This was my best friend this week: warm milk before bedtime. I’d been having trouble sleeping for a few weeks already, and somebody told me, “Drink some warm milk. It works, seriously.” I’d never tried that before, because, well, difficulty sleeping is not normal for me. Who knows what was causing it—perhaps it was getting used to being alone again after the holidays, maybe it was stress. Whatever it was, I figured I’d give the milk a shot.
First there was one failed attempt (the milk in my fridge had gone bad, and for some reason I chose to taste it before I smelled it—blech. Does anything taste worse than rancid dairy?). The next night, outfitted with fresh, 2.5% milk, I tried again. I added a bit of hot cocoa mix (I know that technically makes it hot chocolate, but I didn’t add as much as I usually would because I didn’t want so much sugar right before bed). I felt somewhat childish drinking warm milk before bed, but amazingly, it worked. I fell asleep more easily and was able to sleep through the night. Granted, I had also picked up an herbal sleep aid at the pharmacy that day, and was trying that as well. So I don’t know if it was the herbal stuff, or the milk, or the combination of the two, but I could sleep again! (And thank goodness—this week at work was crazy).
Hopefully soon I’ll be able to sleep again without any aids. But at least now I know that if I ever have a restless night, warm milk is a good, comforting solution.
(PS—one of the photos has my current reading in the background: The United States of Arugula, by David Kamp. I haven’t gotten too far yet, but it’s really fun to read. It was a Christmas present from a friend back at home in the States, and was sent to me along with some Penzey’s spices—thank you!! 🙂)
(PPS—the title of the post is in Finnish, not Estonian. Just in case you care.)
Penzey’s is a happy place. I go there for almost all of my spicery needs.
I spent my erasmus year in France and one day I was in a café with a housemate two hours of so before an exam. I don’t drink coffee and I hate to pay for tea out when I have so much at home so I decided to go for the mug of hot milk with hazelnuts because it sounded interesting. Well…I was so tired going into that exam. Needless to say I didn’t try hazelnut hot milk before an exam again.
I’ve never heard of hazelnut milk before. It sounds delicious! Too bad it almost made you sleep through your exam… hope you still did all right in the end!