By Dr. K. Nicole Mims, board-certified sleep physician
I wanted to do a fun one. Here are what I think, as a sleep doctor, are the best songs about not sleeping. I narrowed it down to five that have personal meaning to me, and I'd love to hear your take.
5. "Insomnia" by Faithless
A '90s dance track, and definitely on my late-night EverQuest soundtrack. EverQuest was a pre-World of Warcraft multiplayer online RPG I used to play a lot, running dungeons at 2 AM to this song. So I have a lot of experience listening to it while not sleeping. Do as I say, not as I do.
4. "No Sleep till Brooklyn" by the Beastie Boys
What I love is the sound of it: wide awake, can't-close-your-eyes energy. The music itself captures that. The song is about life on tour, when sleep is the first thing to go.
3. "I'm So Tired" by the Beatles
I really related to this one when my kids were under a year old and had unconsolidated sleep and my husband and I were struggling to get enough sleep between work and chores and kids. It described exactly how I felt. A lot of us, especially parents, know that next-day tired.
2. "Anti-Hero" by Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift built a whole album, Midnights, around 13 sleepless nights. My favorite sleep line is in "Anti-Hero," about midnights becoming her afternoons. That's a flip-flopped sleep schedule, awake at night and sleeping during the day, which a lot of us have experienced. And apparently Taylor has too, to so eloquently poeticize it.
1. "Brain Stew" by Green Day
My number one, because it's so realistic. I once drove home after seeing a patient, and when "Brain Stew" came on the radio, it was like hearing that patient tell me her symptoms all over again. The next time I saw her I mentioned it and we both had a good laugh about how descriptive and representative the lyrics are from someone in the throes of insomnia. In my opinion it's the most representative song of an insomniac out there.
Your turn
What's your go-to can't-sleep song? Tell me in the comments. And if the songs feel a little too relatable, insomnia is treatable, and we can help at Luminary Sleep.