On May 14, 1607, a group of 104 men and boys landed on an island in Virginia’s Tidewater region, to establish a new British colony. By January, no more than 40 settlers remained. Many colonists had died of disease. Turns out they’d built their fort on a mosquito-ridden swamp.
Each fall, thousands of people continue to colonize this swamp. They are called college freshman, and some time ago, I was one of them. Of course, swamp living has come a long way since the 17th century, for we now have modern conveniences such as mosquito repellent and snow cones. And air conditioning, should your university choose to provide it.
Mine didn’t.
My freshman roommate and I were bemoaning this fact on one particularly stifling August night, as we attempted to go to sleep in our extra-long twin beds. Unfortunately, the only thing in our 10x11 cell that wasn’t sweating, burning, melting or wilting was the frosty six-pack of soda* in our mini-fridge.
And that, my friends, was the night I first tried (sleeping with) Coke.
With the help of a few strategically placed cans, we were soon both off to dreamland. But when we shared our amazing brilliance with our hall mates the next morning, the universal reaction was something along the lines of “You guys are weird.”
A decade later, however, some scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have discovered that we were on to something. It seems that when insomnia patients were given a special cooling cap set to 57 degrees, they slept more restoratively.
The results are preliminary (i.e. not peer-reviewed) and the cap is not yet on the market, but in the meantime, my colleagues over at Rodale.com have come up with some more practical ways to cool your head.
Still, never underestimate the power of a cold Coke in the armpit.
*No, seriously, it was.
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