Contemplation

In case you haven't picked up on the subtle message... I am hugely impacted by my sleep... or lack thereof.

Struggling to sleep well is not particularly new to me, but it's maybe impacting me more or I'm more sensitive to it or something, I don't know, but I know that when it's bad or not good it's baaaaad and it seriously messes up my day to day.

One of the things that impacts my ability to sleep is temperature.  I'm very much a "goldilocks" in that I can't sleep if it's too cold and I can't sleep if it's too warm and I don't think there's a very wide range of "ok"?

I prefer things to be on the cool side as long as I can warm myself up under the blankets.  And even then, using something like a hot water bottle... I can't actually fall asleep with it touching me!  I can use it to warm up the area (feets) and on my feet (usually) while I'm reading but to actually fall asleep I have to remove the hot water bottle or put it way to the other side of the bed.

I've also yet to manage to fall asleep with a fan blowing on me.  Which very much sucks for the warm summer nights.  It's my plan for this year though... to see if I can work with what I have here and maybe sleep with a fan on and earplugs in?  And maybe it not blowing directly on me?  (It's weird but the "motion" of the blowing air keeps me awake... sigh.)

This weekend after my no sleep warm night, I started looking at things that cool (or warm) you as you sleep.  There's one that blows air into your sheets (especially if you buy their specially made one) but I'm concerned about the noise it makes, especially since I've yet to manage with a fan going (or A/C in a hotel room... seriously.)  There's another than comes very recommended (? hard to know what's real these days vs "paid") but has too many features (takes your sleep biometrics) and is verrrrrry expensive (thousands of dollars!) and also makes at least some noise.  (When reviewers say "oh it's just like white noise" I want to yell at the scream that some of us aka me can't "do" white noise.  Yes, it sucks.)

Am I vaguely considering saving up a stupid amount of money to purchase the stupidly expensive mattress cover?  Right now I am, yes.  But that still means getting through this Spring/Summer and trying as hard as I can to sleep as well as I can with what I currently have.

I've read all the tricks.... none have worked for me.  

It's been a lot of years since I used sleeping pills but I'm not sure if they would even help/work?  (But I will discuss it with my doctor if I have to...)  Like when I can't sleep due to temp it's not a lack of sleepiness.... it's my body being uncomfortable enough that I can't "ignore" it enough to fall asleep.  Have I tried meditation and relaxation and those kinds of "help yourself relax enough to sleep" things?  Yup.  If too hot (or too cold) I've yet to find a way to push myself to sleep. 

I did get the air conditioner last year, but it's not in my bedroom.  And... as I probably mentioned last year, I get brain irritated by the noise and have to turn it off in the evenings... sigh.  (I know this all sounds whiny but I really do need my sleep.)  My plan last Summer was that if we had another awful heat dome situation I'd try sleeping ("resting") in the living room on one of my couches... sigh. 

Anyway, I wish I could try the cooling thing.  Or knew someone who had one for an honest "here's what I like, here's what I don't".

I'd like to find other ways around this that don't involved buying a several thousand dollar item.  

Also... I was thinking... these cooling/heating pads all seem to use water.  Which brings me back to water beds!  Why did we get rid of those anyway?  I might ask my parents as we had one for years.  I can't remember if you could heat them maybe?  I know they were heavy and kind of a pain but I don't really remember why.  Kind of funny that we're using water again when we used to use giant bags of it, eh?