061: How long is a wink?

From where did the term "forty winks" come? How long is forty winks? How do I know if I've achieved all forty of my allotted winks for a night? (No, I'm not going to Google it.)

I ended up chatting with a friend two time zones away until after midnight, then spent a good chunk of the 4AM hour awake when my grandmother turned on the television and my grandfather got up to supervise whatever it was she was doing in the wee hours. By the time I woke up again at 8:30, my mother was the only one up and about, and she was running on only two hours of sleep (that's what, ten winks?).

In any case, my tried-and-true sleep aid came in handy, both blocking out the television noise and lulling/boring me to sleep.  What's my lights-out secret?  Coldplay.

Seriously, put Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head on shuffle when you're tired, and the utter sameness of every track will lull you into slumber.  Works even better when you're in a moving vehicle.  True story.