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Dear Sleep Diary

For those of you who can not get to sleep at night, or who have an incredibly hard time doing it, a sleep diary might not be such a bad idea. You see, the pros of a sleep diary include getting to know when and how you are falling asleep each night, what you might be doing during the day that is keeping you from sleeping, and it can help you figure out what you could do in order to attain a good nights sleep.

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1. Buy a journal. You can pick one up anywhere – Walgreens, Target, anywhere…

2. Get your hands on a pen or a pencil. Again, you can get these items anywhere.

3. First, figure out what time you woke up, and jot it down in your journal. You might find that if you’re sleeping in too late then you might have a harder time getting to bed early.

4. Now think about what time you went to bed last night. If you have to wake up early, you might want to consider getting to bed earlier if you aren’t already.

5. What did you do before you went to bed. Do you have any specific routines? Perhaps reading a book or taking a bath will be able to put you to sleep for the night, and help to turn off your mind.

6. How long before your bedtime did you eat and what was it. Sometimes a glass of milk and a PB&J sandwich will help settle your stomach, sometimes a shot of Vodka can upset it. Remember, coffee before bed might not be the best idea.

7. How active is your lifestyle? Do you exercise often? If you do, how long before bed do you exercise? Remember that our bodies need exercise to keep us healthy, just try and make sure you aren’t doing it right before bed because it will get all your blood pumping and your heart racing and you’ll find yourself feeling as if you have just downed a cup of coffee.

8. Did you wake up during the night at all? If so, for how long? How many times? Perhaps you suffer from a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea that should be checked out by a doctor.

9. What kind of mattress are you sleeping on? Is it springy and broken down? Maybe its time to purchase a new one, one that will last for over ten years. Remember, you spend a good third of your life on your mattress, so you’re going to want to get a decent one to snuggle up with. Think of choosing your mattress and bedding like you are choosing your spouse, you want it to be reliable, and you want it to be there for you, ready to cuddle up with at the end of a long day.

Besides helping one figure out what they might be doing wrong in terms of falling asleep, a sleep diary is also efficient in helping reproduce one’s dreams. The first thing that you must do upon waking up in the morning is to jot down whatever comes to mind about the dreams that you had last night. As time goes on, you’ll find that it is getting easier and easier to remember your dreams, and as more and more time goes on you might find yourself able to control your dreams better.

So, there are multiple reasons to keep a sleep diary, and now you can go out and try it for yourself. Good luck and goodnight!

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ASMR: Sleep Euphoria

Many people who can’t get to sleep turn to white noise devices, music players, and spinning fans to calm their nerves and set them at ease so that they can enjoy a good, long night’s sleep. Some people, however, enjoy being soothed by a person’s smooth voice, a whisper to knock them out. With the use of sleeping pills on the rise, people are beginning to lean toward other options, such as sleep whisperers.

Youtubers all over are beginning to develop videos that incorporate the mix of noises and voices that will have one drifting off into dreamland. Some videos include the sounds of the water swishing, the sand scratching, pebbles rolling, and plastic crumbling, but what makes these videos unique is the way that these noises are created. When you crumple up a piece of plastic it doesn’t normally make the most relaxing sound, but when you do it softly and slowly, just slow and soft enough that it sounds as if it is merely white noise, these sounds are able to put a person out.

The way that these sounds travel around your ears, especially when the use of headphones is involved, is hypnotizing, lulling one to sleep as the minutes pass by. The description of fine grains of sand bring you to your knees, imagining the feel of warm sand moving in and out of your fingertips and your toes as the water crashes at your feet, your eyes drooping with every word, and every sound that they make. It is the simple things that make these videos brilliant, the sound of sighing and whispers filling your eardrums, commanding your eyes to close and your brain to calm down. The sound of fingernails tapping gently against a plate lulling you to bed, I can understand why these videos might be so popular among those with insomnia.

So why is this web of sleep whisperers becoming so popular? There is such a thing as Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) which is the tingling sensation that erupts in the ears, the head, and the spine, which is able to pull a person into the depths of consciousness. There is no real way to study the phenomena but many people report feelings of euphoria when listening to the audio of people whispering to them. Some of these videos include role plays that involve scenes such as getting ones hair cut or visiting the doctors office or falling asleep with one’s ‘Vampire Boyfriend‘ and even Hunger Games skits. Some can even be calmed down from a panic or an anxiety attack when soothed by these people and there videos.

As many of us know, especially in this day and age, that it is getting harder and harder to fall asleep. What, with all the electronics buzzing and thoughts swarming around our busy brains, many of us are falling harder and harder into the clutches of insomnia. Now, with the help of electronic devices such as mp3 players and other sound emitting devices, we are able to find easier ways to fall into sleep. We can all try it in the comfort of our own bedrooms if nothing else works, and hopefully, with the sounds of people cooing you into slumber, you will fade into the stillness of sleep, and awake in your favorite dream.