Janet Kinosian - The Well-Rested Woman: 60 Soothing Suggestions for Getting a Good Nights Sleep

Copyright 2002 by Janet Kinosian

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews. For information, contact: Conari Press, an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC, 500 Third Street, Suite 230, San Francisco, CA 94107.

Cover Photography: Paul Vozdic/The Image Bank

Cover Design: Claudia Smelser

Book Design: Maxine Ressler

Author Photo: Levon Parian

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kinosian, Janet.

The well-rested woman : 60 soothing suggestions for getting a good night's sleep / Janet Kinosian.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 1-57324-813-4

1. Sleep. 2. Insomnia. 3. Women--Health and hygiene. I. Title.

RA786 .K56 2002

616.8'498'082--dc21

2002009407

Printed in the United States of America

02 03 04 05 TC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For my parents,
who sang me endless perfect lullabies.

To M. E., S.A., N. P., H.T. & L.A.
and all my child dreamers yet to come.

In memory of my father, with love
who sleeps now in rarer air.

Sleep, my love, let my sleep
fall to me in prayer,
and as we were on earth,
so let us remain.

GABRIELA MISTRAL

All I want is to sleep, long and deep,
the way a happy woman sleeps.

ROSARIO CASTELLANOS

Sand-clock moon.
The night empties out,
the hour is lit.

OCTAVIO PAZ

DISCLAIMER:

This book is not a substitute for the personal care and medical advice of your physician. It should be used only under the supervision and/or monitoring of your doctor or other health-care professional to help with your sleep difficulties. Do not take any medication, supplement, or herb, or pursue any medical activity referenced in this book without the permission of your doctor. If you are taking prescription medications, notify your physician about any new treatment, and do not take yourself off any medicines or start supplementation without the supervision of your doctor.

she slept the world.

RAINER MARIA RILKE

W HEN I WAS A CHILD, I SLEPT SOUNDLY, dreamt sweetly, and awoke triumphantly. Back then, sleep was pure pleasureas well as something I was good atand each morning I took myself away from something luxurious, soft, and intoxicating. Somehow, as an adult, the whole sleep experience got badly fractured; many of the women I talk to say the same. What ever happened to those dreamy nights when we slept deeply, when we didn't wake up at 2 A.M. wondering what other sad soul might be awake at this odd hour? Where did all the peaceful slumber go?

I'm not an M.D., a Ph.D., or a director of a sleep clinic. I am, however, a female insomnia sufferer who searched hard and ultimately found a good measure of peaceful sleep. I've spent the better part of fifteen years learning about sleepfrom a layperson's point of viewand what to do and not do to help get a better night's rest. This is a book of sleep solutions shared with my sisters-in-sleeplessness, and any woman who simply desires better, more peaceful slumber. Like most good advice, the suggestions are not earth shattering. In fact, you've probably heard some of them before. But now is the time to truly hear them, use them as a blueprint, a way to teach and train yourself to naturally move into a place of better rest.

The Well-Rested Woman: 60 Soothing Suggestions for Getting a Good Night's Sleep is designed to help you, a woman, cultivate the seeds of better sleep. On a daily basis. One need not be a classic insomniac to benefit from some great tips for the often difficult task of getting a rejuvenating night's sleep. Take the book an essay at a time, flip through the pages, mull it over, read it straight through; however you use it, the wish is that better sleep will bring you expanded energy, spilling over and infusing your life.

The first two chapters, What Is Sleep? Order and Disorder and Women and Sleep: Special Issues, give you straightforward factual information on sleepwhat it is, what is its function, and what can go wrongand information pertinent to womenhow our hormones and reproductive system affect our sleep. The book's main featuresixty fun and informative essays on sleepoffers scores of sleep solutions. Sectioned into six main categories, each highlights your sleep from a different vantage point. Creating the Right Environment offers suggestions to help transform your bedroom into a sleep oasis. De-stressing the Mind, Fine-Tuning the Body, and Soothing the Soul give you lovely, concrete ideas for the all-important task of de-stressing and preparing your body, mind, and soul for a better night's rest. Sleep Hazards lists things to avoid or watch out for, what I call sleep stealers. Finally, the last chapter, If You Need More Help, discusses further resources that can help with those sleepless nights.

I offer this book of sleep wisdom not within the impermeable boundaries of science, but, as Emily Dickinson would say, from my certain slant of light. In it, take solace, serenity, succor, and some new secrets. And, of course, sweetest sleep.

Janet Kinosian

Los Angeles 2002

In Lumine Tuo Uidebimis Lumen

In Thy Light we shall see Light

If sleep does not secure an
absolutely vital function, then it is the
biggest mistake the evolutionary
process ever made.

DR. ALLAN RECHTSCHAFFEN,
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

I T'S NO SECRET THAT WOMEN TODAY ARE IN DIRE need of some restful nights. Modern life seems to conspire in subtle and not so subtle ways to lop off precious hours of sleep from many women's lives. You may wonder, Am I getting enough sleep? Probably not, if you work, run a household, go to school full time, supervise your family's lives, or simply make time just for yourself among the schedules you're juggling.

Even if you do think you're getting the amount of sleep you should, you may wonder why you feel so tired and un-refreshed much of the time. This is not surprising. More than half of the women surveyed in a recent National Sleep Foundation Women and Sleep Poll reported insomnia symptoms sometime during every month. Various studies and polls indicate that nearly 30 million American women claim they long every day for a good night's sleep.

And despite what we sometimes think, a good night's sleep isn't a rare and exotic experience that occurs on high mountain tops and then only for those lucky enough to find it. Good sleep is an innate biological needa need the body makes sure it fulfills, even with only a few healthy sleep habits.

In evolutionary terms, it was only minutes ago that science took notice of what happens when someone closes their eyes. Before the 1950swhen medicine first started unraveling the sleeping brain's mysteriessleep was seen as a physiological, unmysterious, and natural daily happening, a true nonevent (it was only in 1996 that the American Medical Association recognized sleep medicine as a secondary specialty). Until the early '90s, women were often excluded from sleep studies because it was believed that their hormones would skew data. So women don't have a strong scientific history of help with sleep difficulties: health-care providers, medical information, and general self-help books didn't address the problem.