We hear about using \”white noise\” to help create a soothing atmosphere for sleep. I don\’t know about anybody else, but conventional white noise drives me crazy! It\’s too high in frequency for me.

Maybe we cyclists need a different kind of white noise. How about sounds of the peloton? The freewheel during coasting; the whir of time trial wheels; and the wind whooshing past a rider\’s ears.

I wish I could get the dark and quiet that sleep hygienists say we need for sleep. But with other people living on the other side of a thin wall; a fridge not ten feet from my bed; and train tracks only one block away, quiet is rather rare. I\’m tired of wearing earplugs to bed every night; but what else can I do? On top of the earplugs, I need to run my standing fan as a \”bass white noise\” machine. Otherwise when the neighbors start to talk LOUDLY, I\’ll be wakened. Or won\’t be able to get to sleep in the first place.

It\’s hard to get it really dark, too: usually I have bicycle lights plugged into their chargers overnight; I don\’t have blackout curtains; and so on. I\’d rather not wear one of those masks that cover your eyes. They say that your body needs to get the natural light as morning approaches.

I\’ll have to stick with my \”bass white noise\” for now, and hope to have a nice, quiet home someday; one close to lots of good bicycling paths!