I think of my brain as being a car engine (I’m
sure it’s a Rolls-Royce), with a gear-box attached in order to regulate
the required power output. If I find myself
puzzling over the mysteries of life, replaying an argument in my mind and
finding clever points I wish I had made, or worrying about whether I am going
to fall asleep or not, then my mind will stay in fifth gear.
So how can you shift to first gear before
letting your mind drift to a stop? No
doubt there are many things you could try before going to bed, such as
stretching your muscles, taking a bath, or reading a book. I often listen to slow, relaxing music.
Yet I have recently discovered that there
are a huge variety of sounds that different people find relaxing. When my wife started having difficulty
getting to sleep, she did some research and found a specialist web-site with a
library of sounds that you can play in the background in order to relax. How about listening to the purring of
a cat? Or the burbling of a
stream? Or of the distant rumble
of city trains? Or of your mother gently
vacuuming in the background?
Huh?
That’s right. They have gone to the trouble of recording a
sound-loop of someone using a vacuum cleaner.
That way you can listen to it all night.
I would have thought that a vacuum cleaner
was just about the last thing that you would want to hear. But maybe it’s all about nostalgia. My wife found the sound of a chorus of croaking
frogs relaxing. She grew up within
earshot of a rice field, where the frogs would gather and croak loudly. So listening to the noise put her in mind of
her childhood.
Perhaps being reminded of your mother
cleaning the house (or father, before you cry “sexist!”) makes some people feel
safe and warm, as if they were in their childhood home again.
I’m a city boy from Glasgow. I don’t know if I can find a taped loop of
drunken neighbours singing and shouting in order to get the perfect nostalgic soundtrack
to fall asleep to. Until then I’ll be
left with my slow, relaxing music. And
my wife’s frogs.
Vocabulary:
insomnia – the medical condition of having
difficulty sleeping
to drift off to sleep – to gently fall
asleep
to regulate – to control, adjust
to purr – of a cat, to make a deep sound
with its throat, often when stroked
to burble – to make the sound of gently
running water, such as a slowly moving stream or river
rumble – a deep, lasting noise such as the
passing of a heavy train, or thunder
to croak – of a frog, to make a deep,
throaty noise, often to call a mate
within earshot of – close enough to hear
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