» Do Birds Sleep at Night? manalang

manalang

01:08:16 pm on June 16, 2004 | # |
Tags: general

There I was, 2AM, wide-awake. Last night might have been my worst attempt at sleep. You see, for a while now, I have had a hard time getting a decent night of sleep. They say that on average, most people get 1 to 1 1/2 hours of deep sleep per night — the part of our sleep cycle that matters the most. Last night, I got none.

My sleep deprivation is due to a combination of really annoying factors. The first and most aggravating part is the noise. It’s bad enough that I’m a light sleeper, but coupled with our bedroom being on the front part of our house facing a street with double yellow lines makes it a lot worse. It’s not that we live on a boulevard or a major intersection or even in front of a highway — it’s not that busy of a street, but the fact is, we do get a handful of vehicles that drive by at insanely odd hours of the early morning. Some of these cars are of the type that like to make noise — you know, the ones with the large tailpipes lowered to the ground. I suppose this is one of the drawbacks of living in a sub-urban city. We’ve thought about getting double-paned windows to block out the noise, but since it’s not a house we plan to stay in too long, we can’t justify the steep expense of upgrading our windows, even just a few windows in our bedroom.

Another factor to my sleep issue is our bed. It was a fine mattress when I was single, but with two people on it, it’s hardly comfortable when one of us is tossing and turning trying desperately to catch those zzzz’s. Needless to say, we’re now in the market for a good quality mattress and are looking for recommendations. Last weekend, we visited our local Duxiana store and instantly fell in love. We both wanted to stay over at the store for a night of sleep. However, the bed we adored so much also comes with a very lofty price tag, over $4,000 USD. It seems insane to pay that much for a bed. However, since the day we tried the Dux bed, I’ve been seeking out ways to convince ourselves that it’s worth the expense; after all, we spend a third of our lives sleeping. One review I’ve read on epinions.com said that if we are willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars for a vehicle we’re going to end up replacing in 5-10 years, isn’t the expense of a decent bed that’s going to guarantee you quality sleep for 20 years or more justified? After thinking of it that way, I’m convinced that good quality sleep is priceless.

So, back to my original story… 2AM, lying on my back, wide-awake and I hear birds chirping. What gives? I thought birds only chirp in the morning or during the day. These birds were chirping just as if the sun was just coming out. This begs the question, do birds sleep at night? At all?

It’s a good thing that lack of sleep doesn’t prevent me from coming up with deep and profound questions like this. Sometimes, I think that my best work is done with less sleep. I used to think that sleep was a waste of time. There have been sleep deprivation studies performed over the years, but none have ever proved that theory.

Anyway, can anyone answer this question for me… do birds sleep?