Sleep Problems

whether it's a problem going to bed or rising from it, i think we all have them. i can't decide which one is worse. being a student most of my life, i only came up with the solution to them almost by the end of my school-days: an mp3 player. *gasp*

If I'm having trouble sleeping
over the years, i found out that i sleep faster when it's raining, not because of the cold(although, it's a plus), but because it drowns out noise. so i downloaded an mp3 of the sound of rain (with the occasional rolling thunder), put in-ear headphones on and adjust the volume. i'd be asleep after five to ten minutes.

it's widely believed that soft and mellow classical music usually does the trick. i tried; it failed. it's because my brain looks for patterns in what i'm hearing and music has a lot of that. i tend to look for the patterns and forget to relax so i can sleep.


If I want to wake up early but I'd rather go back to sleep
my last semester in college, i was working on my thesis about how color and music affect a person's mood. research shows that up-beat music stimulates the release of certain neurotransmitters that quickens bodily functions, such as heart rate. that was my answer: music with a fast tempo.

i had a seven thirty class in the morning and had to travel for about forty-five minutes, at most, to get to school. so roughly, i have to wake up around five thirty to take a bath and eat breakfast.

i really hate those minor subjects that either starts very early, finishes late, gives more assignments than your majors *ahem* P.E. *ahem* and/or is the only class for the day. but we don't have any choice, do we? i can't skip that class either because i don't want to NOT graduate because of some subject that i can't even use after college. i mean, Social Science. pffft!

what i do the night before is set my mp3 to an upbeat song that i like(at the time) so that it's the first song i hear when i turn it on. i make it repeat over and over again just in case i don't wake up the first three minutes. oh yeah, i set it in a loud volume, just enough to pop my eyes wide open but not impair my ears for life. and since it's a song i like, it cancels out that grouchy feeling you get when you know that you just woke up early for a subject not worth mentioning. it can get you in that i've-got-a-pocketful-of-sunshine-scene-from-Easy-A moment.