Sleeping better

Sleep is mostly a lighting problem. Once the room is actually dark, a lot of other complaints quietly sort themselves out, which is why the bulk of today's finds are, in one form or another, blindfolds.

The Loop Eclipse sleep mask is built for the specific annoyance of fabric pressing on your eyelashes, with a contoured shape that stays off the eyes while still blocking light from the sides. It's aimed at side sleepers and frequent travellers, the people for whom a flat mask is a nightly negotiation. Compare more sleep masks.

For children who need convincing that bedtime isn't a punishment, there's the purple unicorn sleep mask, a travel-sized mask built around a shape kids actually want to put on their face. Novelty is doing real work here. The best sleep masks.

Same logic, different animal: the big-eyed cat plush sleep mask trades the eenhoorn for a wide-eyed kitten in soft polyester, meant for car trips, flights, or just a dark bedroom at home. Comfort for the child, slightly surreal for anyone glancing over at nap time. Compare more sleep masks.

Adults who've decided they're serious about this might look at the Strex 3D ergonomic sleep mask, a memory foam design shaped to block light fully without resting weight on the eyes. It's the version of a sleep mask that's stopped pretending to be a simple strip of cloth. The best sleep masks.

And because one child's sleep mask always seems to go missing right before a trip, there's the two-pack of koala sleep masks, grey and purple, which at least solves the problem of having a spare. Compare more sleep masks.