Hurry to Sleep Now, Your DS Will Keep Now…

Here’s a thought: People have long used media of one kind or another to lull themselves to sleep. In the past, the entertainment media of choice were books, radio and TV.

As I sit here in bed with my laptop literally in my lap, I wonder if the choice of medium will change again. Laptops are a little clunky to sleep with though.

I’m sure people have been putting themselves to sleep with a good book (or a dull book, depending on your level of insomnia) for centuries. In early America, I’m sure that book was mainly the Bible. Later, a variety of books, newspapers and magazines were readily available.

In the 20^th century, we added pulp fiction, comics and magazines of all types to this. (I picture the kid hiding under the covers with a flashlight and his favorite space alien comic.) Lately, I’ve been reading “The Elephants of Style” (a stylebook for writers and editors) just before I doze off. I’m not sure if I’m retaining any of the lessons in there, but it’s a good sleep aid for some reason. (And not to say that it’s dull either – it’s actually quite funny for a stylebook.)

I also favor trashy women’s magazines and crossword puzzles. Crossword puzzles almost always put me to sleep if I do them in bed.

When radio became a popular in-home entertainment media appliance, I’m sure people put themselves to sleep listening to their favorite radio programs or popular music. We’ve all seen images of families gathered around a refrigerator-sized radio, listening to news, music and radio dramas at night.

When I was a little girl and I stayed with my grandparents, I have sweet memories of falling asleep next to my grandfather, listening to baseball games on a.m. radio. I also remember a sleep-over at a friend’s house, hearing music and radio noise all night long. She couldn’t sleep without it.

Live music is another option. We know moms and dads having been singing lullabies to their kids for centuries.

And then there’s TV. Was it about 30 years ago or so that people started putting TVs in their bedrooms? I’m sure Johnny Carson, Jay Leno and David Letterman have put countless numbers of people to sleep – no offense to them.

Entertainment media is just that – entertainment. It’s an escape from reality, from our routine of chores and responsibilities. It helps us wind down… and it becomes habit forming, which helps us get in the zone for sleep.

Personally, I find sleeping with TV and radio intrusive and jarring, but that’s me. Now that we’re well into the digital age, I wonder how many couples are checking and programming their PDAs on either side of the bed before dozing off to sleep. Or how many bloggers do what I just did and blog in bed. Who knows, maybe they’ll even create a sleep-inducing video game… something with sheep that gets slower… and slower….