2 changes I made to improve my sleep: darkness
I’m splitting the “2 changes” into two posts, part I and part II. It’s been a busy couple of weeks. I’m sure you can relate.
This is part I.
Sleep is important.
“Sleep is essential to every process in the body, affecting our physical and mental functioning the next day, our ability to fight disease and develop immunity, and our metabolism and chronic disease risk,” according to the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
I take a quick look at my sleep stats most mornings in the Whoop app. I’ve always been a sleeper, so sleep quantity —> getting 7-9 hours of sleep has never been an issue.
I may have been the only college student who never pulled an all-nighter. I knew my brain function would be worse-off overall, including recall of the material I’d learned just from attending classes, if I didn’t get the sleep my body was used to.
But I do have sleep issues.
One is being able to fall back asleep after waking up to go to the bathroom. This is typically in the 3:00 am range.
This has gotten better and has mostly become a non-issue since I left the corporate world. The work stress is gone. But other things have also changed since then. Diet quality has improved a little (more home-cooking). Exercise has improved a lot. Causation is hard to prove.
Sleep quality, which is the time spent in deep sleep and REM is still an issue. Of the two, my primary issue is deep sleep.
If you wear a device that tracks “restorative sleep” —> deep sleep and REM, you may be aware that the target is
40-50% of total sleep time spent in the restorative sleep phases of deep sleep and REM, according to Whoop.
For 8 hours of sleep, that’s 3.2 - 4 hours in deep sleep and REM.
So when I check my Whoop app in the morning, I’m looking for restorative sleep anywhere north of 3 hours.
Now you know the problem I was trying to solve.
My Whoop restorative sleep data, October 14-20
Here’s part I of what I did.
I bought a sleep mask.
I wear it every night. I travel with it. It’s become an integral part of my routine.
Until a few years ago, I didn’t know anyone who wore a sleep mask. When I saw someone on television wearing a sleep mask, I couldn’t imagine it would be comfortable enough to work for me. I was wrong.
What caused me to pull-the-trigger on buying a mask was a long weekend at my cousin’s house. Both my cousin-in-law and my cousins’ daughter (AKA cousin once removed, I googled it) wear sleep masks. Fun fact, a visit to their house is also the reason I finally pulled-the-trigger on an air fryer.
The difficulty in starting a new routine is often day 1 — getting started. Jumping off the cliff, whatever your favorite metaphor.
The purchase.
I believe I have a sensitive head. Real or imagined, it doesn’t really matter, when the topic is sleep masks.
The first sleep mask I tried was from Amazon. I knew immediately when it arrived and I put it on that it wasn’t going to work.
Call me high-maintenance, but I didn’t like the smell and I didn’t like the components of the mask. There was too much going on. I didn’t like how it felt on my face. If it feels like I want to take it off immediately, I’m not going to wear it.
I decided to go with a silk sleep mask. I spent about 15 minutes looking at options from a Google search, and I landed on Drowsy. (no affiliation)
I like this sleep mask because of its minimal design. It’s one long piece of fabric with a velcro closure. Fewer components to bother my (real or imagined) sensitive head.
It also washes well. That’s important to me. I’ve been using the same mask for 15 months. It’s held up great.
Getting used to it.
Even though I liked this one right away, it still took 3-5 months for the sleep mask to become something I don’t want to be without. If you wear a mouth guard at night, you know the feeling.
One issue.
I don’t know if it’s the padding inside the silk, or what’s going on, but wearing the mask feels like I’m in a warm cocoon. That’s nice for the cold winter months, but I wish it emitted less heat in the warmer months. Maybe it’s just me.
What do the experts say?
“Pitch darkness reduces potential distractions and disruptions to sleep.
Research demonstrates that closing your eyes isn’t enough. Your eyelids can’t block sufficient light. The effects on circadian rhythm can occur even with low levels of indoor light and closed eyes,” according to the National Sleep Foundation.
In addition to sleep quality, there are other reasons research indicates that it’s best to sleep in pitch darkness:
Eye strain
Weight gain
Cancer risk
[source]
I’ve been wearing the sleep mask one month longer than I’ve been using Whoop, so I don’t have pre and post-mask sleep data to share.
Have you tried wearing a sleep mask to improve your sleep quantity and/or sleep quality? Let me know!
Thanks for reading!
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