When it comes to sleep, I’m a modern-day Goldilocks, always searching for what’s just right.
My bedtime routine involves heating my wheat bag (made from wheat that my parents grew on their farm), fluffing my two pillows (one flat, one fluffy), positioning my three blankets perfectly, and tossing and turning and shifting until I find my spot, the one that’s just right.
Whatever easygoing nature I have gets tossed in the laundry bin when it’s bedtime. If my above-mentioned routine isn’t enough to weird-out my husband, I have some other sleep-isms: I can’t sleep if my feet are hot. I need a fan (or fresh air) on me at all times. My feet need to hang over the edge of the bed. I wear fluorescent earplugs.
Nothing says sexy like earplugs.
Except purchasing my own, I-do-not-share duvet (I’ll take the least-hot one, thank you very much, Mr. IKEA). My own blankie may have actually saved my marriage; at the very least, this purchase was cheaper (and less Flintstones-like) than buying twin beds.
My latest blanket purchase was my Mother’s Day gift. I convinced my husband I needed a weighted blanket made by my friend, owner of Hippo Hug.
My friend started making weighted blankets (and stuffed animals) to help kids with autism and special needs.
And then along came people like me.
Now she also makes weighted blankets for neurotic adults with sleep issues people like me.
My blanket weighs 16 pounds. I adore it. It’s like I have a man on top of me, without the hair and elbows. A very light man. A stick man, perhaps.
When I sleep with my weighted blankie, I don’t toss and turn. In fact, I barely move. If I do move, I get a workout. Then I log it on my My Fitness Pal.
~~~
Hippo Hug has a giveaway on right now. You could win this:
And guess what? The contest is open not only to Canadians, but also to Americans. It’s like Thanksgiving never ended, y’all.
YOUR TURN:
What bizarre sleep habits do you (or people you know) have?
“Then I log it on my My Fitness Pal.”
Leanne,
Now, THAT I’m putting in front of the invigilator!
Referee!
brendan
You know I jest, Brendan; I only use MFP when I’m active (which was in August!)
Apparently, I roll myself into a Sarah burrito at night, which is no biggie in the summer, but Ryan seems to be fighting me back now that winter’s coming. Apparently, I fought him off with my elbow into his neck one night.
What I’m trying to say is that I may need that weighted blanket. Also, I’m definitely logging tossing and turning as exercise now. Why didn’t I think of that earlier?!?
Love the burrito image, Sarah!
I’m totally asking for one of these weighted blankets for Christmas.
Also earplugs.
Because I’m dead sexy.
Amen, Sistah.
I have just been researching weighted blankets for my daughter, she has a huge problem settling down at night. This would be awesome.
As for me, I sleep in a flamingo post and wrap myself in pillows. I have also been known to undress in the middle of the night without realizing it.
The blanket is wonderful (and soft). I want to take it to the dentist next time I go…
I have just been researching weighted blankets for my daughter, she has a huge problem settling down at night. This would be awesome.
As for me, I sleep in a flamingo post and wrap myself in pillows. I have also been known to undress in the middle of the night without realizing it.
I have sleep apnea, so I sleep with a mask. It’s dead sexy. Yes, I sound like Darth Vader but I don’t care because for the first time in about two decades, I am sleeping well.
My husband is not *as* delighted with this newest development, though he is very happy to no longer be kept awake because I’m snoring or he’s waiting for me to start breathing again. (I used to stop breathing for 30 seconds at a time, 32 times an hour. Crazy, scary stuff)
Now that winter has arrived, I wear socks to bed, but my feet have to be out of the blankets and Mark has to stay on his side. His feet cannot touch any part of me, least of all MY feet or I will kick. Hard.
AND I wear a gummer, which stops me from grinding my teeth.
So, to sum up: gummer, flannel pjs, woolly socks and a Darth Vader mask.
I don’t think there’s any reason to worry about falling pregnant with a third child….
I love you, Liz. I think you one-upped me (and I’m OK with that!)
P.S. I just read the other comments and find it hilarious that Julie also used the term “dead sexy.” Ha!
I guess in a former life I was some sort of cliff dweller, because I have to sleep on the very edge of the bed. I tell my boyfriend that only 18 inches of the bed is mine because he hogs it all, but I know the real truth. 🙂
Ha. I do that too. But I blame my older sister, who I shared a bed with for years. Once I was asleep, she’d put her two feet on my back and push me up against the wall…
Lol Sounds a lot like my sister!
What the heck is a wheat bag???? Sleeping with it could be going against the grain….. I couldn’t resist.
I’m curious about the wheat bag, too.
It’s a small, cloth bag filled with wheat. You heat it in the microwave. It acts like a hot water bottle. Minus the water. And the bottle.
loved this! Currently needing a blankie somewhere between a sheet and a duvet and a bed much bigger than the current one and an extra side car for my transformer-toddler and a special pillow for preggie hips… I used to sleep easily but can relate to this at the moment!
Oh, pregnancy. Yes, that requires multiple sleep props!
I am pretty sure that I snore a lot, that and I have seizures but I am getting better rest and my cat is next to me. Apparently the snoring doesn’t phase her much but I have heard her snore too.. lol
Cats snore? Huh!
Yes but it is very light… she does snore.. lol. why are you surprised?
Nice to know that I’m not the only one with unusual sleeping habits. I need at least two fluffy pillows, I’m a really heavy sleeper and I talk and move around in my sleep.
Here’s to having shared neuroses!
Always good to know you’re not alone!
Love the idea of a weighted blanket! I sleep in the “Flamingo pose” as well.
