Night Time Sleep Ritual

While I rarely have any sort of trouble falling asleep at night, I suspect the reason for my ease in falling asleep is due to consistent routines that tend to follow.  The three routines that I follow typically are:

1.  "Intimate Proclivities" - an obvious and joyful method of acquiring a good night's rest involve indulging in intimacy with a loved one.  And, so, when my wife is willing and of a mind to indulge me, this is an excellent and favored choice.  However, it is not always an option. 

2.  "The Novel" - as my occupation as a professor has me reading a good bit of the time, "the novel" may seem at first glance to be an odd choice.  However, as a scientist, the VAST majority of my work related reading is technical, dry, and requires a certain alert mindset.  I do, however, find that reading fiction at night is a wonderfully different sort of beast.  It is a story, it is read for pleasure and does not require the same sort of focus as does my daytime reading.  I have several novels in my queue right now, and I find that on nights when #1 is not an option, reading 3 or 4 chapters in a good book relaxes my mind in such a way that sleep then is readily available.  The only time a good novel is not reliably helpful, however, is usually during the first 2-3 chapters.  I find that when I START a new book, I tend to focus more to create the story in my imagination and sometimes it is more challenging to sleep.  Once I have the characters well established in my mind, however, (like after the first few chapters), then my novel reading is almost akin to a movie playing in my mind. 

3.  "The Briarpatch" -  Even though I have forsaken the pipe at this time, I find it interesting, and sometimes quite helpful for me at night when I am trying to fall asleep.  During the day, I tend to try to focus away from thinking about my pipes and pipe tobaccos for the most part, as to think about them will create pangs of desire for a pipe.  However, at night, when I am in bed, I often find great comfort and a clearing of the mind by thinking about my pipes, pipe tobaccos, times I have indulged in the beautiful leaf, and the various shops I have visited over the years.  Thoughts of these memories, when trying to fall asleep give me a sense of tranquility that helps me. 

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