The above question is not asked in the vein that you may be a party to an unknown crime committed recently but in the normal sense as how do you actually slip into oblivion for a better part of an eight-hour stretch?
Most of us at one time or another have trouble sleeping like a baby. Honestly, those who sleep like a baby are the babies themselves. Nature is on their side. Nature however seems to have abandoned us on the wrong side of the bed by the side we skip past the 30-year mark.
Then there are those who brag that they sleep moments after their heads hit the pillow. If only all of us were so lucky. If you are too tired, you may have trouble sleeping.
If you worry too much, again sleep will continue to play hide-and-seek with you. Of course, there are techniques to usher a person into the land of REM (rapid eye movement). Frankly, I am not even sure I know the exact meanign of REM.
My guess is that when a person is in a state of REM, he is supposed to be in deep sleep. It is said that a baby spends about 80 per cent of his sleep time in REM land, whereas adults only experience about 20 to 25 per cent of his sleep in REM.
Now, I sometimes brag that I truly sleep like a baby because I kick the blanket aside during the course of the night. That of course doesn't create a bountiful amount of goodwill from my partner next to me.
Short of slugging me with the bolster, she just turns over to the other side and slip into her own never-neverland.
People who suffer from insomnia receive much sympathy from me because it is one of the worse punishments that a human being can receive. Insomniacs also suffer from intense bouts of worry.
What does a person to do when the body wants to rest but the mind refuses to let go. In the ensuing desperate moments of non-repose, the human condition careens into the zone of imagined fears.
When you can't sleep, there will come a time when you begin to think your time on earth is up. Simply put, the spectre of death seems quite real. Death itself may start tickling the feet of your mind. Here's the rub: you can't scratch the itchy spots in your cerebrum.
My answer to an overactive mind and a body that resists oblivion is to engage in a series of pleasant thoughts. The argument is simple: if you can't sleep, at least you have a pleasant time dreaming of some of the nicest things that could happen to you.
After a while, your body begins to relax because of the steady flow of endorphin (the feel-good biological chemical in the body).
Deep breathing helps too. But don't be too enthusiastic, otherwise you may end up gasping as if you are drowning. Now, we don't want that, do we?
Wear loose clothes. Go naked if you so wish but don't catch a chill. Tight clothing tends to be detrimental to a good night's sleep. And also, breathe with your stomach.
Watch a sleeping baby very carefully. His tummy rises and falls very gently. That is the correct way to breathe. If you breathe right, everything else follows the correct path.
If only an infant can be eloquent, how much we adults can learn from the toddler.
It's true to say that money doesn't buy sleep, it just buys you a bed.
Good night then.
