I feel like I’m going old school again with my sleep habits thanks to SleepPhones.

When I was in high school I started falling asleep with a hat covering my eyes. It was a long sky blue knitted hat, and I pulled it down over my eyes to sleep. I loved it. I’m not sure where the hat is now, but that was it. Pull the hat down and I could fall sleep.

It was the start of me basically making a sleep routine for myself.

It evolved over time. To falling asleep with music on. That comes from old neurosis about hearing people talk as I lay in bed. I used to think I was hearing TV or voices while I was trying to sleep late at night, but when I would get up and search the house I wouldn’t find a TV on, or radio on, or anyone awake. When I’d lay back down I’d hear it again. I’m pretty sure my mind was playing tricks on me. Either that or someone was awake and didn’t want to be caught. Either way it led to me sleeping with a radio on. Come to think of it, this may predate my long blue hat.

In college I started sleeping with a pillow over my eyes. I called it Special Pillow. It was an old beat up down pillow. Almost nothing left to it. Older than any pillow had a right to be. But it was light enough, and malleable enough to just lay over the top of my head and block out any light in the room.

Special Pillow died a horrible death two years ago. It was basically disintegrating into nothing. Which considering how old it was, probably was a good thing. But it left me with nothing to put over my eyes or head.

Earlier this year I discovered SleepPhones. When Sam and I moved in together I had to start phasing out my sleep routine. I always fell asleep to Futurama. I’d put it on my laptop and pass out. It was at the point where if it was a dark room, and Futurama was on, I was falling asleep. I trained my body well to recognize that. But Sam needs quiet and darkness. A video on a laptop doesn’t work for that. I had gotten into the habit of putting headphones on and falling asleep to watching Futurama on Netflix through my phone. Headphones aren’t that comfortable to sleep in. But it was a good compromise. (Not the only one, I also sleep with my own sheet, as Sam wraps herself in blankets at night. We each have our own covers essentially.)

SleepPhones are amazing though. Essentially a light weight head band with small, thin headphones built in as ear pads rather than bulky ear buds or phones. And I can pull it down over my eyes. Old school style. I love it.