please empty your brain below
Sleeping doesn't have to be a separate space. In a traditional Japanese building you sleep on a futon at night and roll it up out of the way during the day, and your bedroom might be separated from your living room by screen doors at night but opened up into a single big room in the day.

Lmm | 21.01.22 - 8:38 a.m. | #

Yes, it's all very disconcerting isn't it.

Sarah | Homepage | 21.01.22 - 8:43 a.m. | #

I have never slept 'properly' - always wake up two or three times every night.
Oddly, I slept best when working nights and slept 'solid' during the day. My dreams are crazy but true to their own internal logic - it still amazes me that not only I recall them but also their stunning detail, often remembering them for long enough to write them down.

Even odder, re-reading the notes brings back elements of those dreams. Most of my dreams are of movement or the means of it, going to or from somewhere, or preparing for those.

I've had nearly seven decades of poor sleep and have learned to live with it; magical and refreshing when it happens and when it doesn't I know I'll catch up.

Thanks for another viewpoint on this strange but necessary habit.

Joel | 21.01.22 - 9:09 a.m. | #

Good morning!
Sleep seems to require me to be physically and mentally tired - but just enough. Too much and one or the other contrives to keep me awake!
I would also sleep a whole lot better without my other half getting up to pee multiple times, snoring etc!

Cornish Cockney | 21.01.22 - 9:19 a.m. | #

There are some unfortunate people who cannot ever sleep.

Joho | Homepage | 21.01.22 - 9:39 a.m. | #

A fascinating essay.
I cannot sleep sitting up, not even a brief snooze. Whereas some people can. If feeling daytime sleepy, and no bed is available, I lie on the floor.

Malcolm of Kent | 21.01.22 - 10:03 a.m. | #

A timely post for me, given I had a dream last night in which, randomly, I met Val Doonican! I do think the best thing is never to "try" to go to sleep though, just imbibe the sensuous pleasure of being warm and immobile, and live in that moment.

cau1khead | 21.01.22 - 10:11 a.m. | #

A close relative was very recently diagnosed with severe sleep apnoea and now has a CPAP as a constant nightly companion to aid breathing.

What genuinely surprised me was the number of sleep clinics, some other countries seem to have even more of them than the UK. Definitely would have been regarded as exotic when I grew up.

Bottom line, it’s good that today’s health & care systems have options to help us improve our shuteye time.

commonliner | 21.01.22 - 10:36 a.m. | #

As a sign of the times I find myself increasingly trying to record dreams on a smartphone within the dreams, getting increasingly frustrated when this inevitably fails, then waking up and realising it was all in vain anyway - and trying desperately to hang on to the rapidly decaying vestiges of memory. I continue in my quest to invent a dream recorder (along with time machine, body rejuvenator etc).

Strabismus | 21.01.22 - 11:08 a.m. | #

I forget where I saw/read this but one theory about dreams is that they keep your brain busy whilst other parts of your body are resting because the brain needs less rest.

Well I think I read it somewhere. But maybe it was just a dream

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 21.01.22 - 1:36 p.m. | #

I learned something interesting recently: The 8 hour's continual sleep (or whatever number is the current fashion) is a relatively modern invention.
You'll sleep just as well in smaller intervals provided they're at least 1 1/2 hours (make it two to be on the safe side), long enough for a full sleep cycle. And it's been common to do so.

If only I could remember *where* I read (or heard) it. Could have been a BBC podcast, could have been one of various news / science web sites that I frequent.

K. | 21.01.22 - 7:46 p.m. | #

I feel that some day, when the aliens do arrive, it will be this blog post that allows them to defeat us in less than 48 hours. You said the quiet part out loud. Now I'll never be able to sleep.

Steven | 21.01.22 - 8:00 p.m. | #

Thank you for a beautiful take on sleep. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Ian | Homepage | 21.01.22 - 11:39 p.m. | #

A great post thanks. I am fortunate in that by ability to, and enjoyment of sleeping has increased over time. However a rotten or an exhilarating day I have had, curling up in bed is something I look forward to and enjoy.

If someone invented a means of not needing to sleep, promising that we could get twice as much done, I would quietly decline. The thought of not letting the brain go into the wonderful land of nod would not appeal.

NickW | 22.01.22 - 12:26 a.m. | #











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