Naturally stimulate melatonin production with darkness using a sleep mask

On the benefits of wearing a sleep mask in bed

Jan. 24, 2020 - Willem L. Middelkoop

Over the past few weeks I have been experimenting with wearing a sleep mask in bed, blocking all light. Our bodies produce the sleep hormone, melatonin, in darkness. Living in an environment awash in artificial light, is therefore exactly the sort of thing that disrupts one's circadian rhythm. Can a simple mask help?

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Pavlovian response: my body knows it's time to sleep when I put my mask on - zzzzz

The Mindfold sleep mask: total darkness with your eyes open

Average heart rate variability (HRV) during the same night shows a steady increase (and recovery)

Heart rate graph shows a near flat line, very close to my minimum rate (collected with Biostrap)

Wearing a sleep mask, you can see the mask takes the shape of my head

The soft foam conforms to your face for maximum comfort and darkness

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Articles (148)

2024-03-24 Half Marathon
2024-03-05 No, I Won't Build That!
2024-02-16 Vision Pro
2024-01-16 Health and fitness data
2023-12-15 Backup Rotation Scheme
2023-11-10 Apple Watch as Phone
2023-11-01 And... there is light!
2023-10-14 Giving AI Training
2023-10-13 Hello, stranger
2023-08-23 The Same, Differently
2023-05-31 Impact of training
2023-05-08 Tablet as Tool
2023-05-03 Using AI to generate code
2023-05-01 Working Offline First
2023-04-20 Tips for Long-Distance Cycling
2023-04-05 Cutting Cloud Costs
2023-02-08 Back to the University
2022-12-22 Rolex DateJust 36
2022-11-01 Moving to the countryside
2022-10-23 MUSE in Carré
2022-09-15 The Ultimate Freedom Bike
2022-09-11 Computer says no
2022-07-30 CAPTCHA Alternative
2022-07-17 Offline Music
2022-04-18 Snake '97 High Scores
2022-01-14 Wearing WHOOP 4.0
2021-12-09 For the love of mini
2021-11-19 Escaping the flat tires
2021-10-25 Using Google Free Android
2021-09-30 Inspiration from a child
2021-08-31 Protecting VMware ESXi
2021-07-13 The birth of a child
2021-06-30 Migrating to the Cloud
2021-06-05 Wearing Grand Seiko
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2020-07-09 Repairing a Giro AEON bicycle helmet
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2019-07-16 Limitations of sleep tracking using a wearable
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2017-12-02 Commuting by bike
2017-11-15 Collecting health data with Biostrap
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2017-09-14 Saving a MacBook Air with exploded battery
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