Sweet Sleep

For years I've had trouble sleeping. I would sometimes surrender to those little blue, over-the-counter sleep aids from Walmart if it was impossible to get my racing mind to stop taking laps around the days activities. Some nights I would just channel surf into the early hours of the morning, every so often looking over at Brenda as she peacefully slept. I am jealous that she can just close her eyes, hit the pillow and fall fast asleep.

Last week Betsy let us borrow a little sleep machine that they weren't using. When we got home and plugged it in, I was skeptical that the sounds on this little machine could help me over this dreaded problem I've had for so long. When we were kids we would put a portable fan in our room, not so much for the cooling factor but more for the sound it made. It helped us sleep. This little sleep machine sounds like that fan. The next morning I woke up feeling refreshed--that crazy machine actually worked. I have used it every night for a week now and it has never failed to help me fall asleep, and stay asleep for eight hours. Brenda is the real winner here!

I learned some amazing facts from the National Sleep Research Project about the importance of a good night's sleep:

-The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which sleep-deprivation played a role.

-Tiny luminous rays from a digital alarm clock can be enough to disrupt the sleep cycle even if you do not fully wake. The light turns off a "neural switch" in the brain, causing levels of a key sleep chemical to decline within minutes.

-Ten per cent of snorers have sleep apnea, a disorder which causes sufferers to stop breathing up to 300 times a night and significantly increases the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.

-Snoring occurs only in non-REM sleep.

-Teenagers need as much sleep as small children (about 10 hrs) while those over 65 need the least of all (about six hours). For the average adult aged 25-55, eight hours is considered optimal.

-Some studies suggest women need up to an hour's extra sleep a night compared to men, and not getting it may be one reason women are much more susceptible to depression than men.

-Experts say one of the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet.

-The extra-hour of sleep received when clocks are put back at the start of daylight in Canada has been found to coincide with a fall in the number of road accidents.

Even though we sleep for one third of our lives, the quality of life during those other two thirds are attributed to a good night's sleep. I'm gonna keep that little machine by my be for as long as Betsy and Adam can do without it. I wanna be ready just in case someday I am asked to fly the Challenger or operate an oil tanker. It's not cool when you fall asleep on the job in those situations!