Friday, January 21, 2011

The Sleep Lab

I remembered! HA!

*cough*

And what I mean by that, is I remembered what I thought I might be doing today... but I'm not... See, there is a Significant Other Blogfest and  SINCE that time, HWMNBMOI has forbidden me from ever mentioning him on the internet, so i CAN'T participate... but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go check it out... (several of our buddies are participating)

Okay, back to the blog...

This thing my daughter is doing...

If you are impoverished in a University town, you might know this. There is money to be made as a research subject, and not all of it involves testing strange drugs (though I did that once)... For my job, I walk through the hospital now and again, because my boss has an office over there, and not for any other reason if I can avoid it, but about 5 years ago, we were feeling the CRUNCH. I'd recently changed jobs because the 'soft money' that paid me had run out, and though I'd been offered ALL THREE jobs I interviewed for, every one of them was a significant pay cut...

So at the hospital I saw this sign... sleep study, children 8-15... I had a 10 year old... It was time she started earning her keep! I took the tab and called... and we got hooked in with the sleep lab.

Not a Tartlet
(Note:  this is not my daughter -- >)

My daughter has to wear an 'actograph' for a week (which measures light and activity), keep an exact sleep schedule (she gets to set it, but it is the same weekends as week days, and THIS week, there was also MLKJ day, so she had 3 days she had to go to bed and get up as if it were a school day)... and then at the end (starting Wednesday night), we go into the sleep lab and they put little probes ALL OVER HER HEAD and watch her brain while she sleeps (which I think is very cool).

Because she is a minor, I have to go with her, but I don't mind. As a health system employee, last time I could log into their computers and do my Harry Potter geek thing I was doing when she was 10... I'm much more mature now *shifty* Seriously, though—There IS internet access (WiFi for my laptop) and I have plenty to EDIT... I am polishing, but am going to include a couple of the tricks ELIZABETH mentioned Tuesday in that polish... And I just finished Rock Walker, Jan's novel (it was fabulous!) and I'm reading Michael's ABNA excerpt, so I have plenty to keep me busy (even if I have to pout about the inappropriateness of nudity)...

feather comforter=YAYness
Besides THAT, the beds are super comfy... feather comforters three feet thick, feather pillows, comfy mattresses (on the soft side, which I prefer)


So what ABOUT Sleep?

I have a lot of friends with sleep issues—true insomniacs. And I know that goes with all SORTS of problems... the body needs sleep the heal, rejuvenate... PROCESS. I don't know how often I've gone to sleep with a problem floating around and woken up with at least a good shot at my answer... And how many book pieces come from weird dreams? I'd be a MESS with no sleep... at the very least, I'd be a raging biotch.

I've always slept pretty well—not too much trouble falling asleep, either the first time or consecutive... though I do sleep lightly and never sleep through the night (need a loo visit and a drink of water). As a kid I walked in my sleep now and again. My kids were both thrash-around sleepers when little, my daughter so much so that she used to fall out of bed a lot (something I also did, come to think of it). But my son is the really freaky one... or was... he used to sometimes call SCREAMING because he'd walked somewhere, woken up and didn't know where he was—he once fell into the toilet, even... totally asleep. I would try to talk to him and it was CLEAR he still wasn't awake, but he was SO UPSET. I think the last time he was five or six... and I think I did that once or twice with my sleepwalking too but without the upset thing because I didn't wake up (my mom would tell me of my strange behavior the next day), so maybe that is all me.

HWMNBMOI doesn't have any of THOSE things... he sometimes snores, but if I pretend to cuddle so exuberantly that I can get him to roll onto his side it will stop. He doesn't fall back to sleep well though, so DON'T wake him or you have an ogre on your hands for a week or so (yes, for one waking).


I can recite this
Sleep in Books...

I will just start with saying The SLEEP BOOK is the best book EVER... Okay, maybe not... but it is my second favorite Seuss and that is saying something.

But have you read books that focus on sleep issues? You'd think with as many weird life things it causes, you'd see more sleep issues in books. Of course my favorite horror movies focus on sleep... Nightmare on Elm Street—the original of that, at least is a GREAT premise.

Other than a couple MCs with insomnia though, I don't remember many books with heavy sleep focus... I wonder if we just don't perceive it as exciting enough...



