What causes a puffy face?

A puffy face is almost always fluid that settled in your tissue while you lay flat for 8 hours. It collects in the loosest, thinnest-skinned part of you, which is why your eyelids go first. Salt, alcohol, allergies and a short night make it more obvious.

Fluid moves, so the same face can look swollen at 7am and normal by mid-morning. This article lists the causes roughly by how often each one is the culprit, and ends with the kinds of swelling that need a doctor.

Why does your face puff up overnight?

Your face puffs up overnight because lymph has no pump and lying flat takes away what moves it. Your lymphatic system collects fluid that seeps from blood vessels into tissue and returns it to your bloodstream. It moves because nearby muscles squeeze it along and one-way valves stop it going backwards.

Stand up and walk around, and the system runs all day. Lie down, and fluid settles according to where your body is lowest and softest. Your eyelids have the thinnest skin on your body, so they fill first, then the cheeks and jaw.

Each cause below either adds to the fluid or keeps it there longer.

How does sleep affect puffiness?

Sleeping face down or with your head flat is a reliable way to wake up puffier. The American Academy of Ophthalmology advises sleeping with your head slightly raised to stop fluid pooling around the lower eyelids. One extra pillow or a wedge is a low-effort change.

A short night shows in the face too, partly through fluid balance and partly through a tired-eye look that reads as puffiness. 5 hours of sleep and a late night do more visible damage than most things you could eat.

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Does salt make your face puffy?

Salt can make your face puffy, because sodium makes your body hold onto water. Cleveland Clinic lists salty foods such as chips, processed meat, cheese, canned soup and fast food among the everyday causes of fluid collecting in tissue.

Most of the salt isn't from the shaker. The NHS sets the adult limit at 6g of salt a day, about 1 level teaspoon, and says around three quarters of the salt we eat comes from packaged and everyday foods such as bread, breakfast cereals, meat products and ready meals. Cutting what you sprinkle on dinner changes little next to a week of sandwiches and takeaway.

A very salty evening produces a puffy morning, and one high-sodium day usually resolves within a day or two.

Why does alcohol puff your face?

Alcohol puffs your face because it stacks several causes at once. Cleveland Clinic lists alcohol overuse among the causes of fluid retention. A night of drinking also tends to bring salty food and a later, flatter night, so the next morning your face reads swollen and warm.

It usually settles over the day. Water, movement and time do more than any clever fix.

Do allergies cause puffy eyes?

Seasonal allergies can puff the eye area. The American Academy of Ophthalmology lists allergies among the causes of under-eye swelling and advises avoiding eyelid rubbing, especially during allergic reactions.

The rubbing creates a loop: itchy eyes get rubbed, rubbing irritates them, and the swelling and the itch get worse. If your puffiness is seasonal, comes with a blocked nose, or is worse on high pollen days, treat the allergy and not the face.

What else causes a puffy face?

Several other causes are worth ruling in before you reach for a technique.

• Medicines. Cleveland Clinic includes medication side effects among the causes of edema, and the NHS names blood pressure drugs, contraceptives and hormone therapy. If puffiness began when a prescription did, ask whoever prescribed it.
• Pregnancy. Both Cleveland Clinic and the NHS list it as a cause of swelling.
• Long stretches of sitting or standing. Cleveland Clinic lists these too, and a long flight is one unbroken stretch of sitting.
• Age. The weakening of tissue around the eye, which the American Academy of Ophthalmology links to under-eye bags, isn't fluid and doesn't respond to fluid work. What helps a jawline separates the layers.
• A cold, crying or recent dental work. All three are short-lived and need time and not massage.

What can you change?

Ranked by how much each changes for the effort, these are the levers:

1. Sleep with your head slightly raised.
2. Get upright and moving soon after you wake.
3. Watch packaged food before you watch the salt shaker.
4. Treat allergies properly in season.
5. Go easy on alcohol on the night before anything that matters.

The routine sits on top of this. Light massage speeds up the settling that would happen anyway, which matters at 7:15am on a Tuesday, and how to de-puff your face in the morning gives the sequence.

When should you see a doctor about facial swelling?

See a doctor if swelling is sudden, painful, red or hot to the touch, comes with a fever, or doesn't settle over the day. The NHS lists swelling that is severe, painful or starts very suddenly among the reasons to get urgent help, and Cleveland Clinic names severe pain, fever and shortness of breath.

Swelling of the face or mouth from an allergic reaction is a medical emergency, according to Cleveland Clinic. Call 911 and don't wait to see whether it settles. A face that has become steadily puffier over weeks with no obvious reason also deserves an appointment.

Nodi's sessions of 2 to 10 minutes give you something to do about a puffy morning, and we film each one with real hands on a real face so you can copy the pressure. Get the app.