Crew Wellness: Sleep Mask

 

I discovered sleep masks a few years ago.  They work great.  I always keep one in my bag when I'm on the road.  When I wear one sleeping in the day, I have no difficulty sleeping until my alarm wakes me up.  It's amazing how well it works.

It is often difficult to get sleep when working on movie.  The schedule often changes daily with call times typically being early on the first day of the week with them shifting later as the week goes on.  Call times in the mid-afternoon or even later are common by the end of the week.

I need 8 to 9 hours of sleep to be at my best.  A big problem with getting enough sleep is staying asleep during the day.  Our body's detect daylight even with our eye's closed.  Hormones are release to wake us.  (Our body's are amazing in complexity and design.)

To prevent our body's from waking too soon, it is essential to be in a dark room without any daylight.  Unfortunately, most rooms are not dark enough.  The eye mask tricks the body that it is night allowing it to stay asleep.

You can purchase inexpensive ones, like the one in my picture above, at most pharmacies.

 

PS:  Noise during the day is sometimes a problem, too.  White noise is helpful, like a fan or AC blower.  I've put my wireless noise canceling earbuds in before with no music playing.  They work great keeping out noise but they are are not comfortable for long periods of time. 

 

PPS:  A great NPR story about how light effects our sleep:

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/12/17/1139780998/light-brain-circadian-rhythms-blind