Not a magic spell
Every non-sleeper has their own story. Here is mine
by novelist Natalie Meg Evans
I had no problem sleeping until, a few years ago, I underwent major surgery and three days later, my husband left me. That’s another story, but the operation pushed me into the menopause. Meanwhile, I had a second novel to complete for my publisher. Stress and crazy symptoms pitched into sleeplessness. I learned there are few sounds more depressing than the dawn chorus at the end of another night of changing position, trying to switch off, staring at a darkened ceiling. Another day starts, and you could cry.
Some people seem to come into the world with sleep issues pre-loaded, like the baby who keeps you up all night and only falls into deep slumber in the car. For others, sleeplessness appears in the aftermath of a life shift, as mine did. Every non-sleeper has their own story. For me, I’d say it was a combination of physical and emotional body-shock, with a dose of ‘Heck, I’m on my own now’. However, I had a stroke of luck in my life, which is to be the sister of Anna McKay, founder and developer of the Zeez Sleep Pebble. We had a phone call when I told her how it was, and a Pebble was winging its way to me. Long story short
It didn’t work.
Not the first time, at any rate.
Was my sleep deficiency by now so ingrained, nothing short of morphine or a blow to the head could change it? I was bitterly disappointed, and embarrassed too. What was I going to tell Anna? Should I lie? “It’s brilliant, I slept twelve hours straight, riding on a dog sled above the clouds”. In the end, I apologised and said, ‘It’s probably me. It’s how my brain is wired.’
Anna’s response was properly older sister-ish. ‘It won’t be your brain. Are you using it correctly?’
We found the things I wasn’t doing right. You could sum it up as me assuming it was a magic pebble, rather than something based on subtle science. First, Anna asked me if I’d excluded all the tech from my bedroom. ‘Absolutely,’ I said. I’m old school. I don’t take a phone anywhere near my bedroom. I don’t want calls or messages after 8 pm. There’s no telly in my bedroom either. If I ever considered a bedroom TV, I’d hear my late mother tut-tutting. No laptops or iPads either. But … I did have my radio alarm, later replaced by an Alexa. Bird song and Bach to wake me in the morning, how could that hurt? Apparently it did.
There are many sleep blogs offering the do’s and don’ts of what is often called ‘sleep hygiene’ and the tips on the Zeez website sum them up: Good nutrition, exposure to daylight every day, dialling down the screen and phone time, particularly just before bed. Dr Nerina Ramlakhan, who tested and validated the Zeez pebble for the Gadget Show, has her own list and emphasises the importance of exercise, a good breakfast and rest.
Anna recommends supplementing magnesium and Vitamin D at least. I used to be of the mind-set that nutritional supplements were a waste of money. I ate a balanced diet, shouldn’t I be getting my A-to-Z nutrition from that? According to Anna, magnesium, needed for many processes in the body including sleep, ought to be plentiful in our foods but after decades of farming the same land intensively, it just isn’t. And as for me, my country diet of fresh vegetables and local produce was demonstrably lacking. A hospital diagnosis that I was catastrophically low on iron and vitamin D explained a lot about my state of health. I got my iron levels back with a prescription of Ferrous Sulphate taken over three months. And since then, I have also taken daily supplements of vitamin B complex, Magnesium and vitamin D. I feel stronger and healthier now.
Do you need to be healthy to sleep? My experience is that good sleeping is not a bolt-on extra to good health, but part of the synergy. To go from no sleep to a regular seven or eight hours of quality zizz requires some input in terms of diet, exercise and nutrition. Not necessarily an overhaul, but definitely a few tweaks.
Back then, I had farm full of animals, so exercise and exposure to daylight was pretty much sorted, and yet I was vitamin D deficient. It’s because I always covered up, not wanting to get sunburned. These days, I allow a bit of sun directly onto my skin. It’s a balancing act. Being a writer, always up against a deadline, I bought into the myth that strong coffee throughout the day lubricates the creative process. I cut out coffee after breakfast, and now only drink it later in the day if I’m meeting a friend. And I’ve noticed that those are they nights I might fall asleep quickly, then wake abruptly an hour or two later.
I culled my evening cup of tea as well and started to eat a little earlier in the evening and reduced sugar and wine. I haven’t embraced a Puritan lifestyle, just cut back. It’s my personal investment in my health, and in good sleep.
Now that the Zeez is on the market and selling well, there are many validations and heart-warming reviews. But I’ve noticed a small minority of people complain that it hasn’t worked after two or three days. Thing is, a Zeez Pebble is a system for retraining the brain to sleep. It’s not a Disney fairy giving you a tink on the forehead with her wand and overturning months or years of insomnia. As with all interventions to improve our health, whether that be sleep, posture or cognition, we have to bring something to the party. My Alexa pod is evicted from my bedroom. She summons me awake from a corridor, from where her magnetic resonances can’t interrupt my sleep cycles. I often read my kindle in bed, but I turn it off when I’m ready to sleep.
Whenever I have a bad night or two, I still use my Zeez to get my brain back on track. Apart from the occasional relapse, when I’m over-thinking my life or heading for a writing deadline in a fluff of creative panic, I sleep. I sleep like me, as I used to before life got complicated.
For further information about the Zeez Pebble: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
To watch Dr Nerina Ramlakhan’s revue of the Zeez Pebble on TV’s Gadget Show: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MOe0pEzcbY]
To discover Natalie Meg Evans’ novels https://www.nataliemegevans.uk/