Happy & Healthy

SLEEPLESS IN AMSTERDAM

part 2: visual valium

Do you know what is really annoying? Mosquitoes. Every evening I first lie naked in bed for five minutes: get me NOW! So they can fill themselves up for a moment. But nooooo, the little bastards buzz loudly in my ear all night long. If you didn't have insomnia, you would get it. Do I hear someone saying I should apply DEET? I'm not really for that, I only use that poison when there's no other option. Besides, I don't really care if I get bitten (except if it's a tiger mosquito, you'll always see, I get Zika again), I mainly get annoyed by that buzzing. So I sleep with earplugs in to not hear the mosquitoes, how crazy do you want it?.

Since I'm sleeping particularly poorly again this week, I thought last night: I'll sprinkle some lavender oil on my pillow. I heard the first mosquito coming – and then it flew away loudly again. And it's the only mosquito I've heard all night. Don't they like lavender? So here I have a world tip: sleep-promoting and mosquito-repelling! Environmentally friendly too!

My other tip this week is something that they seriously advise against in the sleep clinic: watching TV series in bed. The blue light from your screen is supposed to keep you awake, but I just set my laptop to dim and hop, onto Netflix. Now it really matters what I can watch before going to sleep. It must a. not be scary, b. not be sad, and c. not too exciting. Otherwise, a. nightmares follow, b. tears, or c. I just don't want to sleep because I want to see how it ends.

After years of research, I have compiled an ideal top 4 for myself that helps me fall asleep nicely. And I would like to share it with you:

Friends

10 seasons of 24 episodes, you'll be busy with that for a while. I've seen some episodes so many times that I can quote them verbatim. So it doesn't matter if you doze off occasionally, you can literally dream them while you ponder how ‘Rachel’ was really one of the worst hairstyles of all time and why you also walked around with the Spice lip pencil from MAC for a large part of the nineties even though it didn't suit you.

Gossip Girl

Or, as I call it, the Chuck and Blair show. We have: nice clothes, nice boys, nice girls, New York, a plot that is rarely followable and if you do follow it, it's full of holes so why bother, and Blake Lively's mismatched eyebrows that you can think about for a long time. It leads to wonderful dreams about shopping. And about Chuck Bass.

Keeping Up With The Kardashians

Nothing is as sleep-inducing as the nasal voices of Kim, Kourtney, Khloé, and Kris. I love watching them eat (pre-packaged salad from plastic containers that they first shake together so that lettuce and dressing are well mixed. I want this too.) while they babble about nothing. I like to fall asleep with chatter, hence my podcast tips from last time.

Gilmore Girls

My current addiction. Nothing happens in Gilmore Girls and that is so incredibly reassuring, it's visual valium. Lorelai and Rory chatter away and go for coffee. Lorelai and Rory chatter away and go eat at grandma and grandpa's. Lorelai and Rory chatter away and order junk food. Lorelai and Rory chatter away and walk through the picturesque Stars Hollow where it is always cozy autumn. I want to go to Stars Hollow too. In my dreams.

Text: Ilonka Leenheer