Hey, Counties!

Each episode of Counter Programming will focus on a "counter" of some sort. Today, we learn about COUNTING sheep.

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Counting sheep is a mental exercise used in some cultures to try to put yourself to sleep.

In most instances of the practice, the person who wants the sweet release of sleep will envision an endless series of identical white sheep jumping over a fence, while counting them as they jump. The idea, in theory, is to make yourself bored while occupying your mind with something simple, repetitive, and rhythmic, because all of these things help people fall asleep.

The Serta Sheep Saga

Serta has been using the idea of counting sheep to sell mattresses since 2000. The idea is that the sheep are put out of business by a Serta mattresses’ ability to fix many of the common sleep issues. The sheep appear in many commercials that depict various scenarios where they lose their job -- as counting sheep -- to a couple's recent purchase or a Serta mattress.

According to researchers at Oxford University, Allison G. Harvey and Suzanna Payne, from the Department of Experimental Psychology, counting sheep isn’t super effective. 

Harvey and Payne found that the volunteer insomniacs took longer than usual to fall asleep on the nights they were instructed to count sheep (or were told not to do anything to help them fall asleep). Bottom line: counting sheep isn't really that great a solution.

Here are a few tips & tricks from Sleep Education: 

1. Keep a consistent sleep schedule
2. Get at least 7 hours of sleep 
3. Wait until you’re actually tired to get into bed and if you can’t fall asleep in 20 minutes get out of bed until you’re tired. 
4. Only use your bed for sleeping
5. Make your room quiet and cool 
6. Avoid blue light before bed 
7. Avoid large meals, caffeine, alcohol, and fluids before bed 

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Next week... Sperm Count!