Christine is not a good sleep scientist

So, the good news is that I have been sleeping pretty well most nights over the past two weeks.

The bad news is that I’m not sure why.

You see, about two weeks ago , I accidentally started a very poorly structured experiment with my sleep.

I had had a migraine that lasted several days and I decided to switch out my pillow to see if better neck support would help.

And that same day, I came across the information that people with ADHD often also have a problem with histamines that affects their sleep.*And apparently taking an allergy pill before going to bed can help them sleep better. Since I already take an allergy pill every morning, I decided to try taking them at night, just to see.

And, as I was getting ready for bed that night, I accidentally knocked the medical tape I occasionally use to tape my mouth while I sleep. I first read about this as a sleep/anti-snoring trick in James Nestor’s book Breath and, yeah, it sounds weird but it can be really helpful.

It was only when I woke up the next morning, after a great night’s sleep, that I realized that I had conducted a very poor experiment.

Sure, I slept well, but was it the pillow? The allergy pill? The tape? The combination of all three?

I had too many variables!

If I was seeking a grant or hoping to publish my findings, I would be laughed right out of sciencing.

Luckily, I was just trying to get a good night’s sleep and there were no governing bodies or juried publications involved.

I guess the sensible thing to do would be to start over or to cut out variables and see what happens.

But I don’t want to take the risk and end up sleeping poorly again so instead I am keeping up my little ritual of rolling my pillow, taking my allergy pill, and using the tape.

So, what’s the conclusion to this experiment?

Something in that combination of factors seems to be helping me sleep.

Or maybe the effort to set myself up for good sleep helped my brain decide to sleep?

Or maybe it was all a coincidence and I fluked into some quality sleep?

Look, I’m clearly not a scientist – I have too many variables, I didn’t use a control group, and frankly, there is no scientific rigour being applied here – but I am a person who is willing to seek a variety of solutions to an issue I’m facing.

And since this combo seems to have helped. I am declaring it a non-scientific success.

I think I’ll leave the sciencing to the scientists and just go take a nap.

*Is this true? I have no idea. But since I was already taking an allergy pill daily, I figured there was no harm in trying. And after that first night, it occurred to me that, all along, I had been taking my 24 hour pill in the morning and then, at night when it was losing effectiveness, I was going to sleep in a closed room with Khalee – my dog and my main source of allergens! Even if the histamine thing isn’t true, it’s probably a good idea to take my allergy pill at night.