while wearing face masks? This isn’t just something quirky. The cucumbers have healing benefits for the eyes for multiple reasons.

Let’s start with the hydration. Remember the fact that dehydration causes inflammation? Well, cucumbers are mostly made up of water. When you place them on the eyes, your skin can soak in the water directly in the area that needs help.

At the same time, cucumber juices have anti-inflammatory properties. The juices will encourage your body to reduce the swelling, helping you to see results by getting rid of the puffy eyes instantly. The juices also have skin tightening benefits. As you get rid of the puffiness, you can be assured that there isn’t any loose skin to form drooping bags, which tend to look worse than the red puffiness in the first place!

Make an egg white face mask

There is a ton of protein in eggs that your skin around the eyes will benefit from. In fact, the skin across your whole face will benefit from an egg white face mask as the skin cells will rejuvenate better through the addition of protein. The muscles tighten, and the tissues strengthen.

You only need to use the egg whites for about 15 minutes on your face. When the egg whites dry and pull the face in, it also moisturises the skin. Place your cucumber pieces over your eyes at the same time to add the benefits of both ingredients for your eye bags.

Wash off the egg whites with some lukewarm water. This helps to prevent the pores opening too much and the skin getting loose again.

You will need to use an egg white mask daily for a few weeks to see all the benefits. Once your eye bags disappear, it’s worth using the face mask on a weekly basis at least to help keep the skin tight.

Daily facial exercises

There are muscles on your face and they also need a workout – just like other muscles in your body. But of course, facial exercises are more like facial massages, which help to relax and improve blood circulation. Best part of facial exercises – you only need about 20 minutes and you can do this anytime, anywhere.

To improve your eyebags, simply concentrate more on the exercises around your eye area. Click here to view the full facial exercise.

Apply aloe vera

Aloe vera has become much more popular in recent years. It’s known as a powerful weight loss tool, but also offers various other health benefits. One of the health benefits is the reduction of inflammation.

It’s the oils that you’ll mostly use from the plant. They are traditionally added to cream, which is then applied topically to the area that you want to improve. Aloe vera creams and oils make excellent night masks if you want to sleep through the work.

One of the benefits is in the vitamin E in the aloe vera. It helps to repair the skin cells and supports the tissues. This works with the antioxidants to help support the immune system and reduce the inflammatory response. Make creams help to reduce wrinkles and fine lines, reversing the signs of aging.

You’ll also improve the blood flow to the eyes, especially if you massage the oils gently into the skin. Good blood flow helps to reduce inflammation around the area and will improve the tightness of the skin.

Change the way you sleep

The best remedy is still good ole ‘beauty’ sleep and if you’re tired despite sleeping 8 hours, it might be the quality of sleep or the position you sleep in that is affecting you.

When you sleep on your front or side, gravity will start to pull the fluid into your body downwards. While the blood keeps flowing, there will be more in the parts of the body that are closer to the ground. That means your eyes start to gain more fluid retention.

If you lie on your back, you get rid of the issue with gravity. The fluid is pulled away from your eyes and into the back of your head and body instead. There is more surface area for the fluid to spread out.

You can also help to keep the fluid away from your face by sleeping slightly upright. This is an excellent position if you have trouble breathing while sleeping. Gravity can’t pull your tongue back, causing a potentially blocked air pipe.

If you do struggle to sleep, it’s worth considering why that is. Unfortunately, no matter how much you try other home remedies, the eyes will suffer if you don’t get a good quality night’s sleep.

Time to try them!

Now it’s completely up to you. There are many home remedies that you can try to get rid of the eye bags and puffiness. Some of them can even be used together if you want to improve the look of your eyes quickly.

There are some more long-term efforts. This is especially the case with facial exercises and better sleeping positions. They’re worth the effort, but you need to start creating a habit right now.

While you focus on how to get rid of the eye bags, you can look at the reasons for the eye bags appearing. There will be an underlying reason. It could just be alack of sleep or poor quality sleep, which we’ve touched on with the sleeping positions. However, often, puffiness is due to some sort of allergy or immune response. Get to the bottom of it, and you won’t have to keep using home remedies to tackle the problem.

Article adapted from Positive Health Wellness.

Photo credits: Pixabay and Positive Health Wellness