'True Blood' premiers September 7th at 9 pm on HBO. It is a wonderful new television series based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries books by Charlaine Harris (check out the too cool official web site at http://www.trubeverage.com/)
'Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much. Not because she's not pretty. She is. It's just that, well, Sookie has this sort of "disability." She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He's tall, dark, handsome -- and Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's exactly the kind of guy she's been waiting for all her life.
But Bill has a disability of his own: he's a vampire with a bad reputation. He hangs out with a seriously creepy crowd, all suspected of -- big surprise -- murder. And when one of Sookie's co-workers is killed, she fears she's next.'
I've always had a 'thing' for vamps. Not only for the obvious, David Boreanaz and James Marsters anyone?, but an actual affinity.
I've worked midnights for over 20 years and did both neonatal and trauma, as a respiratory therapist. Roaming the halls at night, drawing blood gases to check oxygen levels, attending hundreds of 'code blues' and dealing with death. Although vamps try to create it, I tried to prevent it.
There is a great beauty to working at night. A peacefulness when all the visitors and bosses were gone. Sitting outside on the patio at 3 am for a break, looking up at the stars and appreciating the brightness of the moon. As much as it is a welcomed part of me however, it does take it's toll on the human body.
Women have a 60 % greater chance of developing breast cancer due to the decrease in the melatonin production due to sleeping during the day. Shift workers are said to have a 10 year less life expectancy. And according to The National Sleep Foundation, 'shift workers experience more stomach problems (especially heartburn and indigestion), menstrual irregularities, colds, flu, and weight gain than day workers. Heart problems are more likely too, along with higher blood pressure.'
Some of the best ways to deal with the physical aspect of sleeping during the day are-
1. Use blackout shades or curtains. Making the room as dark as possible really helps.
2. I turn off the house phone's ringer and keep my cell phone next to my bed. My family and friends know not to call before 3 pm unless it is an emergency. I've explained that calling me at 3 pm , is like me calling them at 3 am!
3. Use earplugs, run a fan for white noise or actual buy a white noise machine to drown out the every day noises of the waking world.
4. Read an enjoyable book, (see above) or something calming before going to bed. Avoid watching the news just before retiring.
They say being a polysomnolgist, or 'sleep tech' is the ultimate night job. Kathryn Smith's new book, "Before I Wake' is a paranormal romance actually set in a sleep lab and the heroine is a doctor who can physically enter her patient's dreams!
One of life's greatest pleasures is a great book to read and both of these are wonderful and make midnights very exciting and mysterious!
Even though I don't have the good 'perks' of the romanticized vampires, none of the 'forever young' stuff, I'm glad to stay an all too human midnight roamer. I've worked with and taken care of some of the best people in the world. There is an intimacy and camaraderie to being awake and working in that alternate world where the rest of humanity is tucked away and sound asleep.
'Ah, the Children of the Night!' has become 'Sleep Queens Rule!'
Sweet Dreams, Jane
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