The Bookkitten's Hints for Falling Asleep

They said that early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. I say, late to rise and late to bed makes a man feel good and dead.

With this in mind, it is hard for me to adjust back to getting up early. My problem is not the early time, but rather, the fact that I stay up so late that my circadian rhythms are so programmed to sleep well into the mid-morning hours. I am a Night Owl, and looooooooooove staying up late. It's when I come alive, creatively and spiritually.

So now I have to reprogram my body to fall asleep early and wake up at a decent hour. Here's how I am doing it:

1. I don't take sleeping pills. I don't need 'em, and even if I did, I'd have a million questions to ask my doctor. I have some friends who are on Ambien, and their bodies are so accustomed to it they can't fall asleep without it. Even if my doctor would carefully supervise me on these meds, I would still be nervous. We're too pill-happy of a society.

2. I have a TV in my bedroom, and when I go to bed, I put it on sleep mode and flip over to the most boring, monotone program I can find. The Weather Channel usually does it for me.

3. Sometimes I read, but I have to be careful in this, since I love to wrap myself up in a book. If it's a really good book, I'll stay up all night to finish it.

4. In a pinch, I go by the old standbys of hot milk and/or tea. And lavendar spray on my pillow.

Lately though, the Weather Channel has been my bedtime companion. Somehow the Muzak during the Local Forecasts has a wonderful way of lulling me to sleep...

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