That’s how I slept when I was pregnant. Only I didn’t know it was called that. 🙂
Fun reading in the comments too! I am also a feet out person, and I keep my room cold all year long. Then I snuggle down in the blankets. And I’m a two pillow girl too. Also one fluffy and one thinner, but not too thin. But I hate blankets that are too heavy. I like them fluffy and light and not wrapped too tight.
Agreed. I have the best commenters!
I’ve been told that I snore, but, being asleep, I’ll just have to take their word. Although it did seem strange when i woke up to have a pillow tied to my head.
While I read this post, I though I’d had the worst attack of ‘floaters’ in a long while until I realized that your web page had snow on it. Just what I needed to aid and abet those nasty things in my eye.
Ha. The WordPress snow. Sorry about that!
I have to have sound while I sleep, so a fan is always on for white noise, but not ON me. Facing away. Also, I can’t have anyone touch me while I’m sleeping. No cuddling! Talk about sexy. I also need to have one foot out from under the covers, or possibly just a knee.
My kids used to toss and turn like crazy when they were wee. I would burrito them when they were tiny, then sleepsack them later. I wonder if this weighted blanket thing would have helped more.
Burrito-roll kids. Yes, we did that too with our twins. Until they got to the escape-artist stage.
That’s a great idea! And a great description of what it’s like to sleep under a weighted blanket. My husband and I are completely sleep incompatible. I need to be very, very bundled with everything tucked in. Like a cocoon. My husband needs basically the polar opposite of what I do.
A male friend once told me that men can’t sleep with the covers tucked in because it’s like having an erection in jeans.
I can’t really vouch for that…
Oh haha, I never even considered anything like that!
Weighted blanket you say, mmhh – to go with my socks (white) and MY wheat bag – and now you go and tell me these things aren’t sexy?
Ha. Sexy is as sexy does!
Since the kids came along (our kids are teens) my wife does not go to bed at the same time that I do. I always leave my bedside table lamp on when I go to bed, so I know when she has come to check in on me. She turns the light off, sometimes wakes me to say good night.
That’s really sweet. My hubby goes to bed first, too.
So, my eye plugs are …not sexy? oh
It’s in the eye of the beholder. (And we can always hope the beholder has poor eyesight.)
Indeed: I`m all for poor eye sight – but in the dark, who knows.
Sleep is for the young. At my age, you get in bed and wonder how many times the hour on the clock will change before you fall asleep. Then, you sleep a little while and wake up and start it all over again.
I dread that. I’m bad at insomnia…
I felt like I was reading a diary that I didn’t remember writing. I require the 3 blankets and the 2 pillows (one fluffy and one flat). I also require a body pillow, a habit I became addicted to with pregnancy. BUT there is no freakin’ way my feet could stick out! That’s just monster-under-the-bed bait.
Thank you for the link to your friend. My son has autism, so I’m very familiar with weighted blankets, vests, etc…, but I’ve also been searching for something heavy for myself to use that wouldn’t make me dissolve into a puddle of sweat.
I used a body pillow too during pregnancy. I gave it up after the long pillow knocked over the glass of water on my nightstand all over my books (twice in one week).
Here’s to a good sleep: for us and for our children, too.
I could be captain of the Canadian Olympic Sleeping Team, really. As long as they’re OK with someone who needs a mouthguard to prevent her teeth from wearing down from clenching her jaw while she sleeps. (The mouthguard is also dead sexy.)
I’ve used earplugs for so long now that just putting them in is a sleep trigger most of the time.
When I’m really going for seductive, I put moisturizer on my heels, wrap my feet in plastic wrap, and slide socks on to keep the plastic in place. Men love that.
Laughing at your foot trick. I think I’ll live with the scaly, rock-hard heel skin. Men love that, right?
Love.
Let’s see, I think you’re aware of my odd sleep habits. I like it freezing cold so I can bury under the covers, but if it’s too warm, I only cover my legs. I sleep with a flatter pillow under my head, a lighter one on top, and a body pillow for my side. I also have ear plugs (I’ve found a love mustard yellow kind that is just the right firmness) and top it off with playing music on my iPod with earplugs in my ears all night (song for the last year on repeat: Michael Nyman’s “The heart asks pleasure first”).
That’s right, I’m the world’s lightest sleeper and you might almost appear normal next to me. 😉
Ha. That’s even more stages than me!
I am so getting one for my wife. We love heavy blankets and usually have a stack on the bed that looks like we are trying to recreate the princess and the pea story. Hey, it’ll be a surprise, so don’t tell my wife…
Holy shit, I too have my own duvet and I think it saves my marriage every night. I thought I was the only one.
Thanks so much for sharing Leanne, I have been enjoying reading the comments and am glad some of the people have already been in touch!
I might need that weighted blanket for my husband – to keep him immobile in the night. If I sleep alone, when I wake up in the AM I don’t even have to make the bed b/c it’s still perfectly in place. W/ my husband though, it looks like a bomb went off.
Reblogged this on quirkywritingcorner and commented:
I’m not admitting to any weird sleep habits, unless you count that my husband and I like to hold hands until we fall asleep. I’m usually in slumberland long before him.
Ear plugs, mouth guard and 4 pillows for this momma’s slumber! Sleep in the nude to counteract the “not-so-hot babe” look. One pillow under head, one on top of head to drown out any sounds the ear plugs missed, one to cuddle and one between knees to keep hips aligned. No one can find me in the mound of pillows. (Probably good considering the aforementioned nudity.) Sleep on my left side only (no flipping) during night, on the very edge of the bed for no rational reason. Overhead fan on for white noise and cool air. For as long as I can remember (normally my memory ‘s only good for about 14 seconds), I’ve always been cold. Once horizontal, though, I’m a furnace. WTH?? Spend a lot of time nesting like a dog to get just the right spot. Insomnia? Forever. The weighted blanket sounds worth a try…