The One Who Never Sleeps

You'll never guess who's still awake.

Youre not alone! Here are my top 10 famous insomniacs:

1. Marilyn Monroe– Marilyn took sleeping pills for her insomnia and consulted psychiatrists regularly. Eventually, an overdose of sleeping pills killed her.

2. Groucho Marx– He was famous for answering the question “What’s the best cure for insomnia?” with “A good night’s sleep!” He also called people in the middle of the night to insult them when he couldn’t snooze.

3. Napoleon Bonaparte– Napoleon reportedly only slept 3 hours each night, and often felt the effects of his insomnia on the battlefield. However, he set a fine example by  never leting this get in the way of his goals!

4. Mark Twain– Mark Twain once got so upset he couldn’t fall asleep that he threw his pillow into a glass bookcase… that wasn’t even his (he was staying at a friend’s house at the time)! Fortunately, he fell asleep immediately afterwards.

5. Marlene Dietrich– This iconic actress’ cure for insomnia was a sardine onion sandwich on rye. Yum?

6. Charles Dickens– While Kafka’s insomnia was caused by his creativity, Dickens used his insomnia to create. When he couldn’t sleep, Charlie would walk the streets of London and dream up ideas for his stories.

7. Winston Churchill– Like several other members of this list, Winston Churchill suffered from both depression and insomnia.

8. Judy Garland–Judy Garland tried to treat her insomnia with sleeping pills, which were a dangerous combination with the diet pills (amphetamines) she was taking!

9. Franz Kafka– When Kafka experienced a burst of creativity, he couldn’t sleep properly. He described waking after one hour’s sleep “As if I had put my head in the wrong hole.”

10. Marcel Proust– One of the most prized writers of France, Proust once wrote 30 pages describing just one night’s insomnia.

[image: rockpoolsp.com]

One of the tricks I try to use in order to get to sleep is lavender. Johnson’s lavender-infused bedtime products contain a special blend of aromatherapy called NATURALCALM ™ , which relaxes and soothes you. It’s great for babies, because it’s got all natural ingredients (it’s also great for adults with sensitive skin).

I use this product at night before bed after I shower, and I also use it during the day when I want to relax. I have used this when I’m going to work in the morning and haven’t felt like I was going to fall asleep, so that’s no problem!

If you sometimes have trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep like I do, this is an easy-to-find and cheap aromatherapy product that can help you in your quest.

[images: johnsonsbaby.com]

In an effort to get myself more restful sleep, which I am very very fond of, I am doind lots of research on it. There are 5 stages of sleep that we experience. We progress through these stages and back again 4 or 5 times as we sleep. This means that :

Stage 1. This stage of sleep lasts between 5 and 10 minutes. Your body begins to relax, your eyes move slowly, and your brain produces theta waves. You aren’t really asleep yet, rather you’re between sleep and waking.

Stage 2. During this stage, your eye movement stops, your heart rate begins to slow, and your body temperature drops. Your brain begins to emit waves called sleep spindles.

Stage 3. This is the transitional phase between light sleep and deep sleep. During this time, your brain waves alternate between very rapid, and very slow.

Stage 4. If you bedwet, sleepwalk, or experience night terrors, this is the stage of sleep for you. In this stage, you do not move either your eyes or your muscles; it’s deep sleep from which it would be difficult for you to wake.

Stage 5. This stage is calleld Rapid Eye Movement (REM). During this time, the brain’s activity increases and the muscles of the body are temporarily paralyzed. Heart rate and blood pressure are elevated, and you begin to dream. Scientists have found that lack of REM sleep can sometimes help to cure depression. Babies spend about 50% of their sleep in REM, and adults spend perhaps 20%. The older you get, the less REM you experience.