Ask Marilyn

My husband sleeps with his eyes open, and it creeps me out! Is he really asleep?

—Brittany Lohmar, Los Angeles, Calif. When we sleep, we don’t see or respond to external stimuli. But as we can sleep without actually closing our ears, we can sleep without closing our eyes, although the sleep is likely of poor quality. One can manage to disengage from visual input— consider hypnosis and selfinduced trance states—but for sleep, closed eyes are certainly preferable. For Valentine’s Day, you should buy him a contoured sleep mask that allows him to keep his eyes open under it. (How romantic!) It could benefit you both.