Thursday, March 23, 2017

These Old Walkin' Shoes: Enter Sandman

Since we moved into our house back in 1999, we’ve moved our bedroom around to different rooms upstairs. When we first moved in, we used the large front room as our bedroom. The other front room has been, since the day we moved in, my library. It’s virtually unusable right now, but soon. Soon, I say. Once we found out that we were having twins, I got the harebrained scheme to switch rooms around.

While I was laid off after Wendy found out she was pregnant, I decided that would be a great time to switch our room to the far back bedroom. It is a much smaller room than the one we were vacating. At the same time, I took the other back room on to be the nursery. The big, front room was going to be like a family room upstairs. With having twins, I felt that we would need a place to gather as a family. Alas, it was never really used like that.

Wendy and I moved into the new room before the babies were born and stayed there for only eighteen months or so. Then we went back to the big room and put the now three kids into the room we just left behind. We stayed in that big room for about four years before we switched again. The arrival of baby #4, we moved all four girls into the big room, with bunk beds at each end of the room. Wendy and I moved were back into the smaller room once again.

A couple years ago, the twins decided that they needed their own room. So, what originally began as their nursery was back to being their room again. For awhile, it was used as a guest room. The little two ones remained in control of the big room. That was a disaster. The room was always a huge mess. We could barely walk through the room.

So, Wendy decided that the room was too big for the girls, and we needed to switch rooms. We were getting the big room back again. We should never have ever left that room. I had to repaint the room for the girls. They were not enamored with the dark green I liked. Because of the migraines I get, I liked the dark room for those times.

Now we’re back in the big room. We have big plans, like getting a bedroom set for the first time, adding a bigger closet, and utilizing the porch as a sitting area. In theory, that sounds wonderful. So, where is this article going? It really has nothing to do with simply moving rooms around. It has to do with my mental well-being.

Since we’ve moved rooms, I’ve had a terrible time sleeping. Something is different. The bed is the same. The sheets are the same. The wife is the same. The difference is the room, but we’ve slept in there before. The other difference? Well, it seems minor, but it could be the problem. In the old room, we slept south to north. In this room, we’re sleeping east to west. Could this be the answer I’m looking for?

Every night, I wake up in the middle of the night and then can't get back to sleep. And I've been waking up earlier than normal in the morning and being restless. Sometimes, the best sleep I get, though, is from 6:30 until 8am. I've never been a steady sleeper, but this is noticeably worse. There has to be an answer.

Believe it or not, there have been actual studies about this. A Missouri University study discovered that people who sleep in east to west patterns have less REM sleep than people who sleep north and south. It has been medically proven that people who get more and deeper Could that be my issue?

An Indian Ayurvedic tradition believes that the best sleep comes from facing the south (our old way) and from facing east. Maybe there’s an adjustment period. We slept in exactly same position in the same room when we first moved in.

I’m not sure why I’m having such a difficult time sleeping. Maybe it’s stress. Maybe it’s just the change. Has anyone else ever had a problem when they’ve switched the way they’ve been sleeping? Or is it because we’ve changed it so often my body is finally revolting? I think we’ll stay in this room from now on. I don’t want to have to move bedrooms again. I already told the girls that the next time they need their room painted, they’ll be old enough to do it themselves.

Craig Bacon is going to try to stop drinking caffeine. Maybe that will help with the disturbed sleep.