Insomnia

...ba href=/insomnia/a/b, not snoring, which is a symptom, is the most common sleep disorder in the United States, Bond began with the topic of sleep deprivation, referring specifically to its relevance to the collegiate lifestyle.

“I can remember living in a dorm,” said Bond.

“Terrible sleep.

Dorms are not meant for sleep.

I don’t know why they call them a ‘dorm’.” According to Bond, such hallmarks of college living as sleeping in on weekends and waking up with the help of an alarm are signs of sleep deprivation during the week.

“If you’re getting enough sleep, you’ll naturally awaken,” said Bond.

“If you’re using an alarm, you’re not getting enough sleep.” ba href=/insomnia/a/b, according to Bond, is often a product of spending too much time in bed, depression and anxiety and the influence of caffeine, alcohol and tobacco.

“Most sleeping pills work at GABA receptors,” said Bond.

“Alcohol works at the same receptor.

The problem is that it has a short half life.

You could drink a six pack and fall asleep, but you’d wake up three hours later.

Alcohol would work great if [you could have] a buddy give you an IV and have it drip throughout the night.” Working during the night also inhibits sleep, throwing off the normal, daily cycle of bodily functioning.

Bond pointed to experiments showing that, regardless of bedtime, the body’s temperature peaks at around 5:00 p.m.

and reaches its low point at 4:00 a.m.

According to Bond, no one really "adapts" to sleep deprivation.

"You’re just a day worker forcing...

...ba href=/insomnia/a/b.

One could write a weekly column simply by recapping each week's headlines, but sometimes it's hard to do that and focus on one main point.

This week, however, the headlines gave me my main point.

Here's a sample: Iran Gets 30 Days to Clear Nuke Suspicions (AP) Poll: Americans See, Hear More Profanity (AP) Abbas Swears in Hamas Cabinet OOPS, that was a typo.

That's the way I first read the headline, but it was actually: Abbas Swears IN Hamas Cabinet Members IN DOMESTIC NEWS THIS WEEK, here were some of the headlines (paraphrased): 500,000 March in L.A.

(Spontaneously!

) Dozens of high schoolers march on Cesar Chavez Day (weather so nice they made it a 5-day -weekend!

) Congress Confused (but I repeat myself!

) Israeli election held (low turnout!

) CNN Havana correspondent recruited by Al Jazeera (old news!

) "Million Man March" in Iraq (but you never saw that one, did you?

) AND THAT'S THE POINT: The New York Times, et al, only print the news that fits their monolithic agenda.

And good news gives them FITS, so they ignore it!

One million peaceful Iraqis got trumped by "dozens of high schoolers" waving Mexican flags!

Another headline this week was "Total solar eclipse sweeps poorest swath of the globe" (the MSM can't write about anything without weaving social commentary into it).

My original title for this column was going to be "Read My ecLIPSe: a Time of Great Division"; 2006 and 2008 will both be years of total eclipses of the sun — and -election years in the U.S.!

Sou...

...ba href=/insomnia/a/bc, he's one of Canada's foremost pianists, and his musical thoughts have been released on a new CD, "Blissfully Sleepless," on Analekta, the Canadian classical label.Another recent Analekta recording features I Musici de Montréal in an unsettling but beautiful performance of music written in the Soviet Union in 1946, "Shostakovich's Circle." The virtuosic chamber orchestra, led by Yuli Turovsky, has long been a favorite of Vermont audiences, both in Barre and Burlington.Tuesday and Wednesday, Lefèvre will perform the world premiere of the "Rhapsodie romantique" by the late André Mathieu, called the Canadian Rachmaninov, with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.

He will also be the soloist in Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini and Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," all of which will be recorded for release on Analekta.Lefèvre's "Blissfully Sleepless" comprises 11 of his nocturnal ruminations, most of which, though not profound, provide immensely satisfying listening.

For, though they are all very tonal and somewhat reminiscent of a bygone era, they are musically sophisticated and the emotions they convey largely universal.Perhaps the best of the works is "Vingt Ans (20 Years)" commemorating the 20 years of Lefèvre's marriage.

Reminiscent of Rachmaninov and Liszt, it's sentimental but absolutely gorgeous as it builds to a pianistic grandeur.

It's somewhat indulgent, but we're happy to indulge.Throughout, the playing is big but never brash.

The notes are round a...