We could say our suggestion is quick, comfortable, and works better than something like a towel or shirt because it wraps around your head with a minimum amount of extra material.
Can’t say it’s dignified.
For a comfortable, dignified sleep mask, you’ll have to go to a store, order one online, or try your hand at sewing.
That means planning ahead and/or acquiring skill with a needle and thread.
Etsy is a good choice. When it comes to sleep masks, they have thousands of choices available.
Amazon is too.
This is a trick for when you’re in a bind
Keep this in mind for when you’ve got to sleep in a bright place and there’s no other choice.
One suggestion online—from a survival blog yet—calls for putting your wallet on your head to block out light.
I get how desperate someone can be to block light out when trying to sleep in the middle of a field, bus station, or airport. However, putting your wallet on your face where anyone can grab it—that’s nuts! There are better ways than running the risk of having someone snatch your billfold. The post said nothing about removing your ID, cash, or credit cards first.
Our quick and comfortable sleep mask beats a wallet, too. It won’t fall off your face as easily.
Two quick sleep mask options
If you have a cravat or bandana, make a blindfold.
This option has a knot on the back which isn’t a problem unless you sleep on your back.
However, a change of underwear is even more commonly carried than a cravat or bandana. If you don’t and you’re traveling (which seems to be the case when you’re trying to get some shuteye in the middle of the day in a strange place), take out a pair of clean underwear and put it on your head. Underwear is smaller than a t-shirt, fits over your head, and won’t bunch up in the back of your head or obstruct your breathing in the front.
Let me emphasize again that I didn’t say anything about dignified.
I also can’t promise you won’t end up on a viral social media post if you fall asleep in a public place with a pair of underwear on your head.
And I can’t promise that passers-by won’t wake you up to tell you that you have a pair of underwear on your head.
Maybe you can borrow a ballcap to put on top to sort of cover up the underwear on your head?
The key adjective here for the underwear is clean. If they’re not clean, well, the smell might bother you. I know it would bother me.
The bottom line is that sleep is a biological you need to keep you up at the top of your game.
Sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
And sometimes what you’ve got to do involves underwear.
Also on the blog:
James Cobb RN, MSN, is an emergency department nurse and the founder of the Dream Recovery System. His goal is to provide his readers with simple, actionable ways to improve their health and maximize their quality of life.
We use some affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission. This has no effect on our opinions.
At the same time, we ARE Amazon affiliates and that means that while you probably have some perfectly good underwear to use as an improvised sleep mask, we’re not above throwing a link to Amazon to make it easy to have you purchase some underwear to use as a sleep mask.