away from home
Iām typing this on a little lounger in a public park, but will publish it when I get back to where Iām staying.
Iāve been away from home for almost week now, visiting my fiancĆ©eās parents and friends. In that time, I had a lot of fun getting take-out, seeing wild horses, playing pen and paper and board games, trying out Magic The Gathering, sitting in the garden with campfire bread, and watching a trashy horror movie with friends (Slotherhouse). I posted some images on my microblog I also saw a cool halloween house with animatronics.
Today sheās helping a friend move, and because Iām no good with that and enough people were coming to help already, I took the train to the next big city to explore on my own. Went to a vegan cat cafĆ© first to have some breakfast (tofu scramble and baked beans is my fav), then bought a new matcha in a tea shop to try out.
Their most expensive matcha was 75ā¬ for 30g - wow! I will save that as a birthday or Christmas wish. Since Iām a matcha connoisseur always searching for new flavors and kinds, I got another a bit cheaper one that still has a longer shadow period, so more umami and sweetness. Labeling says itās from Kagoshima. I had a fun time talking to the store clerk about matcha šµ.
Afterwards I got a matcha oat latte elsewhere to go and walked around a bit. Iām not a city girl, it drains me, but sometimes I still feel like subjecting myself to it. So many people, the smells, always feeling like youāre in someoneās way no matter where you standā¦ but I saw cute dogs!
Something I think about today is: Is the concept of sleep hygiene just pseudoscience? Specifically, the idea of limiting the bed to sleep only to ānot confuse your brain about what the bed is forā? I used to believe in it. But the more I think about my experiences with it, I just start to think itās bullshit. The following is just anecdata and cannot disprove any believable clinical studies, but when I think about whether my bodyās associations of a place determine my sleep quality or ability to sleep at all, itās just not true. I can fall asleep in public on a beach or in a park, in restaurants (as a kid), on the sofa, in the car, on my deskā¦ places I donāt practice to sleep in and that are for other things.
If I follow the beliefs of sleep hygiene, that would be impossible, since my body associates it with non-sleep things. If thatās not true, then I am inclined to say that using my laptop in bed doesnāt tarnish my bodyās association with my bed, or rather, doesnāt negatively influence my sleep either. I assume the truth might be that everyoneās ideal sleep conditions cannot always be met: too hot or too cold, weight of the blanket, correct pillow and mattress firmness, too much or too little noise, too little or too much light, sleeping better or worse with a someone else in bed, clothing issues, pain and inflammation, window open or closed/oxygen issues and sleep apnea or mouthbreathing; then add worries and anxiety looming, getting riled up by doomscrolling or exciting games even before bed, caffeine habits, no exercise tiring us outā¦
I think all these have a much more meaningful impact on sleep quality than using electronics or other things in bed. Notably, many people read (non-digital) books in bed and fall asleep within minutes. My fianceƩ uses all her tech in bed and falls asleep to audiobooks and podcasts within 5-10 minutes and sleeps like a baby. I take 1-2h to fall asleep at night in bed no matter if I use my tech in bed or not, but have no issues napping elsewhere.
Now that I have been very ill this year with countless days of being unable to leave the bed much physically but being mostly fine mentally to at least play or watch things, I used a lot of tech in my bed. I even worked from my bed. It changed absolutely nothing about my relationship to sleep and looking back on it, the times I banned all tech from my bedroom in the past sound cartoonish to me now and from the fiction of a healthy, able-bodied person. I even fell asleep using the tech, man.
I think one reason why sleep hygiene stuff might initially work so well for people is that changes like this are often done in connection with other lifestyle changes like a better diet or more exercise. I think these two probably have a big impact on sleep. If itās not that, probably placebo - thinking youāre doing something for better sleep makes your descent into sleep more pleasant and easy.
These are just my theories, of course.
Iām now freezing a bit and this lounger is getting uncomfortable - Iāll try and find the game store my fiancĆ©e told me about to get the stuff she wants and potentially my first MtG deck. I only played standard beginner stuff (no Commander) with the LotR pack so far. If you read this and play MtG, please feel free to send recommendations my way!
Published , edited 1Ā year, 2Ā months ago