Blog port written by her Tartness, Hart Johnson for her BLOG Confessions of a Watery Tart

Sleeping Guy
Comforter
Sleep Book *huggles*

31 comments:

Rachael Harrie said...

That sleep study sounds rather intriguing. Think I'm going to have dreams about that bed tonight!

Hmm, I never thought about it, but you're right, there aren't too many books focusing on sleep issues.

Apparently I used to sleep-walk when I was a kid. I deny it though. And I did not _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ like they said I did. I'm positive of that ;)

Rach

Anonymous said...

This is fascinating stuff.
I don't need any sleep at all. All that I require is regular oiling - and Mrs S does that for me.

Have a good weekend, Boonie

Old Kitty said...

Oooh sleep studies!!! Wow!!! Sounds ever so involved!!!

I've no problem with sleep. I sleep on the train on my commute to work and back again. I've been known to doze at my desk at work. I always snooze in the car while travelling as a passenger, I hasten to add!! LOL! Ooops and I snore. Ahem.

I am so intrigued with Mr Naked's acronym!!!

Take care
x

David Macaulay said...

Interesting - I had to do two sleep studies before being fitted with my weird Dennis Hopper-like sleep apparatus. It's almost impossible to sleep with all those wires and monitors everywhere, so not have for them to come to the conclusion you have a problem sleeping.

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Oh, I'm the freaky sleeper here. :) I walk in my sleep, talk in my sleep, have insomnia (lifetime insomnia)...all crazy! One of my protagonists was an insomniac (I had to pass on the fun to someone.) I've done the sleep study and was supposed to wear the actograph, but insurance wasn't wild about it (too experimental..it's like a watch, right?) and I didn't care to cough up the money myself.

There was a King novel called, I think, "Awake" which scared me (of course) about an insomniac. And then there was a movie by the same guy who did "Memento" called "Insomnia." Other than that, I can't think of a title that focuses on sleep (cause I'd probably have gotten it.)

L. Diane Wolfe said...

My husband used to talk in his sleep and sometimes even get up and roam the house. Hasn't done that in awhile though.
Me? I toss and turn constantly.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Oooh that is so awesome that you're getting paid to do a sleep study. It sounds like fun!

Hart Johnson said...

Rachael-it IS a great bed, eh? *snickering at implied shenanigans*

Boonie *teehee* It's a good thing you don't need sleep, because oiled up like that you'd probably slide right off the bed.

Jenny-I've been known to sleep at my desk too... Just can't be avoided some days. The acronym is 'He Who Must Not be Mentioned on the Internet'

David-that is sort of what I figured--how representative is what they see when they have you that miserably uncomfortable!

Elizabeth-that is sort of a crack up that you do all those wacky things! I wondered if you ever slept! Must be hard though, to always be sleep deprived, and yes, the actograph is very much 'watch like' to wear.

LDiane-but did he spill any good secrets? No use talking in his sleep if it isn't juicy stuff! teehee

Hart Johnson said...

Sarah-and for 15, it is pretty darn good money. I think she is gettin $225 for participating.

Carol Kilgore said...

I sometimes have insomnia, but less now that I write. Maybe it was stress-induced.
Have a great weekend.

Jan Morrison said...

sleep is a big deal for me. I had insomnia as a youth and it was hell. I've had it leaving the fertile years too so perhaps it is a hormone thingy. I suffer from it when I worry about money and my sweet patootie is the WORST snorer in the world. I have a bed in my office and I spend more time there then I would like (took me fifty years to find someone worthwhile to sleep with so I like to)
ah well. I just found out that an audiologist will take a wax imprint of your ear canal and make a silicone ear plug which absolutely blocks out sound. I can't wait. The fretting about $ and duties will need something else.

CA Heaven said...

People who move up north sometimes get sleeping problems because of the uneven distribution of light and darkness throughout the year. I know people who find it difficult to sleep in the summer with the sun shining 24/7. I got used to it very quickly. I don't bother if anyone wakes me up at night, I just go back to sleep. My old lady on the other hand, gets really furious >:)

Cold As Heaven

Talli Roland said...

Oh, that bed is so inviting. :) I'm a terrible sleeper. I wake up at least twenty times each night - ugh!

Arlee Bird said...

