5 reasons you’ll want to wear a sleep mask
We all know that quality sleep is essential. Bad sleep can show on our faces making us look older and less healthy, and it shows in our ability to make decisions or recall information. Many of us have a sleep routine we do to prepare for bed to aid in sleeping well, sleeping better. From blue blocking glasses, scrunching our pillow just right, and taking a mineral supplements, there are several ideas floating around about what can make sleep better, deeper, more restorative.
According to a new study published in the journal Sleep wearing a sleep mask was an easy and inexpensive way to block sleep disrupting light and that can enhance sleep.
Why does blocking light at night matter? Exposure to light when you are sleeping affects sleep quality, and poor quality of sleep is implicated in several chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity and cancer. You think “well, my eyes are closed so I’m good” and that just isn’t true. Light that filters through your eyelids can be enough to suppress your melatonin and that can be disrupting your circadian rhythm and hormones.
Here are the top 5 reasons you’re going to want to wear a sleep mask:
1. Improves memory, learning and alertness
In the study mentioned above they found that those who wore a sleep mask had better sleep quality and this improved memory and alertness the following day. They were also better learners. That means less brain fog and remembering where you parked your car.
2. We make better decisions
When suffering from poor sleep quality our decision making abilities can be non-existent. We may eat too much, or the wrong things, leave our keys in the fridge, or we may drive when we are just too sleepy to do so risking lives, or forget to do something important like turn off the stove. Saying this another way, we make better decisions when we can think clearly and that happens when we are well rested.
3. We are nicer people
We are all grumpier when we are not well rested and I’m pretty sure none of us need a study to convince us of that, but there is research showing how moods are improved with proper light and darkness. Light at the wrong time in our 24 hours day can disturb the balance of our circadian rhythm and that has a cascade effect in how we feel. In fact, they even use light to reverse seasonal depression. Light is powerful and therapeutic.
4. Stay healthier and get sick less often
Our immune health is directly tied to quality of sleep. Studies show that people are more likely to get sick and stay sick longer when they do not have good quality of sleep. When we sleep our bodies build up our cytokines and antibodies that we use to fight illnesses. Lack of sleep means less cytokines and antibodies which means we don’t have enough to fight against any foreign invaders like a virus.
5. Easier to maintain a healthy weight
Two of the hormones that regulate appetite are ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is the hormone that tells us we are hungry and we need to eat. When we don’t get quality sleep we make more ghrelin and less of the hormone leptin that tells us we have had enough to eat. It is hard to override the signal of ghrelin in today’s world when you can have a deep dish pizza at your door in 20 minutes.
My favorite sleep mask is called The Sleep Sloth. It has contoured cups so there is no pressure on my eyes, and it lays properly around my eyes so blocks light leaks. It is about $10 on Amazon. I bought 2. I accidently lost mine on a trip, so when I replaced it, I bought 2. Now I have one that I use daily and an extra tucked into my cabinet for when I lose it again. It’s a good thing.
