On Segmented Sleep Patterns

لاتتوقع ان تعيش كما حكت لك امك صغيرا حكاوي ماقبل النوم فالاجدر ان ترى مسلسل الحكايات فقط باحلام النوم لتصحى كبيرا بواقع اكبر ..
Originally uploaded by REHAM ~

This week the BBC World Service posted an article on their website entitled The Myth of the Eight-Hour Sleep.  It mentions several historical accounts and scientific studies that suggest sleeping eight hours straight at night may not be natural for everyone. According to the article, a historian at Virginia Tech found more than 500 references to segmented sleeping patterns. Apparently it was normal to go to bed about two hours after the sun went down, sleep for four hours, get up for two hours, and then sleep for another four hours before rising for the day's work. Also, when I say "get up", I don't mean just sit up in bed. Some people would stay in bed and read, but others would walk around and have a smoke or even visit neighbors.

This article helped me make sense of the sleep patterns in my family. Off and on for years ABM has been visiting doctors to try to get to the bottom of the reason why he doesn't sleep all the way through the night. Each doctor would listen to the description of his night and speculate that he had sleep apnea, but every time he would have a sleep study done they would say that he doesn't have sleep apnea. I can't wait to tell him about this article, so he can stop feeling like there is something wrong with him.

C1 and M have had a segmented sleep pattern since they were little. I do NOT react well to someone waking me from a sound sleep, so I taught M early on to flip through picture books or listen to music until she felt sleepy again rather than come bother me. Yeah, I know -- bad Mommy!

I used to be able to sleep straight through the night. Taking traditional naps is difficult for me because once I drift off to sleep, I want to stay that way for four hours at least. Those 45-minute power naps that people take at lunch make me feel groggy and angry instead of refreshed. Nowadays my sleep pattern has turned into two naps with a wakeful period in the middle. My first sleep is 3-4 hours, and then I am awake for 1-2 hours. The length of my second sleep determines how I will feel at work the next day. If I can get another 3-4 hours before it is time to get up for work, then I'm good. Many days, however, I only get 60-90 minutes before the sun start shining in my bedroom window. I've never considered myself an insomniac, but I do wonder every night before I lay down if this will be a night where I sleep straight through. It rarely is. Now that I am armed with this information, perhaps I will adjust my bedtime to give me time to get a good long second sleep.

The Talk: My New Evening Wind-Down Show

I'm sure that a lot of people make comparisons between ABC's The View and CBS' The Talk, and I don't blame them. On the face of it, the two talk shows look a lot alike.Each one has a panel of famous women of different ages and at different life stages discuss pop culture topics. However, as a former fan of The View, I can tell you that The Talk is what The View used to be: a light daytime show for people who enjoy panel discussions. 

While their hosts do address the latest headlines, the discussion never degenerates into a shouting match with apologies being made the next day. Perhaps it is because the cast hasn't been together long enough to get on each other's nerves, but these women act as if they genuinely like each other rather than just tolerate each other.  Maybe having Sheryl Underwood and Aisha Tyler (two stand-up comedians) and Sharon Osbourne (a naturally funny woman) keeps the show happy and fun. I don't know. All I know is that it is the perfect show for me to watch in the evenings after work when my meds have laid me low.

On Preferring Single-Use Gadgets

A while back when M was still a high-school senior, she overslept and missed the school bus. She told me that since her phone died, she didn't have an alarm to wake her. So, after two months of having all my children get themselves off to school, I was back to waking up at 5:45a to get her out of bed. This was especially annoying because I personally don't have to get out of bed until 7:30a to get to work on time.

Anyway, this got me to thinking about how gadget makers are always striving to make devices that can be The One and Only that you need to carry. When I got my Palm Treo years ago, I enjoyed the novelty of being able to make calls, send texts, look up info on the internet, and play music and video all on one device. Nowadays, however, I prefer to have separate gadgets for these functions.

My primary reasoning behind this is battery life. Despite the fact that today's tablets and mobile phones are more efficient than they once were, an hour of video is still a serious strain on your battery. I don't want to be using my phone to entertain myself while I'm in a waiting room somewhere and then end up with a dead battery and be unable to call ABM when I'm ready to be picked up. I believe many techies complain about the battery life on their phones because they buy into the hype and think that the phone is the only gadget they need to carry for everything. The battery on my iPhone lasts me an entire workday simply because I don't use it as an mp3 player or to search the internet. I only use it to call, text, and play the occasional game.

I realize that I am in the minority. Consumers are always clamoring for lighter, thinner devices that can do everything. As long as I am a gal with a big purse, I will prefer carrying two or three devices to meet my needs.

Apple Pie Afternoon

In keeping with my goal of spending more time in the kitchen with the kids, at the end of January we made apple pies. I've been letting the girls help me decide what recipes we try, and making a pie was what C2 suggested. This was a new experience for me as well as the girls. I've baked apple pies before, but it was during my newlywed days and I used a recipe that called for dried apples. The cost of dried apples has skyrocketed since then, so I went with fresh apples this time.

The photos were taken by C2, our budding photographer. C1 did most of the actual cooking while I supervised. Even DJ had a hand in peeling and coring the apples, which proved to be the most time-consuming part of the prep work.

On the subject of the apples, I never knew how gross the coating on fresh apples can be. I purchased a bag of apples and was expecting to be able to give them a quick rinse and be done with it. These apples had a sticky/greasy coating that would not rinse off. Apparently that shine that consumers look for on their apples is the result of something called "food-grade shellac". Excuse me? Shellac is something to put on floors and furniture, not food. Now I understand why my normally frugal mother-in-law kept a bottle of Fit Fruit & Vegetable Wash by her sink.

Anyway, the pies turned out better than our attempt to make ravioli from scratch (hint: buy a pasta maker if you want to make noodles that are so thick they can choke a horse). We will probably do this again, maybe when peaches are in season.

Retro Wish List: Tinted Toilet Paper

ABM enjoys real-estate shows like House Hunters and Property Virgins. Lately these shows have been featuring houses built in the 1960s and 1970s. There is usually a scene where the prospective home buyers step into the bathroom and express horror at the dated decor. I, on the other hand, see the blue tile that matches the blue tub and blue sink and blue toilet and my first thought is, "What they need now is blue toilet paper!" When someone has gone to all the trouble to match everything perfectly in her bathroom, white loo roll seems like an affront to her hard work.

Tinted toilet paper is one of those products that slipped away without me really noticing.  You can find designer toilet paper at a premium, but it is not the same as walking into a grocery store and picking whatever color you want. According to my brief internet research, the rainbow variety of toilet paper was taken off the market in the 1980s due to concerns that the dye and fragrance may lead to infection and even cancer. Goodness knows I don't want to make anyone sick, but if there was a safe and cost-effective way to bring tinted toilet paper back to the supermarket I would welcome it.