The journal

Weighted eye mask benefits: how they help you switch off

by Ezra Shevick 4 min read

Weighted eye mask benefits: how they help you switch off

Your body is exhausted. Your mind is still on. You turn out the light and your head keeps running through tomorrow.

A weighted eye mask helps your body settle, which is the part of falling asleep you can't force. It works in four ways: gentle weight, darkness, a familiar scent, and warmth or cool when you want it. Here's what each one does, and what the research says about it.

Gentle weight helps your body settle

The first thing you notice when you put the mask on is the weight. Ours is filled with New Zealand grown flaxseed (some people call this kind of mask a flaxseed eye pillow). The seeds shift to follow the shape of your face, so the weight spreads evenly across your brow and cheekbones. Your eyes sit in the hollow between the channels, with no pressure on your eyelids.

Gentle, even pressure is known as deep touch pressure. It is the same idea behind weighted blankets. A 2024 review of weighted blanket studies found that most of them showed better sleep quality, along with fewer negative feelings and daytime symptoms. Those studies looked at blankets, not eye masks.

Our customers put it more simply. "The light pressure from the weight forces you to relax," one wrote. Another described "a feeling as though my eyes are getting a hug."

Darkness tells your body it's night

Your body takes its cue for sleep from light. In a study of 116 adults, ordinary room light in the evening delayed the release of melatonin, the hormone that tells your body it's night, in 99% of them. It also shortened how long melatonin lasted by about 90 minutes.

Blocking that light helps. In a sleep lab study, people wearing eye masks and earplugs spent more time in REM sleep and had higher melatonin levels than when they slept with the light and noise. A review of 13 hospital trials found that eye masks alone improved how well patients said they slept.

All of that depends on the mask actually keeping the light out. Ours is deliberately oversized, temple to temple and brow to cheekbone, and the weight settles the edges against your face. It blocks out all the light, in any sleeping position, side sleeping included. More on darkness and sleep in Does blocking light improve sleep quality?

A familiar scent becomes your cue to wind down

We mix dried lavender flowers through the fill. You smell them most when you first put the mask on, and then the scent fades into the background. "Not overpowering, just enough to relax you," as one customer put it.

In a sleep lab study of 31 young adults, lavender oil scenting the room at bedtime increased deep sleep. That study used essential oil, which is far stronger than dried flowers. Scent also works as a habit. Smelled at the same point every night, it becomes a signal that the day is done. I give mine a good smell before I put it on.

If you'd rather have no scent, there's a Without lavender option.

Warm or cool, depending on the night

Because the fill is natural, you can warm the mask in the microwave or chill it in the freezer.

Warmth brings relief and soothes tired eyes. In a small study, a warming eye mask helped people fall asleep faster than an unheated one. That mask held a steady temperature, while ours cools gradually as you wear it, so think of the warmth as part of winding down. "A special kind of relaxing when you have heated it," one customer wrote.

Cool works the other way. A cool compress helps reduce puffiness, so the freezer suits warm nights, or soothing tired eyes after a long day of screens.

How to get the most from it

  • Put it on at the same time each night, as the last step before sleep.
  • Wear it all night, or just until you fall asleep.
  • Warm it when you want to unwind. Chill it when you run hot.

For fit, warming times and care, see How to use a weighted eye mask.

What it won't do

A weighted eye mask won't knock you out, and it won't undo a late coffee. It takes away the light and gives your body the same calm signal every night. Used that way, it becomes part of how you switch off.

Common questions

Do weighted eye masks help you sleep?

Darkness is the best-supported part. Eye masks have improved sleep in clinical trials, and light in the evening delays melatonin. The weight adds gentle pressure, which most people feel as calming straight away.

Does a weighted eye mask press on your eyes?

Ours doesn't. It rests on your brow bone and cheekbones, and your eyes sit in the hollow between the channels.

Is a weighted eye mask better than a regular sleep mask?

A regular mask is lighter and easier to pack. A weighted one adds gentle pressure and settles closer to your face, so it keeps out more light. If you want something light that still uses natural materials, the Linen & Wisewool™ Sleep Mask weighs very little and is washable.

To see what goes into ours, read What's inside our Weighted Eye Mask (and what isn't). The Weighted Eye Mask is handcrafted in our Auckland, New Zealand workroom, comes in four colors, with lavender or without, and every one has a 30-night sleep trial.

Sources

More from the journal