There is a lot of chatter out there about sleep. A lot of worry and anxiety! People say – \u201cI can\u2019t get to sleep!\u201d \u2013 \u201cI wake up at two in the morning and toss and turn for hours!\u201d \u2013 \u201cI don\u2019t get enough sleep. I doze off in meetings.\u201d That sort of chatter.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s nothing new, according to historian Amanda Foreman. Worries about sleeplessness even kept ancient Egyptians up at night. In fact, some of their methods for treating insomnia are still in use today \u2013 Lavender oil and chamomile tea, to name two.<\/p>\n
Medical commentators ramp up the issue on TV all the time. They claim the average American doesn\u2019t get enough \u201cgood\u201d sleep. We are advised to turn off the TV, black out the room, read, take a bath, and wind down.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t have a sleep problem. Like a lot of old coots, I sleep like a baby. I wake up every two hours, roll over and watch TV. But it\u2019s not a problem. I take naps to make up for it. It\u2019s my favorite pastime. Sometimes I don\u2019t even realize I dozed off. <\/p>\n
Put me in a movie theater or in front of a TV and I zonk out. When I come back to planet Earth I\u2019ve missed 20 minutes of the storyline. That\u2019s when I drive my wife nuts, and all the people around us, with a game of 20 questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is that guy with the gun?\u201d \u2013 \u201cDid the woman in red have a baby?\u201d \u2013 \u201cWhy is that old man in jail?\u201d A chorus of \u201cSHUT UPS\u201d leaves me in the dark. Later, someone will ask, \u201cHow did you like the movie?\u201d I reply, \u201cI\u2019m not sure. It was kind of disjointed.\u201d <\/p>\n
I\u2019ve tried all the tricks to get a good night\u2019s sleep or to get back to sleep. I have a collection of sounds on my iPad – thunderstorms, ocean waves, night birds, breezes, winds, and even wild winds. One thing I haven\u2019t tried is a warm cup of milk before bedtime. It\u2019s what my mother did with us when we were kids. It worked.<\/p>\n
Stephen King published a great book called \u201cInsomnia.\u201d The main character woke up (and couldn\u2019t get back to sleep) earlier and earlier every morning. He eventually only got a few hours of sleep. It took me more than a year to finish the book. The old guy with the affliction made me feel as tired as he was. I couldn\u2019t get through ten pages without dozing off. Probably something you do after the second paragraph of one of my old coot articles. Glad you made it all the way through this time. <\/p>\n