h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, I'm not sure about what Mother Nature had in store for us Northerners - but whatever it was, I don't see how you're supposed to get a decent night of sleep at this time of year!

And to think that I even dare complain even though I don't live up *really* north where they already have the midnight sun (forget about sunrises or sunsets, OK?)

But I don't think it's quite fair to have a very light and very pale blue sky at 10 pm - how am I possibly supposed to trick my body to think it's bed time?

Considering the fact that the summer morning sun tricks my body into thinking it's perfectly alright to wake up at 5 am - how else could this equation sum up except with me having a serious lack of sleep?

I have never been that far north, sounds interesting and how does one go about going to the north at this time of year! I guess what i'm saying, is it easy to move around at this time of year, in the north!

Very thick curtains perhaps. When I was in the Hebridies I found that I got quite used to going to bed in the light.

When I got back I realised that I'd not seen dark for weeks.

isn't it!

You need to buy a sleep mask. Some of the leading ladies in the movies in the 40's used to wear them.

The days will start getting shorter now, T, so you should be able to get to at a more reasonable time before long.

Get used to it. This time of the year is not meant for sleeping. You will miss that light in half a year.
The sun sets here but it doesn't get dark anymore.

Consider it as a luxury problem that you can counter with curtains.

I hate the opposite, especially some years back when I woke up in the dark, went to work in the dark, worked most of the day in a windowless (except for the pc's ) room, and went home again in the dark..

Heavy curtains and sleep masks aside (creating 'artificial' night), I guess the reply to my question is that Mother Nature never intended for humans to live this far up north...

Getting around? No problem getting around in Sweden in this time of the year - not like in the winter. But then, this is a country where studded tyres are allowed from October 1st until April 30th *and* outside of that time frame should the road conditions so demand...

Who said getting to bed involves sleeping?

OK - I must confess I don't have a problem sleeping in the summer, either. Ms SG V seems to think that I have this pillow-activated switch on the back of my head

With this in mind, I actually must confess that I love the light summer evenings. I bicycled - rather than walked - the for his evening outing yesterday around 22:30 and there was the most fabulous evening sky, still not dark, with pinkish orange clouds here and there, set off by the remains of the day's rain clouds still hovering ominously in the background...

I agree the sunsets are wonderful but then I'm thankful for my thick-lined curtains.

Strangely enough I saw a sleep mask in Asda's last week, and thought about buying it. It came with two sets of ear plugs. That would be to drown out the neighbour's and the fighting territorial neighbourhoods - I suppose.

We have the opposite problem, probably 'cos it's Wimbledon week, it never even got light yesterday, plenty of rain which should please Mina, and it's dull and overcast today.

Ho hum.

Have you seen "The Day After Tomorrow" T, you'll never complain about our weather again

I don't tend to be bothered by the light summer evenings but it really annoys Toc. Having grown up in Portsmouth she just cannot get her head round the idea of going to bed when it is light. As I have to get up at six in the morning though it is necessary for me. Its the point when you realise you are trying to sleep and the kids are still playing outside that makes the brain hurt.

Ti:
I lived in Iceland (Keflavik NAS) for 2-3/4 years (1996-99) and found it a challenge to adapt to the changing daylight-to-darkness ratio. Our unit worked three rotating shifts (Days, Swings, Mids) and staying in synch with world and local environment wasn’t easy. We had to be really mindful of watching the watch in order to keep from getting confused about the time of day.

At that latitude, just below the Arctic Circle, we either gained or lost six minutes of daylight each day, depending on the season. That’s equivalent to about one full hour’s difference every ten days!

Going into the Winter season wasn’t too bad for me, as I don’t suffer from SAD, because I just turned on all the lights in the apartment when I got up. Voila! It’s daytime! Moving into the Summer months gave me fits, though, as I usually “burned my candle at both ends,” staying up way too late. I found myself flying a stunt kite in the typically gale-force winds sweeping across the peninsula—at 2:00am in the morning!

The suggestion put forward to invest in some dark, heavy curtains is good. Using a sleep mask and earplugs helps, too. It worked wonders for me during our Refuel Outage, as we don’t have dark curtains in our bedroom, and my wife was kind enough to keep the kids quiet, as well. The one thing I admired about European home construction was the THICK walls and their installation of what the Germans call “rolladens” (or some-such). These are wooden or plastic slatted exterior blinds built into the casement above the window. There’s a pull cord inside the room that one uses to raise or lower the blinds. They can be up out of the way, lowered to afford small slits of light to pass between the slats, or lowered all the way so the slats are together, which allows NO light to enter. Good for sleeping!

B4ifindmypillowforashortnappy

The 'rolladens' sound a lot like what we in Sweden call 'persienn' - if they're made of aluminium, then they're pretty good at shutting out the ligth, but if they're made of PVC then they will let some of the sunlight shine through...

I've got aluminium whats-its in my bedroom, but there's a rather big slit at the top, and then all those little holes for the thread that pulls them up - big enough to let the sunshine in to tickle my nose...

...early in the morning. Put him in the longboat till he’s sober...

I guess I'll have to get myself one of those sleep masks, then.

I suffer quite badly from SAD so I try to get the best out of light days (and nights). Luckily enough I can chose the time of the day for sleeping. Especially in few days when I'll move to the summerhouse. Not even a pc tempting me off my pillow there.

Well - the PCs quite akward for resting the head on anyway

The mouse mat is quite . I have this jelly thingie there.

I have a gel wrist support on my mat, is that like yours, Hati?

It doesn't actually help my wrist at all, but it is rather nice and squidgy.

I used to love the long summer evenings as a child, I could read in bed and not get found out.

Yep, that's it, .
My wrist needs support very badly. Couple nights ago I was at my friends place and she doesn't have any wrist support. My wrist still hurts.