Why You Need a Therapeutic Sleep Mask in Your Bedtime Routine

First things first, we need to emphasize why sleep is so important. Getting a good night's sleep isn't just about closing your eyes when you’re tired. It's essential for your overall health.

While you're sleeping, your body is hard at work repairing cells, boosting your immune system, and even helping you remember things better. So, never underestimate the power of a good night’s rest.

But getting good quality sleep isn't a walk in the park. Many factors can prevent you from drifting off and staying asleep, including stress, too much screen time or even your bedroom setup. And sleep deprivation can bring on many health issues like heart disease, diabetes and depression.

A therapeutic sleep mask is a simple, non-invasive sleep aid tool that may significantly improve your sleep quality. It keeps you in comfortable darkness while soothing discomfort.

As we mentioned earlier, therapeutic sleep masks do more than block out light when you sleep. They’re designed to provide relief for certain health conditions, depending on their therapeutic component.

Unlike regular ones, a therapeutic sleep mask is often filled with materials like gel or beads. These materials can either be cooled or heated to provide relief. Some masks are even weighted to provide gentle pressure.

Now one thing to note here is that most therapeutic masks weigh more than average sleep masks. Especially one that’s weighted. If you’re not used to sleeping with weight on your eye area, we recommend using them for naps or before bedtime.

Therapeutic sleep masks keep you in comfortable darkness while soothing discomfort.

It all boils down to the effects of touch and temperature. Therapeutic sleep masks with cooling or heating elements are designed to soothe your eyes, among other benefits.

On the other hand, therapeutic weighted masks work by stimulating pressure points around your eyes, promoting a sense of calm and relaxation.

Finally, therapeutic sleep masks also block out light — a key factor in sleep quality. Light tells your brain it's time to be awake. Meanwhile, darkness does the opposite while triggering the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone.

By blocking out light, a sleep mask helps you drift off faster and stay asleep longer. It helps your brain understand that it's time to get some shuteye.

Let’s take a look at the 3 types of therapeutic eye masks in the next sections.

A cooling sleep mask is packed with cooling gel or beads that gives your eyes some serious relief. Here’s what it does:

• Numbs the pain and eases the swelling of sinusitis and migraines

• Soothes eye itchiness from allergies

• Eases swelling and redness from pinkeye and styes

• Refreshes tired skin in the eye area

• Reduces puffy eyes

All it takes to get the benefits of a cooling eye mask is to pop it in the fridge or freezer for a set amount of time. Then, place it over your eyes and secure it around your head. Think of it as a refreshing cold compress, minus the inconvenience of dripping.

Why not consider our version of a cooling sleep mask?

Manta COOL Sleep Mask

This near-blackout therapeutic eye mask has eye cups that contain cooling beads. They have a weighted component to deliver cold compression therapy to your eye area. All you need to do is place the cups in the freezer for at least an hour.

"My husband bought me the cooling eyes manta mask for Christmas! On Christmas Day our 5 year old autistic son got so sick and ended up in the ER from vomiting blood and being dehydrated. Later that night at home he spiked a 105 fever and had a horrible migraine where he was crying and grabbing his eyes. I grabbed the mask and put it on him and it instantly calmed him down. The weight of the mask and the cooling soothed his migraine and sensory issues right away and also helped bring the fever down from that dangerous level. I’ve never been so thankful for a Christmas gift that came in handy so quickly. Thank you for such a great product and for helping me care for our son when he was miserable. I guess I’ll have to get him his own mask since he will probably continue to steal mine 😉"

— Mary D.

On the flip side is the warming therapeutic sleep mask. Like its cooling counterpart, it’s also filled with gel or beads. This little gem is ideal for relieving symptoms of various conditions. Here are its benefits:

• The best heated eye mask for dry eyes soothes and hydrates

• Loosens the crust of pinkeye

• Allows pus to drain from a chalazion or stye

• Eases symptoms of blepharitis and MGD

• Provides relief from eye strain

Depending on the mask, activating its heating component is as simple as microwaving it for a few seconds.

The heat from the mask leads to better blood circulation around your eye area. And it also promotes relaxation. So, Why not give our warming eye mask a shot?

Manta STEAM Sleep Mask

Like our cooling therapy eye mask, this one offers a near-blackout experience. It contains self-hydrating beads that release 100% steam. Expect to feel relief in just 3 to 5 minutes.

Helps with dry eyes related to Lasik

"I purchased this mask when I was desperately looking for relief from dry eyes that occurred after I had Lasik surgery. I was using the artificial tears 6+ times per day and was still having issues with dry eye pain, like the gritty feeling, and blurred vision due to dry eyes. After using this mask there is a noticeable difference in the moisture of my eyes. I tried one day not using it and was back to the drops 6 times that day. Also, I suffer from chronic migraines and headaches and the heat is very relaxing at the end of the day when work stress has me tense and I've been staring at a computer all day. 10/10 would buy again."

— Caitlin C.

Weighted Therapeutic Sleep Mask

Finally, we come to the weighted therapy sleep mask. Think of it as a weighted blanket only it’s for your eyes. The weight provides gentle pressure that does the following:

• May ease stress and anxiety through Deep Pressure Therapy (DPT)

• May soothe migraine and sinusitis by massaging pressure points

• May ease insomnia by helping you relax before bedtime

Weighted therapeutic sleep masks are usually filled with beads. The mask shouldn’t be too heavy. And its weight should be evenly distributed to provide comforting pressure around your eye area.

That said, allow us to introduce you to Manta WEIGHTED Sleep Mask.

Manta WEIGHTED Sleep Mask

This 100% blackout sleeping mask is filled with glass beads. It comes with eye cups that have indentations so you don’t feel any direct weight on your eyelids. The weight is evenly distributed to gently massage the pressure points around your eye area.

Why haven’t I found this sooner???

"So I was a bit of a skeptic when it came to finding out about this but I decided to pull the trigger and I’m glad I did. I do work that involves me going out of city and away from my bed so rest is kind of hard for me to come by. With the gentle pressure of the mask, it gave me enough relief so 30 minutes felt like 4 hours."

— Lawrence W.

Finding the Right Therapeutic Sleep Mask for You

Well, it all depends on your needs. To determine which therapy eye mask is best for you, we’ll summarize what we talked about in previous sections.

Use A Cooling Therapy Sleep Mask When:

Wear A Heated Therapy Eye Mask When:

• You suffer from dry eyes

• You have pinkeye

• You have a chalazion or stye

• You need soothing from blepharitis and MGD

• Your eyes are strained

• You need to relax

Use a Weighted Therapy Sleep Mask When:

• You’re stressed

• You have a migraine or a sinus headache

• Your anxiety leads to insomnia

• You’re feeling extra low

To cap this off, a therapeutic sleep mask is more than just your average sleep aid. It’s among the best sleep masks out there. Whether it’s a cooling, heated, or weighted mask, you're sure to reap the benefits of better sleep and then some.

So why not give sleep mask therapeutics a shot? Try incorporating therapy eye masks into your bedtime routine and see the difference.

Let us know which therapeutic works for you and how it helped you. Drop a comment below.