But not, I suspect, for the same reasons you suspect.
You see, while I adore my husband, and believe him to be a prince among men, he has a sleep related shortcoming that drives me to the brink of insanity.
He needs to sleep with a fan on. Every. Single. Night.
It can be the dead of freakin’ winter, 3 degrees out and he’ll still find it essential to switch it on. For him it’s not so much related to staying cool, it’s all about the buzz. (But not the buzz in the sense he gets a high from it, though I am sure he does – why else would he persist so??!!). No, seems The Husband can’t stand the silence and sees this as a sort of “white noise” that drowns out, oh, a stampeding horde of angry oxen or a squadron of fighter jets doing loop-de-loops over head.
Am I being a tad dramatic? Likely – but that is how much I detest it and how annoyingly loud I find it.
To be frank, I find it is anything but conducive to promoting a restful snoozing environment. Though, I do try to understand his plight as I’m a fellow poor sleeper. And I shouldn’t point the finger of blame squarely at he as I’ve far too many of my own weird conditions that must be met in order for me to be in a prime frame of mind for my own beauty sleep. (I’d need whole separate blog post to list my own silly sleep idiosyncrasies).
Besides the noise factor, it doesn’t help I’m allergic to dust – and we all know that even the cleanest house is no match for the nuclear resistant entity that is the common house dust mite. So not only am I huddling under pillows and mummify-ing myself in blankets to ensure none is being blown my way, but I’m also forced to don ear plugs to drown out the very thing that he uses to drown out everything else…
Crazy cats, aren’t we? Yet it’s apparently the only solution to both being able to get some restful slumber together. However it is purely pot luck as to whether I’ll manage to survive the whole next day without being at the mercy of a full blown allergies attack on my feeble sinuses.
I recall I once saw an episode of Oprah where a couple admitted the key to their harmonious union was keeping separate bedrooms. While it was criticised by the panel of experts – and I think a little dramatic – I’m going to admit there are nights when that works best for us. Not long term though, but the odd night here & there so that we both wake refreshed.
But clearly, NOTHING shall come between me and my beloved brand new Sealy. Should it come to that I’ll be sending him packing to the space room!
So, can you tell yet? I am clearly not a fan of the fan.
After years of my Feral Aspie teen needing the radio on to sleep I’ve become aclimatised to it, also.
Not music, I have ABC talkback with the trivia challenges, etc.
The Feral teen has graduated to heavy rock music lol.
And the spouse has graduated to the couch in the lounge (we have a very happy marriage now!).
He loves the BBC World Service but that is better than a fan in winter.
Thanks for the grumble. Xx
My fiance is the same with the fan thing. ‘it keeps me cool, I don’t sweat, I have the best sleep’. Never mind it makes me sick and I often wake up freezing because he stole the blanket (maybe you’re cold because you have the fan on!?). Men are bloody precious. Huh!
my husband always thinks it’s boiling hot and if i let him he would have a fan/air con on continuously too! i feel your pain!
I listen to hypnotherapy (for weight loss) every night. Lovely husband gets SO cranky as he comes to bed later than me and often finds me sleeping like a log, with my hear plugs still in and the ipod in the middle of the bed still going – he says it’s like going to bed with a noisy stethascope…
My kids sleep really well with the vacuum cleaner on. White noise? I wonder how your hubby would react if you insisted on having the vacuum going? It’s a buzz, just a little louder.
Things in my bedroom are very quiet, mainly for the fact that my wife has us currently sleeping on the bedroom floor of our little boy’s room. He’s made the big step of sleeping in his own cot, but due to his “illness”, he’s still attached to his oxygen tank and should be watched at night.
I look forward to “cutting the cord” so to speak, and sleeping back in my own bed… ahhh, should get some sleep now come to think of it.
nighty nite! 🙂
– tork
My hubby and I have seperate bedrooms- works fantastic!! He snores loud enough to rattle windows – two broken noses and a broken necks worth of scar tissue doesn’t help.. We shared for 12 yrs, with me so insanely tired it was awful. Finally made the move and we are so much happier, I can think straight and we still have ‘visits’ Might seem extreme, but 12 years of chronic tiredness can destroy a marriage just as quickly as not sharing a bed. as far as the3 other bedroom issues- my latest blog post covers that!!
My husband incessantly rubs his feet together. It’s like sleeping with a honey badger.
I am tied to my cpap forever, but hubby sleeps cause that stops me from snoring and I get the best sleep every. No cpap, no sleep.