The Owl's Nest-The Nocturnal Imperative

[MidgarFanatic]

hmm, I drink chamomile tea when I am sick, and it makes me feel better, but I never thought to try it to sleep. I thought it had caffeine or something... I guess it doesn't.

and I agree about the candle, sometimes a warm atmosphere is all I need to relax, and lighting a candle helps me do that sometimes.

reading also helps me sleep, but only if I'm totally exhausted.

[Terminal Est]

Indeed, many times I've tried forcing myself to sleep, deriving from the logic that since I am so tired, it should eventually happen...but this is how I've obtained literal white nights where I've not slept at all.
Also, quite often I am plagued by nocturnal terrors, but I must have mentioned this over a million times.

Hm, a candle-I would be too paranoid because of my cats. But perhaps a nightlight might help? I agree, something as such might help with the atmosphere.

I just have to get around to DOING it instead of whining about it.

Also, I was once told that the cardinal direction in which one's bed faces affects your sleep...North inducing the better sleep, while South is the worse. Incidentally and to my luck, I had checked and my bed is facing South.

However I do not really believe any of this, aside form some psychological conditioning related to attribution; and that is a little hard to swallow when one has never heard of it before. :/

[Miss Lockheart]

I've heard of that, in fact I read a lot of Feng Shui kind of stuff, which said bizarre things like don't have your bed facing a door; don't have your bed facing a window; only have your bed parallel to a window; it's not very practical

Oh yeah the cats. I can't put candles in Jonny's room (he's just as bad as a cat ^^) so he has a cool nightlight thingie that can be used as a torch if he gets out of bed. and this cool colour-changing ball thingie aswell, it works wonders. Ensures I get peace and quiet on a night!

[Terminal Est]

They say that should your bed face a door and some stairs, your energy will ''flow'' out of the door like a waterfall. O_o

Hmm...I find the idea of a nightlight in my bedroom a little weird. But perhaps I can use some Halloween decorations, although I think those would brighten too much. I think I will try this first, along with the tee. I can find some sort of light somewhere.

I would love to have that spinning nightlight they have in Sleepy Hollow...

I have always dreaded any form of light entering my room as I sleep, like the Sun because it is so harsh, so I will see how this works.

[Miss Lockheart]

The dimmer the better! It should be pretty easy to get a low-wattage lamp or light. I like the Halloween decoration idea, those lights tend to be quite subdued which is what you need. I agree bright light is disturbing, makes the head hurt, one of the things I hate about summer is waking up and opening the curtains- aaargh!!!

Reading of course!! Though usually I fall asleep at a good part and then get angry with myself lol! Yeah I give Jonny chamomile tea when he's sick, it is caffiene free. It gets him to sleep so he can cope with the illness better, lessening the need for painkillers, which can cause long-term damage in a wee one.

Hahaha that quote is in my feng shui book, as a big no-no for sleep. Meh, you can't win with feng shui. My house is so weird I could never obey all those rules

[Zotar]

My momma always said, "When you sleep on your back, you always have more nightmares." I always try to sleep on my side or on my stomack. And i usually face north. I do find that when ever i wake up after a nightmare, im on my back. It's true.

Hey, I watched some discovery channel special on early childhood nightmares. You know all those cliches? chlidren seem to think that there is always a monstor under the bed or in the closet or just out the window. Scientists believe that this instinct derives as a result of evolution.

Allow me to explian:

According to this theory, Prehistoric men would sleep on the ground and constantly feared attacks from the side. Probably from tigers or such predators that existed at those time periods. Meanwhile, Women and children would sleep in the trees and often fear attacks from below. again probably predators who climb trees. But this is just a theory...

[Terminal Est]

Very interesting, Zotar. If my beliefs about the survival instinct are anywhere near true, I must wonder what purpose such conditioning has to remain with us though.

Perhaps the basics of paranoia, which in the end is truly a tool...

And interesting again, when I wake from nightmares or nocturnal terrors, I am ALWAYS on my back. I wonder why it is as such?

[Miss Lockheart]

It does in a way make sense, because the human body is naturally at it's most relaxed when laid on your back (hence the reason they spend a lot of time like that in Yoga). So it could be survival instinct that gives you nightmares in that position if there is an instinctive fear of becoming too relaxed in case of attack. Sleeping on your side isn't quite as restful for the body as sleeping on your back, and if you roll onto your back while you sleep your body might try and alert itself with the nightmares.

I wonder if it is a psychological thing as well as an instinctive one- if you are generally a fretful person or have had a lot of bad experiences then you will have more reason to fear attack during sleep, which will contribute to the nightmares. Not just as re-living an experience or fear in your mind, but also to stop you relaxing so much. It's not very pleasant either way, and I hope there's a way to break that cycle, if my theory is correct.

Maybe a meditation would help. You don't have to have any spiritual belief to mediatate, it can just be a simple way of reconditioning the brain to stop any fears from coming through. Even just ten minutes before bedtime might help.

[MidgarFanatic]

I've NEVER slept on my back for as long as I can remember... I just find it so damn uncomfortable, I just can't sleep that way; so I usually sleep on my stomache with my face buried in the pillow.

Maybe I should try, because then I might be able to experience nightmares, which I never get but would like to because I find them so damn interesting.

[Miss Lockheart]

Nightmares interesting?

I can't sleep on my back either, probably why my dreams are just weird rather than scary. I sleep on my stomach too, though I turn my head to the side because I'm a little bit claustrophobic.

That might be another thing that causes nightmares or insomnia- lack of space. I know if there's a lot of clutter in my room I have to cover it up or move it, because it makes me feel crowded.