Wanted: Sleep Solutions STAT

Lately, I’ve taken to saving articles I’m too tired to read for a later date. The topics of the articles? How to get a better night’s sleep! Ironic, no? I’m too tired to read articles about how to get enough sleep! So, sadly, I remain a woman seeking sleep solutions STAT!

Among the articles I’ve saved:

“Could Magnesium Be the Secret to Better Sleep? Here’s What to Know”

“What Is Biphasic Sleep and Is It Healthy for Humans?”

“Re-create Your Best Vacation Sleep at Home with These 13 Hotel Pillows”

I’ve even saved an article about going on a sleep vacation. Now, this is sad! When I was young, I used to scorn the idea of going on a vacation to “relax.” To me, vacation was all about new sights and sounds. It was about cramming in as much activity as possible. Now, suddenly, the idea of going away, shutting the door, and just sleeping sounds like Heaven! Man, I am getting O-L-D!

Sleep Solutions Stat

Some swanky hotels provide sleep “concierge” services that offer a menu of sleep aides including sleep-inducing meditation recordings, pillow options for guests who prefer to sleep on their back or side, weighted blankets, specialty bedtime teas, and scented relaxing pillow mists.

Other resorts have gone a step further. For instance, the Mandarin Oriental, Geneva has joined up with CENAS, a private medical sleeping clinic in Switzerland, to create a three-day program that studies guests’ sleeping patterns to identify potential sleeping disorders. I dunno. The couple of times I traveled to Switzerland I overloaded on fondue and slept like a baby, bloated but blissful! Of course, that was back in the day when I was such a sound sleeper I once slept through an earthquake!

Fancy Pillows?

As for all those fancy lux concierge-provided pillows, generally, I find them too big and bulky for my tastes and achy neck. Usually, I wind up throwing them on the floor. Instead, I find comfort and sleep by rolling up a bath towel and tucking it under my neck! I guess I’m just a peasant at heart. (But what do I know? I buy pillows for $10 or less at Target.)

Here at home, Handsome Hubby and I begin each day comparing sleep notes, determining how much — make that, how little — sleep each of us has gotten. We’re the original romantic duo alright; him with the RLS, Restless Leg Syndrome; me with sleep apnea. I guess that makes him Kicky and me Choke-y. Maybe the Seven Dwarves would like two apprentices or two relief miners, so they could go on a sleep vacation? (Or perhaps they sleep-adverse given Snow White’s poison apple-induced long slumber?)

Anyway, you get the point, we are a sleep-deprived, baggy-eyed, grouchy twosome.

Zombie Nation

I take small comfort in knowing we are not alone. Statistically speaking, much of America suffers from sleep problems. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that 40% of the over 2,500 adults who participated reported a reduction in their sleep quality since the start of the pandemic.

Happily, I may have found sleep “salvation” thanks to the “Nap Bishop” aka Tricia Hersey. who preaches a gospel of rest and divesting from societal pressures.

Hersey, with almost half a million followers on Instagram plus more on other platforms, stages group naps and daydreaming events around the country!

Her primary point is that the work world pushes us all to the max and that we need to slow down.

Viva Napping!

While I’m not into collective siestas, I am decidedly pro-napping! I’ve been a napper all my life. Blame it (and I gratefully do) on my parents. They had me late in life during the heyday of their high-living years when they stayed out socializing with friends. Wanting to sleep late, they had my babysitters keep me up late too. They also encouraged my napping ways!

Now, a middle-aged muddler, I still nap most days. The sleep apnea problem has acerbated the need to nap but I don’t mind. It’s actually the best sleep I get and I pity the phone caller who interrupts my mid-day slumber! GRRR and grumble.

Sleep Solutions Reading Material

Nowadays even my book-buying habits are shaped by my desire for better sleep. Recently I bought Sleep for Success. I can’t tell you if it’s any good yet. Like with all those articles I’ve collected, I keep falling asleep before getting very far into the book! Now, if only I could sleep through the night!

Hopefully, this blog hasn’t put you to sleep, and also, you don’t suffer from nighttime sleep woes!

Sweet dreams,

Karen