I love to sleep. In fact, as a child and teenager, I had quite the reputation when it came to my sleep schedule. Let’s just say that most of my friends and family knew better than to disturb me before twelve noon on the weekends – and it sort of became a standing joke.
Fast forward twenty-odd years and the only thing that’s changed is I no longer have the luxury of sleeping until twelve noon anymore. Nevertheless, I still love my sleep as much as ever and I firmly believe that a good bed is vital, because – let’s face it – you spend half your life sleeping. (Okay, statistically it’s a third of your life, but who’s counting?)
If you stop to think about it, sleep is actually a rather mysterious activity. While some people need lots of sleep and others can get by on hardly any sleep at all, it’s still an innate action that we must all partake in. Research indicates that we cannot function properly without sleep and total sleep deprivation, over an extended period, could potentially kill you. At the very least, there are some serious side effects to prolonged sleep deprivation such as hallucinations, disorientation and even psychosis.
However, what I find really fascinating about sleep are the many different aspects related to this activity. Even when our bodies go into what feels like stasis, there is still so much taking place on a physical and mental level. While our bodies take the time to rejuvenate and grow, our minds are equally active processing information.
On a mental level, our desires and fears tend to appear in the form of dreams and nightmares. This often feels so tangible that it’s sometimes difficult to distinguish between fantasy and reality.
On the other hand, there’s a wide array of peculiar, physical activities. Yes, I’m talking about drooling (delightful, but it happens to the best of us), grinding your teeth (which I’m told is absolutely awful to hear) and the dreaded sound of snoring. Don’t we all love to be stuck with someone who snores – and the older you get, the more it reaches epidemic proportions! To make matters worse, snoring is a very singular activity, as no two snorers sound the same. I know a person who snores like a choo-choo train. I kid you not! It would be laughable if it wasn’t quite so annoying. However, I’m sure it’s no better having a snorter, whistler, rumbler, rattler or Darth Vader sleep next to you. And the worst part is that it is virtually impossible to fall asleep if the snorer beats you to it – which, for some perverse reason, they always do!
To further compound the mystery of sleep, sometimes our mental and physical activities manifest together. It seems our bodies – and even our minds to some degree – can’t always distinguish between whether we are awake or asleep. As a result, I’m sure many bedfellows have “accidentally” been kicked by their partners at some point – although it’s rather hard to know just how involuntary that leg jerk really was.
Finally, there’s sleepwalking and talking, which I find particularly strange and intriguing – if not a little freaky. Of course, the people who do these things can’t help it, so I intend no offence. Yet, there is something so eerie about watching someone walk around and do things on autopilot. It’s like the lights are on, but no one’s home. And it’s equally disturbing to hear someone randomly shouting out mumbled sentences in the middle of the night, especially when you catch phrases such as “I’m going to kill you”. Clearly someone’s been watching too many action movies! Still, it’s quite hard to go back to sleep after hearing that even if you have absolutely no doubt that the words weren’t meant for you.
Yes, people do weird and wonderful things in their sleep, which just adds to the mystery. What’s more, no two people have the same experience or outward behaviour when they sleep, which just goes to show that even when we’re asleep, there’s still something inside all of us that’s very much awake!
Audrey Whyte 
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