Ear plugs!
Ok, this is a life-hacking post. Mick Souder changed my life. Maybe I'll change yours with this post.
I haven't slept well for years. I have ears that will pick up a gnat sneezing from a half a mile away, so I hear all the little night sounds. Furnaces, water softeners, dew dripping through downspouts, trains, trucks, etc. etc.
All those little sounds wake me up, and once awake I start "processing" stuff...
Mick gave me some earplugs about a year ago when we dropped by his place in Durango and I forgot about them (I was sick at the time and didn't feel like trying them right away). I finally got around to trying them on our recent RV trip when we were parked close to a freeway.
ASTOUNDING! Complete silence. I slept through the night for the first time in 25 years. I've been using them ever since with the same result. I sleep like a teenager. I notice a huge difference in my energy level, my frame of mind, etc. etc.
These gizmos can be yours for about 15 cents a pair -- a box of 200 pairs cost me about $30 at Northern Tool. I like the Classic flavor (the kind Mick gave me).
Click HERE to look at 'em.
February 26th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Gotta say, cheap earplugs also significantly reduce the stress of sitting in an airliner. They do a good job of blocking the high-frequency hiss of the air and the higher frequency turbine noise components.
I find that I'm *much* more relaxed and rested when I get off a flight using them than not.
February 26th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Me too! My wife also brings me back the NWA plugs from her trips (no...I'm *not* too cheap to buy 'em!). The only thing though is when she's traveling I am nervous about not hearing hippie types from St. Anthony breaking in downstairs (takes me awhile to get the bazooka from under my bed so hearing 'em early is good).
Me too on the sleeping like a teenager bit though.
Tip for flying like jml said: I use these earplug-like headphones for my iPod when flying, and have given up schlepping my Bose noise cancelling ones since the earplug ones work perfectly, keep out ambient noise and pack well.