The Surprising Benefits of Sleep Masks

Watch the video on TikTok

Transcript

Should you wear a sleep mask even if you don't have problems falling asleep? Or is it just a waste of time and comfort? Lots of studies show the benefit to ICU patients, which makes sense given that environment. But now researchers tested them on young people sleeping in their own homes, measuring both the direct effect of masks on sleep quality and the impact on memory and alertness the next day. Welcome back to 30 studies to change your life. Sleep week. Last time we covered how any light in your room can mess with your sleep and activate your sympathetic nervous system, the fighter flight response. to control. Maybe your partner has a different sleep schedule or is afraid of the dark. A sleep mask is like turning the lights off in your brain's bedroom. This study had people go through periods wearing a sleep mask, no mask, or a mask with eye holes cut out of it. To duplicate the feeling of it on your face, but to light in life. They measured sleep quality with an at-home EEG and gave morning questionnaires and cognitive tests. Turns out wearing the real sleep mask didn't affect their total time asleep and had no effect on self-reported alertness. That's like asking your drunk friend Steve if he thinks he's okay to drive. Let me go finish my board. Sure enough, the objective measures told a different story. Wearing a sleep mask led to better performance on the memory and attention tasks the next day. And the memory performance was positively correlated with the amount of time spent in deep sleep, which could indicate an increase in slow wave brain activity during that time. By and all the verdict? If your room is not pitch black, get a nice sleep mask. Even if you don't think you need it. I've tested a lot of them, so let me know if you want some recommendations.

Additional notes

do you wear a sleep mask? What's your favorite? #sleep #science #sleepscience #sleepmask #onthisday

References