Sleep. The Bane of My Existence
For most of my
life I have been chasing sleep. For me it is like a greased pig as it
always wiggles out of my grasp. My particular sleep issue, as it
turns out, is not sleep itself. It's falling asleep. Once I am asleep ... I
am asleep. I do not wake up after a short period. If I happen to
arouse in the middle of the night I can fall back to sleep rather quickly.
But it's the 'falling asleep' that's my problem. My 'alpha' state', or
relaxation state... appears fine. It is my 'Theta' state that does not seem
to function properly. Deep relaxation Theta waves are produced in our big
brains when we are on the verge of sleeping. It is that 'daydreaming'
feeling one might get when looking out a window on a rainy day or lounging
by an ocean or pool. When my brain goes from alpha to theta something
triggers a response that wakes me up and does not allow the natural
progression to 'delta' or deep sleep.
Could my
insomnia be an anomaly with my brain? The tinnitus in my ringing ears? A
deep seeded bad memory from childhood? Maybe its the fact that I have a
deviated septum? I have made all the rounds to the doctors and sleep
clinics. I have seen neurologists, psychologists and hypnotists. No help...
just more sleeping pills. Many years ago, recognizing my particular
problem, I made a recording that 'emulated' the theta wave
experience. It was a rough version of what I now call 'Snowy
Mountain Hike' . I visualized the scenario through the
sounds I had mixed myself. ... hiking in the woods.... snow falling...
wind blowing... getting lost... finding shelter... starting a fire and
surprisingly, it worked.
IT
WORKED!
I am not sure
if it was the nature sounds or the visualization process that did the
trick. However, I know the combination of the two created a new relaxation
audio genre that five years later became this site. Why did it take five
years? Because I had a life. I was not even thinking about making sleep
CD's as an vocation or even an avocation. But, over time, one thing
led to another and here we are.
P.S. You will
notice if you look at Snowy Mountain Hike that there is a
vocal and non-vocal MP3 version. My early recordings never had a vocal
track and I am thinking about removing all the vocal versions as they are
pretty much self-explanatory.
Talk at 'cha later!
Brad
McBride
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