Sleep Blogger
Big Brother becomes the Sandman?
The Sleep Blogger is a live-and-let-live sort of fellow, not prone to tell others what to do or how to do it — and certainly not in favor of the government stepping in to perform the role of nanny/nag. When it comes to matters of sleep, he’s especially adamant about this. Just [...]
All hail the best word ever: “sleep”
Hey! Did you hear? U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he “won’t sleep” until every Toyota is safe to drive. That’s how you know something’s important.
The next day, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said that the collapse of more than 2,000 hedge funds during the economic crisis didn’t [...]
Maybe old George counted Hessians, not sheep
Occasionally, myth and belief collide head-on with reality. That was the case last week when a couple of examples of sleep-related folklore got a smackdown from two of the country’s most respected newspapers.
The Boston Globe, in writing about the municipal library in historic Newburyport, noted that the building once had a famous [...]
Sometimes, sleep is no laughing matter
As you may have noticed, the Sleep Blogger is prone to see the amusing side of almost any issue related to slumber. That instinct stayed true when he first read about a girl in England who has fallen victim to an odd malady:
She is known to her family and friends as “Sleeping [...]
News from my partner in snooze
In early January, Huffington Post — the online news site pioneered by writer/former political wife/Greek goddess Arianna Huffington — announced Sleep Challenge 2010, a month-long campaign to encourage the double-X chromosome half of the population to reclaim its right to a good night’s slumber. (In the interest of full disclosure, the [...]
The answers before the questions
Here are three answers to sleep-related queries. What are the questions? See below.
(1) Transcranial magnetic stimulation.
(2) Mojave Max, three months.
(3) Sleep no more.
The question, in order. First: What technique is used to tickle the brain when researchers are trying to figure out whether medical patients under anesthesia are truly unconscious [...]
In the end, good sense triumphs
A St. Louis sportswriter had a sleepless night recently, by choice. There was something much more important to him than a good night’s rest. As he explained on his blog:
Do you know, I actually got up out of bed to watch the Australian Open men’s final? Yup, 2:30 in the morning, [...]
Money can’t buy love, but maybe sleep
The headline on a recent Gallup poll was straightforward enough: “Rest eludes nearly 30% of Americans.” It’s hardly news, of course, that sleep comes more easily to some than to others. But it’s interesting to see exactly who’s got the best shot at a good night of shut-eye (old fogies) and who’s [...]
Who says science is boring?
Hey, kids! Let’s have some fun with science. The Sleep Blogger is going to offer you two pieces of empirical evidence — c’mon, say it with him together: “empirical evidence” — and you arrive at a conclusion. Ready? OK, let’s go.
First piece of empirical evidence, via England’s Daily Mail:
Women tend to multi-task [...]
When your body talks, listen
The Sleep Blogger is a common-sense type of fellow. He believes certain things are self-evident, among them the notion that when your body tells you it wishes to sleep, you should let it. That’s why this report from the New York Times about a drug awaiting approval from federal regulators had [...]