I’m not sure why it happened, but it happened: I am a person who wears a sleep mask.
Not all the time — just when I sleep. And after about a year or so of sleeping with a sleep mask on, I find it almost impossible to sleep without wearing one. I need it to be dark when I sleep. I need to check out, go away, be in the state of sleep, not in the state of waking. I need darkness.
When I was a kid, sleep masks were so weird. Well, they were either weird or glamorous. You’d see them in movies, sometimes; Audrey in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, probably a lot of Bette Davis movies, etc., and that was glamourous. But there were other cultural cues that sleep masks were weird. I can’t think of any right now, but for a kid, it’s like, “Why are you putting on a blindfold at naptime??”
Oh, kid. If you only knew how badly adults need naptime and how much we want to be unavailable for comment while naptime is taking place. Blindfolds are good at communicating “I am unavailable for comment.” The sleep mask is that blindfold play — and I’m hooked.
I have a lot of eye masks/sleep masks/blindfolds. I’m becoming a connoisseur, you could say. Some are foamy. Some are silky. Some are cheaply made and don’t work very well; others are expensive but can’t work that much better than a regular old blindfold, can they?
All I know is that if I don’t “put on my eyes,” as Nick* puts it, I can’t get — or stay — asleep. Lucky for me, a sleep mask is pretty easy to get and maintain as part of my sleep hygiene.
It could be worse.
What if I needed to put on a chicken costume to fall asleep? How weird would that be? I’d have to travel with it! I’d have to get it cleaned and repaired. Every night. A chicken costume! A sleep mask doesn’t seem like a big deal, you know? When you put it that way.
*Nick is back. I am glad.
Jo
I love my sleep mask.
Barbara
Who is Nick?
Lynn
Love my sleep mask! Don’t sleep as well without it.
Patricia Gottshalk
Lack of sleep will stunt the growth of creativity. Wear the mask you have a responsibility to your public.
Carol F
My 5-year-old granddaughter loves her sleep and doesn’t think it weird at all. She marches to the beat of her own drum and so should you!
Marcia Hicks
Mary,
I have been using a night mask for several years now, can’t sleep without one, or as you say not very well in any case. I’ve discovered a new and improved version, it’s called the Night Hood! It makes one look like the old man in “The Night Before Christmas” poem-as in ma in her kerchief and I in my cap, complete with tassel and all! But it’s the cats meow of nightcaps! You pull it down over your eyes and off to slumberland you go! Made of the softest material and hugs the head ever so gently. Comes in three colors, black, grey and burgundy. I stepped out and got the burgundy, just in case I run into someone I know on the way to the loo!
Judy D
Nick!! more please
Connie
I also need more Nick info. I searched his name; looks like he started appearing in your blog in January and again in February and is very handsome. More, more!
Bob Collis
I don’t have the mask, but I gotta have the ear plugs!
Kathie Hood
When wandering last weekend in the Hood River Valley of Oregon I came across a Lavender Farm that had opened before the buds had opened and yet they were serving Lavender Lemonade and haad some of the most lovely sleep masks with lavender buds in the filling. Imagine sleeping with the fragrance of lavender and the sweet dreams it might bring. So, Maryanne, what a wonderful gift for your lovely daughter but a couple of dream makers one for Mary and another for her most mysterious Nick…….maybe even add some lemon to the lavender…..
Linda
I have the chicken suit for you in the event the mask routine fails.
Just let me know!
Linda the Bag Lady
Annie
When I was in for rehab for a hip replacement…I could not have survived without a sleep mask and ear plugs! Especially the 11-7 shift…they act like it’s the middle of the day! Lights out and be quiet so I can sleep!!!
I don’t use one but we do have room darkening shades!
Jan
Linda the Bug Lady: I laughed right out loud to see that a bug lady has a chicken outfit! The irony! We had three chicks hatch today, fewer bugs on the ranch. Jan, Hugs from Sacramento.
Koojie
I tend to sleep on my stomach mostly – I have tried wearing one, but in a couple of hours it moved to the back of my head and I had the band over my nose and eyes! I can’t help it – I’m a fidget! Although very handy in an aeroplane and even then, with the “do not disturb” sticker on it, the flight attendant shook my shoulder and asked if I wanted breakfast! Nooooo! Lemme sleep – hard enough in the uncomfy seats as it is – sadly not first class seats!