{"id":1652,"date":"2015-03-11T12:27:13","date_gmt":"2015-03-11T12:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/?p=1652"},"modified":"2021-07-26T09:46:30","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T09:46:30","slug":"a-laugh-before-bedtime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/a-laugh-before-bedtime\/","title":{"rendered":"A laugh before bedtime"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"

I love to read before I go to sleep. It is something I very much look forward to each night. It usually makes me feel calm.<\/p>\n

But a big part of this is down to what I read. I love to read \u2018Oor Wullie\u2019 (that\u2019s \u2018Our William’, if you\u2019re not Scottish) and \u2018The Broons\u2019 (or The Browns, if you’re not Scottish). They\u2019re Scottish comic strips. They appear every Sunday in The Sunday Post, one of the best-known Scottish Sunday newspapers.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been getting an Oor Wullie or The Broons Annual every year at Christmas, from my Mum and Dad, for as long as I can remember. Christmas Day just wouldn\u2019t be the same for me without one. I actually look forward to getting one. I have loads of them stretching back, well, a few decades now, and I always have two or three lying beside my bed at any one time.<\/p>\n

Very often I\u2019m smiling, chucking, or laughing out loud right before I go to sleep.<\/p>\n

I decided to write about this in a blog because I find that so many of us go to sleep stressed, either running over the day in our minds or worrying about tomorrow, or maybe we\u2019re watching the news on TV, reading the news on our smart phones or tablets, or even answering work emails. The last thing we need to be doing before going to sleep is watching the news or answering work emails, especially when the news is rarely proclaiming to us all the good that\u2019s happening in the world, and work emails make us feel that we\u2019re, well, still at work.<\/p>\n

Before I say any more on the subject, of course Oor Wullie and The Broons are not the only things I ever<\/em> read at night. I sometimes read novels (I\u2019ve currently\u00a0reading Taming Amy<\/a>, by Seth Gardner, and before that I re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows\u2026 I have quite a diverse taste. :-)) but, with the odd exception, I mostly avoid anything that is too mentally taxing or stimulating late at night unless it\u2019s something that inspires me or is clearly helpful in my life.<\/p>\n

And even if I do read something mentally stimulating (I recently devoured \u2018Human Universe<\/a>\u2019 by Brian Cox), when I feel myself getting tired I lay that book down and pick up a trusty old Oor Wullie or The Broons for the last 10 or 15 minutes, just to quieten my mind and help ensure I get a peaceful nights\u2019 sleep.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s good to go to sleep in a good mood and I find that reading something light and funny always helps, no matter what\u2019s been happening recently. Reading about Wullie or Maw and Paw Broon is like a comfort blanket for me.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d suggest you find a light-hearted reading comfort blanket at bedtime, especially if you find yourself stressed or depressed a lot of the time, or if you find difficulty unwinding at the end of a day\u2026 just something that can help gently nudge\u00a0your attention towards lightness and ease.<\/p>\n

If your material makes you laugh then even better. Several studies show that laughter boosts happy chemicals in the brain, it strengthens the immune system, it\u2019s good for the heart, and most definitely good for mental health. It even helps us improve our relationships.<\/p>\n

And if you do happen to pick up a copy of Oor Wullie or The Broons, I hope you find it just as entertaining as I do. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love to read before I go to sleep. It is something I very much look forward to each night. It usually makes me feel calm. But a big part of this is down to what I read. I love to read \u2018Oor Wullie\u2019 (that\u2019s \u2018Our William’, if you\u2019re not Scottish) and \u2018The Broons\u2019 (or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[65,187,189,50,40],"yoast_head":"\nA laugh before bedtime - David R Hamilton PHD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I love to read before I go to sleep. It is something I very much look forward to each night. It usually makes me feel calm. 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