Last night I was enjoying a really deep sleep. Honestly, most nights I enjoy a really deep sleep. Now, you might ask how does one actually “enjoy” a deep sleep? Well, I’m not sure really, but when the bedquake hit, it jolted me from the deep sleep I was enjoying and I was now no longer enjoying it! A bedquake? What’s a bedquake?
A bedquake is something my wife Kari has invented in order to prevent me from having a really deep sleep. It’s a tactic she resorts to when the foot rub on my calf doesn’t work. The foot rub on the calf is only good to disrupt my sleep if I’m not that deep into it. One night I was just dozing off and could feel this strange calf massage thing going on. I thought, “huh, that’s strange,” and just rolled over and went back to sleep. But if I’m in full REM, she goes nuclear and employs the bedquake.
Now since I am asleep I’m a little fuzzy on the details of how she carries out the bedquake, but what I can surmise from the brief few disoriented nanoseconds of awakening, is that maybe she is doing some jumping up and down on the bed, or possibly standing next to the bed and shaking it hard and then jumping back in just before it awakens me, like nothing was going on. She’s somewhat subversive about it, just wanting to disrupt my sleep enough to get the results she’s looking for. She thinks I don’t know about these two tactics, but I’m starting to see the big picture.
Now, you might ask why the hell is she doing this?! It’s simple really. I’m enjoying a really deep sleep and she is not. And the reason she’s not – apparently I am a snorer.
The best of wake up and go to sleep – A link to ten great seconds of the Three Stooges
I say “apparently” I am a snorer, because it’s very difficult to realize you are a snorer while being asleep. But I am told I snore by Kari. And the kids. Sometimes during a nap I will wake up suddenly, like I was actually awoken by a loud noise. I’m starting to think that I might actually be a snorer. But being a denier is easier. Okay, I snore. Big deal. I admit it, even with circumstantial evidence, I admit it. But I don’t want to admit it because the implication is that there is something wrong with me for being a snorer.
I sleep pretty soundly, but I find that I sleep most soundly on my back. Years ago I saw a report on back pain and how sleeping on your stomach would lead to back aches. Since I had back pain, I switched. And I have been a back sleeper ever since. And I don’t move. I’m like that scene in the movie Psycho where they show the bed where mother “sleeps.” My side of the bed is starting to get a channel in it as well.
But I usually start on my side, and that will generally last until I’m about to be out. Kari prefers the “on the side” sleeping me, because that is the non-snoring me. Apparently there is a link to my sleeping on my back and snoring. Side sleeping me = no snoring. Back sleeping me = OMG! TIME TO EMPLOY THE BEDQUAKE!
Snoring can be caused by several things, all of which I categorically deny having. I’m not obese, I don’t smoke, drink or take drugs, nor am I pregnant (I looked up reasons for snoring and it was there). Sleep apnea? I looked at the symptoms of that too and none of them apply to me, at least the awake me. Even if I did have sleep apnea, there’s no way I’m wearing that dumb mask thing. No way. I do go to bed with some nasal congestion. Maybe I should look into a decongestant prior to bed, or a nasal spray or something.
I really think the issue lies with the jaw. Try making a snoring sound, then move your lower jaw forward and try to make a snoring sound. Can’t do it, can you? When I’m sleeping on my back, my jaw naturally relaxes and gets into a position that promotes snoring. That’s my thinking, and I’m sticking with it.
So last night I was having this dream, I don’t even remember what it was about, but it was building in intensity and then the bedquake hit. For a moment I thought that maybe the dream was what jolted me awake, because I hate being unsettled by dreams. But as I lay there in the brief moment of being suddenly awakened, I started to piece it together. The bedquake was employed. And maybe it was because I was snoring. I was probably snoring. OKAY, I WAS SNORING! I’m an un-peaceful, peaceful sleeper. I guess I better get used to bedquakes.
zzzzz – foot/calf rub
ZZZZZ – BEDQUAKE!!!
an amazing run 