Every person has his own ritual of sleeping. There are those who dip his entire body from the top of his head to his soles with emulsions and skincare oils before lying down in bed at night, and the habit of putting his feet around one side of the sleeping blanket.
Many are the preferred sleep conditions of people, and this was the subject of an article by Amanda Mall in The Atlantic magazine.
Amanda says most people adapt to at least one habit of sleeping habits. A fan in the bedroom is a common habit.
Some people are tied to a pillow they carry with them when traveling, and others insist that the limbs of their legs hang out of bed. Some adults used to embrace stuffed dolls at bedtime.
Choosing the right position for the feet or choosing a variety of pillows may seem ridiculous. But if one feels that he needs such rituals, forgetting or ignoring them may affect his ability to sleep and may annoy those who sleep beside him.
Clinical sleep disorders, such as insomnia or sleep apnea, affect about 70 million Americans, and 60 percent of adults in the United States have trouble sleeping all or most nights, according to an Atlantic article.
The strangeness of habits at bedtime may not have a clear relationship to such common difficulties, but it may play a hidden central role.
One of the biggest and most important factors in creating a ritual for sleep is relaxation and rest. Sleep specialist Diane Ogili says it is about having one's bed in a comfortable place and starting to repeat that way night after night.
People are naturally inclined to return to the comfortable sleep conditions. Other customs may meet less obvious physical and psychological needs. "Our hands and feet are looking for warmth, and our body temperature tends to cool when we go to sleep," Ogili said.
"We need to reduce our body temperature so that we can sleep," she said. "Many people who have strict rules and habitually extend their feet outside their blankets or wear socks when sleeping, are trying to regulate the temperature of their bodies.
The same applies to those who put a fan next to them, as they have the additional benefits of muffling the annoying alien voices that are an enemy of sleep even if one does not wake up from sleep at night to hear it.
Rituals may help to prepare the brain for sleep, but Ogili believes that getting used to it can become stressful, especially in unfamiliar environments. Being aware of your need to sleep is one of the biggest and most common impediments.
Scientists still do not know much about why people sleep in the first place, but the ability to do so regularly reveals a lot about the quality of human life, Amanda Mall says in her article.