I have become a person that doesn't sleep very well.
Unfortunately.
I really really dislike it.
I used to be able to sleep anywhere and everywhere and not wake up at night at all.
But as I have gotten older (I think), sleep just doesn't come to me like it used to.
My mind just can't seem to relax enough to fall asleep fast. If I wake up in the middle of the night because either I need the toilet or the cat is acting up again, it'll take me a good 45 minutes to get back to sleep. Sometimes even an hour and a half.
And it's tiring.
It's like I can feel the tiredness in my bones that's how much sleep I have missed out on.
It doesn't help that we live in quite a noisy neighbourhood and I have neighbours that just don't seem to understand the concept of being considerate with others, especially when it comes to noise levels.
I've seriously thought about moving to the country so I don't have to hear the sounds of other people when I am lying in bed.
It is infuriating.
I never understood how lack of sleep can actually make you feel like you are insane but now I get it. I really really get it. It zaps energy out of me and it just wears me out. I just don't feel like I have the inner calm that I used to have and I am pretty sure it's down to my sleep (and also a little bit my mental health).
BUT THAT HAS NOW ALL CHANGED!!!!
Last week Saturday, my neighbours were having a party and it was LOUD. They told me two weeks prior that they were going to have a party so I didn't mind. Of course I went to bed early because this gal is getting old and I decided to try out white noise.
For those of you who don't know what white noise is, I found a definition for you!
White noise is a type of noise that is produced by combining sounds of all different frequencies together. If you took all of the imaginable tones that a human can hear and combined them together, you would have white noise.
The adjective "white" is used to describe this type of noise because of the way white light works. White light is light that is made up of all of the different colors (frequencies) of light combined together (a prism or a rainbow separates white light back into its component colors). In the same way, white noise is a combination of all of the different frequencies of sound. You can think of white noise as 20,000 tones all playing at the same time.
Source : How Stuff Works
White noise sounds like static.
But it's actually way better to just hear it instead of me trying to describe it to you.
Source : Youtube : Relaxing White Noise
In the beginning it may sound like way too much noise at once (that's what I experienced) but you get used to it.
White noise is what helps babies sleep as well. Most parents put on appliances like the hoover to help the baby sleep.
On that first night I used white noise, I put it via my earphones and honestly, I did not hear a single thing from the 'outside' world. All I hear was the loving hum of white noise.
And I fell asleep super duper fast.
Normally, I would have stayed awake for hours, grinding my teeth with frustration and thinking a plethora of horrible thoughts about my neighbours.
But this time was it was a radically different experience.
I slept like a baby.
It was insane.
This is definitely 100% a lifehack.
I feel like I have discovered a magic sleeping pill.
Every night since that I have used it to help me fall asleep.
It really gives my brain a break. My thoughts just float away and I am left with a gentle calmness that relaxes my whole body.
It's effing great.
You also have pink and brown noise.
Lately, I have been using brown noise to fall asleep as it feels more soothing somehow.
Anyway, I am super super glad I discovered this magical tool and I have been sleeping so deeply and not waking up once.
I feel blessed. I really really do.
It has already significantly improved my life!
Have you used white noise before?
Over and out,
Ashley
Image made in Canva by yours truly