I'm intrigued by sleep time and dreaming. I like to sleep, but I wish I could get by on a couple hours sleep each day so I'd have more time for other things.
I used to participate in University studies when I was a psychology student and we "had" to do it for credit in certain classes. I enjoyed it though.

Lee
Tossing It Out

Southpaw said...

I like it. Make the kidlet earn their keep.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I think sleep is important!
And good to know that's not your daughter. She's too young to start shaving.

Hart Johnson said...

Carol-I have periodically had the stress-induced kind myself--that or the caffeine type.

Jan-yeah-that snoring is hard! I hope the ear plugs work (though how will you wake to an alarm!?

CaH-I have trouble sleeping with light, but a good set of blinds does wonders. I'd have more trouble with no daytime in winter. (sounds like you and I are more similar, while our spouses are also alike)

Talli-that is hard--you don't get any REM sleep that way!

Lee-I love sleep but would love to need less, too... If I could be content on 5 or 6 hours, that would be perfect, but sadly, I really need about 9.

Holly-I know, right? She is a demanding one, too--much better to have her earn her own spending money than complain all the time that I won't give her any.

Hart Johnson said...

Alex- it really is! *giggles* Yes--not to mention the problems I'd have explaining to my husband how two blondes created a brunette.

Colene Murphy said...

Wow, girl is banking on that! Sure they don't need older folks? ;)

Book looks super cute too!

Terry Odell said...

I read a book once--mystery I think, maybe a series. Can't remember author or title (I'm BAD) but it was about a man who never slept. Some brain abnormality.

Me, I'm grateful for my new backlit nookcolor when I wake up at 2 AM and can't get back to sleep.

Terry
Terry's Place
Romance with a Twist--of Mystery

Hart Johnson said...

Colene-they do adult studies, too! If you have a nearby major university, go to their website and search for research studies--many of them look for participants all the time.

Terry-Man, I would hate to never sleep! I don't think either hubby or I would sleep through the other 'lighting up' so to speak... I have a hard time ignoring my clock!

Carolyn Abiad said...

I have problems sleeping all the time, as does my brother and one of my sons. We need absolute quiet and darkness...and even then the mind won't stop spinning on some odd subject. Then again, if I had a bed like that one...maybe it would help! Or maybe I need one of these...

...the bed of a Jedd
Is the softest
Of beds in the world,
It is said.
He makes it from pom poms
He grows on his head.
And he's sleeping right now
On the softest of fluff,
Completely exhausted
From growing the stuff. Suess


Said son had to memorize it a long time ago, and both of us still remember it. :)

LTM said...

LOL! Good stuff here--"note: that is not my daughter." *snort*! :D When I was in college the big thing was selling plasma for money to go out. I never did this, but I heard you got quite a buzz from being all de-plasmaified, then going out drinking. :D

Sleep in books... Alice? Wizard of Oz? Seems like this is an area that needs to be explored currently~ :D xoxo

SY said...

LOL great read... I love the way you pointed out his non tart relation...

Su said...

The yellow furry things are making me yawn. Being a student, I'm always on the lookout for research studies... and I have YET to find one I qualify for! Sheesh!

A. said...

I used to sleep walk all the time when I was little. I'd go up and down stairs to the basement, go hang out in random rooms, admire pictures on the wall in pitch-black rooms. My mother probably always had suspicions I might be a poltergiest in a humansuit disguise.

erica and christy said...

For some reason, every time I wake up, I have to look at the clock, so then I'm even more awake because I have to move around and let my eyes focus and then it takes me forever to fall asleep. Every night, yuck. My oldest son was a terrible sleep walker - almost every night he'd go to bed in his bed and mysteriously wake up on the couch (we had to burn the couch after awhile - let's just say he never fell asleep on the toilet, but that would've been nice).

Interesting way to make your daughter earn her keep. ;)
erica

RaShelle Workman said...

Hey Hart - They put probe things all over my head once, when I was younger, and told me to try and sleep. HA. I was afraid they'd firgure out what I was thinking or dreaming and then realize what a crazy person I was. Needless to say, I didn't sleep. LOL

the sleep study does sound cool, though.

RaShelle Workman said...

Oh, ps: I have an award for you. xoxo

Ca88andra said...

I've often wondered about being a research subject, but could never bring myself to take whatever drugs they give you. The sleep thing sounds interesting though.

lisahgolden said...

I'm reading this when I should be sleeping! That's how much I've missed you.