# Do you sleep with Ear Plugs and/or a Sleep Mask?



## To22 (Apr 6, 2012)

Ear Plugs:









Sleep Mask:









I sleep with Ear Plugs almost everyday when at home. Sometimes I have a very hard time not focusing on noise when I'm trying to sleep. A Sleep Mask could be a good investment for me too. What about you?


----------



## Charmander (Sep 5, 2012)

None. And I've tried to sleep with a sleep mask on a few times but I've just found them too irritating, even on planes I've preferred to sleep without them.


----------



## To22 (Apr 6, 2012)

Charmander said:


> None. And I've tried to sleep with a sleep mask on a few times but I've just found them too irritating, even on planes I've preferred to sleep without them.


Yeah, a sleeping mask seems like it could be annoying, especially if you move around a lot.

I knew I should have made some kind of "only when traveling option".


----------



## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

I've never used either as I simply find them irritating. I think I'd have trouble sleeping with that plugged up feeling of ear plugs. I only use ear plugs (under muffs) on a gun range.


----------



## Amethyst Forest (Jul 29, 2012)

I need earplugs to sleep. I'm a very light sleeper, so every little noise such as the house settling, the A/C turning on and off, cars driving by, neighbors coming and going, etc will keep me awake/wake me up if I finally do manage to fall asleep without them. I also need the room to be pitch black or else I can't fall asleep, but I find sleep masks to be extremely uncomfortable and irritating, so I have blackout curtains on my windows. That being said, I can't fall asleep on planes, even on really long flights.


----------



## RadioactivePotato (Jan 6, 2013)

Neither, I find both annoying to sleep with.


----------



## alenclaud (Mar 31, 2013)

I've never tried the earplugs, but considered giving them a try, but now I'm not so sure.

The mask did the opposite of it's intended use for me.


----------



## Nekomata (Feb 3, 2012)

Don't use any. Probably should use earplugs when with other people sleeping in the room though.


----------



## farfegnugen (Aug 16, 2010)

The only time I really have a TV on is when I'm sleeping. It seems to drown out rhythmic background noise that sometimes keeps me up.


----------



## Sacrieur (Jan 14, 2013)

I can't sleep without earplugs.


----------



## kageri (Oct 2, 2014)

I take a sleep mask and ear plugs with me when I go places but I tend to pull stuff off in my sleep so long term it doesn't work. I have a black out curtain and my subconscious is great at defining sounds to wake up to versus sounds to ignore so I can sleep through screaming, yelling, dogs wrestling and sometimes landing on me but I'll wake up to a door opening quietly at the wrong time of day before my dogs bark or I'll sleep through my husbands 2 loud alarms going off repeatedly as he hits snooze for a half hour but wake up to a quiet beeping of my alarm. 

The fun is when I fall asleep with my glasses on and pull them off in my sleep. I'm legally blind without corrective lenses so I wake up going **** subconscious and if my phone is somewhere I can find the big, smooth, black object I one eye closed, better eye squinting with my phone just off my nose text my husband but it doesn't really do any good unless the timing is right and he can take a long lunch. Otherwise, I spend minutes to hours looking for the thin, shiny metal frame. They do have purple and brown on them but the specks are so small and mixed I can't pick up the color on the frame like I often use to identify most objects. I just have to turn on all light possible and look for it hitting the frame among everything else that reflects some light.


----------



## KILOBRAVO (Sep 17, 2011)

neither. i think a face mask thing would be really irritating


----------



## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

I used earplugs when I lived with roommates. Earplugs are rather annoying though. They irritate the ear canal after a few hours. And you can hear the noises inside your own body. Could never keep the earplugs in the whole night. End up consciously or unconsciously yanking them out.


----------



## RagnarLothbrok (Dec 16, 2016)

Nah, I use a white noise machine instead of earplugs because the street I live on gets extremely noisy at night.


----------



## doe deer (Oct 9, 2016)

earplugs give me a headache and complete silence makes me go crazy. i don't see the point in wearing a mask, just turn the lights off.


