It seems that many people are having trouble sleeping these days, or rather, nights. It is common to hear people comparing stories of what they do when they wake up in the early hours of the morning, and find themselves unable to get back to sleep. Everyone has their own remedy for breaking the pattern. Some say they eat toast and have a cup of tea, while others get up and walk around for a while then go back to bed and pretend they are just going to sleep for the first time. Counting sheep is synonymous with insomnia, and the idea is to picture sheep jumping over a stile one by one, and getting so bored doing it, that you fall asleep again. It usually works if you just think of something really boring, like a conversation about babies' bowel movements or which washing powder washes whites whitest and such inanities.
Although my sleep pattern has vastly improved through considerable effort to change the way I think about life and what really matters, I still wake up on occasion. For me, the solution is tea and Sudoku or one of those nice big blockwords from the You magazine, although lately I have taken to doing some blogging or other writing. There is a peacefulness about the aloneness of the early hours that is rather enchanting, particularly if you are able to step outside and gaze out into the universe.
But it occurred to me today, as I lolled on the couch (now that I have control of the remote again), that the very best way of going back to sleep is to turn the TV on. It's a surefire way to switch your brain off and keep the chatter at bay. I can barely watch an entire episode of something I really, really am interested in, and I always miss the middle of a movie - it must be watching flickering pictures that sends me straight to sleep. It surely can't be age related!
The trick is to have a TV that turns off as your eyes close.
No comments:
Post a Comment