The Heat might make you sleepless

How do we reclaim the dream world as the planet heats up?

Suggested listening during the reading of this piece, or in the middle of the night, here.

The heat of August on the Mediterranean is not new, its personification reaching far beyond Greece, a siren call to the Northern ex-pats and Hollywood stars. Its hotness is synonymous with dreams of play on beach-filled mornings; long lunches spent on verandas, and endless nights under the stars; idolized until you have to work, walk, or think.

And then, the arguments start because it is empirically unachievable to agree on a setting for the air conditioner or fan or whether the Rubix cube combination of windows and doors should be open or closed. And, perhaps this would not be so terrible if it weren´t for the despotic humidity that turns the romance of evening after evening into clammy hours wrestling with the company of insomnia.

Nocturnal Extinction

We spend one-third of our life sleeping and six years of that in dreams. Now, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have found that the warming temperatures caused by climate change will decrease sleep times, exacerbate existing challenges, and, by proxy, limit our time in dreamland. It is easy to dismiss this study as another in…