Blog1 min read
Music for a sleepless night
Different from the sleep playlist, even though they share most of the music. The job changes when sleep won't come.
A sleepless night is a different brief from the sleep playlist, even though they share most of the music. The sleep playlist is for falling away; the sleepless playlist is for being awake at two in the morning and not yet ready to give up. The job changes.
Anything too quiet, at this point, is a kind of insult — you're aware of the silence, you're aware of the music, the music isn't doing its job. The wellness room sometimes fits better at this hour than the sleep room itself. Something to sit alongside the wakefulness instead of pretending to dissolve it.
What I avoid is starting anything new. New music at two in the morning is a small commitment to staying up longer; the brain will follow the unfamiliar pattern. Familiar music tells the brain it can stop tracking. Eventually, sometimes, the brain takes the offer.
What I've also learned: there's a strong argument for getting out of bed for forty minutes and reading, with the music low, before trying again. The room is the room; the bed has become a place where you're failing to sleep, which is the wrong association. Music for the chair, not the pillow, until the body is ready to swap.