Finding balance: How eye pillows enhance your well-being

July 9, 2023

Have you ever wondered what it is about using an eye pillow that makes them so relaxing? They are such a simple tool, and yet, the benefits they offer for your well-being are numerous. In this post, I’ll be delving a little deeper into the science behind them which is super fascinating, so join me and discover how eye pillows can help you find balance, find moments of calm and enhance your overall well-being.

How eye pillows enhance your overall well-being

The connection between the vagus nerve and relaxation

Let’s get a bit science-y… To explain the vagus nerve, I’m just going to go through the parts of the nervous system in general to better understand where it fits within the larger system.

Our nervous system consists of 2 main parts: the central nervous system (= the brain and spinal cord) and the peripheral nervous system (= all the neurons outside of the central nervous system). Then within those 2 systems, we have more nervous systems that regulate different aspects of our body, one of those systems is the autonomic nervous system (ANS) which is part of the peripheral nervous system. The ANS is a complex network of cells and it regulates the body’s unconscious actions that are necessary to support life, like: heart rate, breathing, body temperature, metabolism, …

Now, the ANS then also consists of 2 parts: the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).

The SNS puts us in fight or flight mode, it increases our heart rate, releases stored energy, widens the airways to make breathing easier and more to prepare us to escape danger. While the PNS does the exact opposite, it regulates our bodily functions when we are at rest, it assists the body with calmness, digestion, and relaxation. And this is where the vagus nerve comes into play.

The vagus nerve is the longest and most complex of the 12 pairs of cranial nerves that originate from the brain and it’s heavily involved with the parasympathetic control of the heart, lungs, and digestive tract. It passes through the belly, diaphragm, lungs, throat, inner ear and facial muscles. When these areas get stimulated to relax, then that influences the vagus nerve.

Our fight or flight response these days doesn’t just get triggered by threats in our environment like predators, but stressful aspects of daily life like work-related stress, financial worries, relationship problems, …  also trigger this response. If the SNS triggers the fight or flight response over long periods, this will result in chronic stress, eventually harming the body. So, it’s important to counteract this by triggering responses in our PNS/vagus nerve to make sure we give our body and mind the relaxation it needs and balance the fight or flight response.

How an eye pillow can help trigger the relaxation response

At the end of a busy day, it can sometimes be difficult to relax and keep our mind still, it literally just won’t shut up! In moments like those an eye pillow is a great aid, it blocks out all light and removes any visual stimuli. The light pressure it offers to our eyes and the area around them, helps the muscles in our face go into rest mode and relax. This tells our brain that it’s time to be still and signals are sent through the brain to the vagus nerve. As the nerve passes the diaphragm, our breaths become longer and deeper. This in turn will also reduce our heart rate and bring us to a state of calmness and of being ‘in the present’. Tensions are relieved, which in turn helps get rid of eye strain, headaches, and other discomforts we might be feeling due to stress.

Practices like restorative yoga (savasana) and meditation often incorporate the use of eye pillows because of the deepening effect they have on relaxation. And if you struggle with sleep, using an eye pillow before bed for about 10 minutes can help you to have a better night’s sleep as the mind & body are at rest.

I have been using eye pillows for my migraines, better sleep and as a meditation aid and have found they have really helped me. They are such a simple thing, but the way eye pillows enhance your well-being is truly amazing.

But… don’t just take my word for it, a very happy customer sent me this message when she started using one of my eye pillows:

“Loved using my eye pillow before bed last night. It forced me to lay still and take deep breaths and it helped quieten my busy mind. I fell asleep pretty quickly after using it and slept well! Can’t wait to use it again tonight!! Thank you”

Shop my eye pillows here

 

 

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