I’ve never been a sound sleeper.
I think the trouble started as a child when I was afraid the world would end when I closed my eyes every night.
I thought all my loved ones would be gone when morning came, and couldn’t get over my anxiety enough to even go to slumber parties with other kids my age. That difficulty finding slumber has followed me into adulthood, and left me with a particular set of conditions that must be in place before I can drift off. The number one requirement is a cold environment. In the winter I sleep with my window cracked open so that the indoor air temperature of my bedroom is never anywhere near the settings on the thermostat. In the morning I can simply close the window and wait for my furnace to warm my room back up. However, in the summer it’s not so easy to establish a cool sleeping environment and I operate my air conditioner heavily every single night. I know it’s not ideal for my cooling unit to be put through its paces on a daily basis, but I don’t have another means of lowering the air temperature adequately. That’s why I’m forced to lower the thermostat to about 68 degrees every evening and wait for the cool, dry air to flow through my air vents. Even that isn’t satisfying enough most nights, and I also end up employing a large box fan pointed directly at my bed for extra ventilation. It’s really hard work being a bad sleeper.