Want to be more alert at work or in school? Scientists found that the simple gesture of wearing an eye mask during overnight sleep improves cognitive function and enhances a person’s level of alertness the next day.

想在工作或学习中更清醒吗?科学家们发现，在夜间睡觉时戴上眼罩这个简单的动作,可以改善认知功能，并提高第二天的警觉性。

In a study published in the journal Sleep, a team of researchers sought to determine the benefits of wearing eye masks while sleeping. According to them, since ambient light can influence sleep structure and timing, they decided to examine how an eye mask that blocks light affects memory and alertness.

在《睡眠》杂志上发表的一项研究中，一组研究人员试图确定睡觉时戴眼罩的好处。根据他们的说法，由于环境光线会影响睡眠结构和时间，他们决定研究遮光眼罩如何影响记忆力和警觉性。

“We explored how wearing an eye mask to block light during overnight sleep impacts memory and alertness, changes that could benefit everyday tasks like studying or driving,” they wrote.

他们写道：“我们研究了在夜间睡觉时戴眼罩遮光如何影响记忆力和警觉性，这些变化可能有利于学习或驾驶等日常任务。”

The team conducted two experiments. The first one involved 94 participants aged 18 to 35. They wore eye masks during overnight sleep for a week and did not wear any the following week. After collecting data, the researchers found that the participants had superior episodic encoding and improved alertness during the week when they used the masks.

研究小组进行了两项实验。第一个项目涉及94名18至35岁的参与者。他们在一周的夜间睡眠中戴上眼罩，并在接下来的一周完全不戴眼罩。在收集了数据之后，研究人员发现，在戴眼罩的一周内，参与者的情景编码能力更强，警觉性也有所提高。

For the second experiment, 35 participants aged 18 to 35 used a wearable device to monitor sleep with and without the masks. The team observed similar memory encoding benefits.

在第二个实验中，涉及35名年龄在18岁至35岁之间的参与者,使用可穿戴设备监测戴眼罩和不戴眼罩的睡眠情况。研究小组观察到了类似的记忆编码的好处。

“Sleep is crucial for alertness and for preparing the human brain to encode new information. However, it can be disrupted by external stimuli such as light or sounds. This study explored wearing an eye mask as a potential cognitive enhancer which protects overnight sleep by blocking ambient light,” the scientists explained.

“睡眠对警觉性和人脑对新信息的编码至关重要。然而，它会被外部刺激，如光或声音破坏。”科学家们解释说:“这项研究探索了戴眼罩作为一种潜在的认知增强剂，可以通过阻挡环境光线来保护夜间睡眠。”

They continued, “We found that wearing a mask increased alertness and facilitated the encoding of novel information the next day. Furthermore, the benefit to memory was predicted by time spent in slow-wave sleep while wearing the mask. This suggests wearing an eye mask during sleep is an effective, economical and noninvasive behavior that could benefit cognitive function and lead to measurable impacts on everyday life.”

他们继续说道：“我们发现，戴眼罩可以提高警觉性，并有助于第二天对新信息进行编码。此外，戴眼罩时，人们花在慢波睡眠上的时间又对记忆力有好处。这表明，睡觉时戴眼罩是一种有效、经济、无创的行为，可以有益于认知功能，并对日常生活产生可衡量的影响。”