----------



## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

I have black-out curtains instead of a sleep mask, so I can sleep in the daytime.


----------



## Canadian Brotha (Jan 23, 2009)

I don't but I might depending on the circumstances. I'm one of those that usually has music or talk radio on when I go to sleep so generally I'm going for the opposite of absolute silence


----------



## Paul (Sep 26, 2005)

Never, just a white noise generator to drown out the creaking ceiling and traffic.


----------



## slyfox (Nov 18, 2007)

slept a long time with ear plugs but it seemed to cause me some problems after awhile. Can't remember the symptoms for sure. I think, while not wearing them, there was a pressure type feeling and pulses in my hearing. Could've been coincidence and I actually was sick at the time.

Either way, I just use fans now. I have trouble with sweating in my sleep anyway.

Tried a sleep mask in the past, but I always ripped it off my face while I slept. I don't do good with things on me while I sleep. That's why I have trouble using a cpap machine for my sleep apnea. I either rip the mask off while sleeping or get woken up by the increasing pressure. Recently had to wear a holter heart monitor and I ripped some of the electrodes off in my sleep. Aside from clothing, I just have trouble not ripping things off in my sleep


----------



## Kevin001 (Jan 2, 2015)

Nope


----------



## AllTheSame (Mar 19, 2016)

Neither...both sound really annoying, irritating. I bought an alarm clock with a sound spa about a year ago and it was almost life changing lol. I have very little trouble going to sleep now. Mostly I use the sound of waves crashing on the beach. And I swear I sleep better, and wake up in the middle of the night far less than I used to.


----------



## Crisigv (Aug 3, 2013)

I can't sleep with either of them. I've tried using ear plugs, but took them out pretty fast.


----------



## Blue Dino (Aug 17, 2013)

Nope. I did tried using sleep mask for a time. Never liked them. The idea that even if I gently opened my eyes, I will only have complete darkness makes me claustrophobic and ends up giving me trouble falling asleep ironically. Ear plugs never work for me. I don't like that obstructive feeling of something wedged in my ears. And being a side sleeper, it makes me ears uncomfortable when I am leaning on my side on them.


----------



## LydeaCharlotteGirl (Aug 27, 2013)

I began sleeping with ear plugs very many years ago (can't remember when) and have tried foam (doesn't keep out nearly enough noise), plastic swimming plugs (uncomfortable), silicone (has a nasty tendency to break up in your ears), wax (can also break, and gets horrid and smelly after a while). Now I use blu-tack! I always sleep with them if going to bed properly, but it has relatively recently become increasingly common for me to just fall asleep suddenly and wake up hours later (usually with the radio or television still on), so it doesn't always happen. 

I also always prefer to use some kind of sleep mask if possible, despite having heavy curtains with blackout linings. Perhaps I should make another mask out of a sock/elastic or buy another one. Currently I just tie one of my many scarves, headscarves, or throws round my head and move the knot to the side so it doesn't rest on the pillow and make it uncomfortable.


----------



## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

komorikun said:


> I have black-out curtains instead of a sleep mask, so I can sleep in the daytime.


 That's kind of what I tried to do but I ended up having to use two layers of curtains and a layer of blinds and the sun still comes through enough to be annoying sometimes.

Mostly it's just because I live on the ground level and I don't like the idea of people looking in. I miss when I used to live on 3rd floor and the windows were kind of high off the floor because you really couldn't see anything but the ceiling from the street.


----------



## I Beethoven (Mar 11, 2017)

I just use headphones and listen to ASMR videos, sad I know but when your lonely it helps.


----------



## 2Milk (Oct 29, 2014)

I sleep with earplugs.


----------



## tea111red (Nov 8, 2005)

ear plugs are too uncomfortable for me to be able to sleep w/ them in.


----------



## truant (Jul 4, 2014)

If I did that I wouldn't be able to hear or see the person trying to murder me in my sleep.

Irrational fears are why I can't sleep in the first place. :laugh:


----------

