Wearing an eye mask at night can improve your brain power
6/3/2024
Translation: Eva Francis
A standby light, the moon, a passing car – these kinds of light sources can affect your sleep. If you block out all ambient light, your sleep will improve and you’ll be more productive during the day. Fancy giving it a go?
You probably know eye masks from long-haul flights. Passengers wear them to block out light when they want to sleep. This helps the body rest, even if you’ve entered a time zone where the day has begun. Wearing an eye mask helps us fall asleep, as the body only releases the sleep hormone melatonin in the dark.
In your bedroom, there’s probably no aeroplane-related lighting or time lag. Nevertheless, wearing an eye mask can still have a positive impact. As a UK study recently showed, people who wear an eye mask to sleep are more alert the next day, react more quickly and show better memory performance.
The scientists attribute this to the fact that an eye mask reduces disruptive light sources. Complete darkness helps our body spend more time in so-called slow-wave sleep, i.e. deep sleep.
In addition, wearing an eye mask in bed signals to your brain that it’s the end of the day and time to relax and go to sleep.
How to find the right eye mask
If you’re looking to buy an eye mask, make sure it fits well and doesn’t let any light in. Eye masks made from fabrics that don’t make you sweat are a good choice. Silk or regenerated cellulose fibres, better known under the brand name Lyocell or Modal, are particularly suitable. Cotton isn’t great, especially for people with a tendency to sweat. Although cotton can absorb a lot of sweat, it only dries slowly.
Make sure the eye mask fits snugly on your face, but not too tight, as it might give you a headache. The adjustable strap allows you to fit the mask to the shape of your head.
Some masks feature eye cushions that are individually attached, allowing you to make them fit your eyes perfectly.
The shape of an eye mask is also important. The mask shouldn’t be directly on your eyes, but have crescent-shaped cut-outs or padded rings around the eyes. If there’s fabric directly on the eyelids, it can impact REM sleep. How come? In the REM sleep phase, we move our eyes under our eyelids and touching them would disrupt our sleep.
Speaking of touching, an eye mask collects sweat and skin flakes. That’s why it needs to be washed at least once a week. Most sleep masks require gentle hand washing.
How to get used to wearing an eye mask to sleep
Here’s some advice for eye mask beginners: your first few nights with a sleep mask will probably be less restful than you’d hoped. The body needs some time to get used to the new feeling. Even a perfectly fitting mask causes an unfamiliar sensation of pressure. You might even take the mask off without noticing while you’re asleep.
After a while, however, you’ll feel the positive effect. If you’re going on a long-haul flight or a holiday and want to wear a mask to sleep, start getting used to it a few days before you leave by wearing it in your usual surroundings.
Here’s our full range of eye masks.
Header image: Dagsmejan
Martin Jungfer
Head of Content
Martin.Jungfer@digitecgalaxus.chJournalist since 1997. Stopovers in Franconia (or the Franken region), Lake Constance, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Zurich. Father since 2014. Expert in editorial organisation and motivation. Focus on sustainability, home office tools, beautiful things for the home, creative toys and sports equipment.
