Wish to be more alert at work or in class? Scientists found that the easy gesture of wearing a watch mask during overnight sleep improves cognitive function and enhances an individual’s level of alertness the subsequent day.
In a study published within the journal Sleep, a team of researchers sought to find out the advantages of wearing eye masks while sleeping. In response to them, since ambient light can influence sleep structure and timing, they decided to look at how a watch mask that blocks light affects memory and application.
“We explored how wearing a watch mask to dam light during overnight sleep impacts memory and application, changes that may benefit on a regular basis tasks like studying or driving,” they wrote.
The team conducted two experiments. The primary one involved 94 participants aged 18 to 35. They wore eye masks during overnight sleep for every week and didn’t wear any the next week. After collecting data, the researchers found that the participants had superior episodic encoding and improved alertness in the course of the week once they used the masks.
For the second experiment, 35 participants aged 18 to 35 used a wearable device to observe sleep with and without the masks. The team observed similar memory encoding advantages.
“Sleep is crucial for alertness and for preparing the human brain to encode recent information. Nevertheless, it may possibly be disrupted by external stimuli corresponding to light or sounds. This study explored wearing a watch mask as a possible cognitive enhancer which protects overnight sleep by blocking ambient light,” the scientists explained.
They continued, “We found that wearing a mask increased alertness and facilitated the encoding of novel information the subsequent day. Moreover, the profit to memory was predicted by time spent in slow-wave sleep while wearing the mask. This means wearing a watch mask during sleep is an efficient, economical and noninvasive behavior that may benefit cognitive function and result in measurable impacts on on a regular basis life.”
Previous sleep studies showed good sleep is important for the healthy functioning of the brain and body. Lack of quality sleep can negatively affect an individual’s alertness in the course of the day. Some research found that ambient sources of sunshine disrupt and affect sleep, making the brand new study relevant to the current and helpful for future sleep research efforts.
“Wearing a watch mask overnight will be an efficient and cheap solution for improving and profit cognitive performance,” study writer Viviana Greco, a Ph.D. candidate at Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, told PsyPost.
The Researcher freelance associate editor added, “Our results talk about improved response times and improved memory performance. The implications of our results are significant on many daytime tasks like driving a automobile or any educational or cultural context that requires learning.”