I used to live in the UK and since I've moved to Switzerland I haven't been sleeping as well. I thought it could be a problem with the bed, or that my previous bed was much better. But I've switched beds and still don't sleep as well and when I went to stay at my brothers in England last weekend I slept like a baby. I don't know if it's maybe because of the altitude or a psychological thing, but I was wondering if someone has the same problem with sleeping as me?

Nope.

Normally I sleep great anywhere, no matter what pains or problems bother me during day.
I learnt one thing though: I don't sleep well, if my head is not direction South or East - or South-East, like now.

Give it a try, check out the different cardinal directions. If it doesn't help, no big effort wasted.

Many, many and indeed many years ago when Slammer was a young guy, I could pick up shortwave radio with my fillings when I slept at 20 degrees from north.
Morse code mainly but I did get a russian radio station from time to time.

Zürich is only at 400m over sea level. It's hardly the Himalayas.

Maybe think about how your routines are different from Uk to CH?

The air is a bit dryer than here the UK, not much but maybe noticeable if you are sensitive to such things. Could be it's drying your nose out during the night which is making you uncomfortable.

Perhaps invest in an air humidifier?

I still got a few of those amalgam fillings in. Anything you wanna know?

UK houses tend to be draughty compared with Swiss ones (Swiss people have an irrational fear that they'll catch a cold virus if they are in a room with a draught).
Consequentially, Swiss houses/apartments can be warmer. A lower temperature is more conducive to a good nights' sleep.

Perhaps turning off the heating in the bedroom and leaving a window ajar might help?

Here's an exercise to try, that might help.

Think about all the places where you have slept well.
And then those where you did not.

Now compare factors such as:

• direction of bed,
• direction in which you lie in the bed,
• the type and size of bed,
• the type and dimensions of the bedding (including the pillow),
• lighting in the room,
• lighting from outside the room (and what stops the street lights getting in),
• ventilation in the room (or indirectly through an adjacent room) before you go to bed and once you are in bed,
• moisture content in the air,
• the temperature in the room,
• the other furniture in the room,
• the general atmosphere and decor,
• the proximity of electrical and electonic equipment (anything that emits a buzz or blinks),

etc.

Perhaps you will identify a factor which makes a difference.

If you have more than one room available, you could consider moving your bed into a different room.

Don't eat strong swiss cheese before going to bed, invest in some young Cheddar

Most Swiss that I know sleep with the window open.

Tom

Do you happen to work for a big pharma, ubs, fifa, nestle, etc?

It was annoying to say the least, going to sleep with .-- . .----. .-.. .-.. / -- . . - / .- --. .- .. -. --..-- / -.. --- -. .----. - / -.- -. --- .-- / .-- .... . .-. . --..-- / -.. --- -. .----. - / -.- -. --- .-- / .-- .... . -. / -... ..- - / .. .----. -- / -.- -. --- .-- / .-- . .----. .-.. .-.. / -- . . - / .- --. .- .. -. / ... --- -- . / ... ..- -. -. -.-- / -.. .- -.-- / -.- . . .--. / ... -- .. .-.. .. -. --. / - .... .-. --- ..- --. .... --..-- / .--- ..- ... - / - .... . / .-- .- -.-- / -.-- --- ..- / ..- ... . -.. / - --- / -.. --- / - .. .-.. .-.. / - .... . / -... .-.. ..- . / ... -.- .. . ... / -.-. .... .- ... . / - .... . / -.. .- .-. -.- / -.-. .-.. --- ..- -.. ... / ..-. .- .-. / .- .-- .- -.-- in your skull.

Vera Lynn was sending messages??

It was a slow morse code.

The silence, dude, it's the Swiss silence. It lets you hear your tinnitus way louder. And the blood running through your veins. And the twin girls in the corridor chanting "redrum, redrum, redrum".

Now more seriously, could it be that you're missing the background white noise of traffic? Have you tried with a very faint, sleep inducing background track, like those sleep sounds in Spotify?

.-- . -..-. .... .- ...- . -..-. -. --- - -..-. -- . - -..-. -... . ..-. --- .-. . -..-. -... ..- - -..-. .-- .... --- -..-. -.- -. --- .-- ... -..-. --- -. . -..-. -.. .- -.-- -..-. .-- . -..-. -- .. --. .... -

Also many, many years ago, just after the fillings fell out, Slammer worked on board a cruiseliner for a few years. My cabin was the so-called "Hotel zur Schraube" or Hotel screw, not THAT kind of screw, it was called Hotel screw because it was one deck over the port side propeller... "Wum wum wum wum KLONK! Wum wum wum wum KLONK! Wum wum wum wum KLONK! It had a bit of inbalance and klonked every one and a half spins, I can hear it now even after all these years. It meant that sleeping on land could be difficult until I chucked the vacuum cleaner into the closed and switched it on.

__________________
Lummerland
Eine Insel mit zwei Bergen,
und im tiefen weiten Meer,
mit viel Tunnels und Geleisen
und dem Eisenbahnverkehr
nun wie mag die Insel heißen
ringsherum ist schöner Strand
jeder sollte einmal reisen
in das schöne Lummerland

How inefficient was that! Thank dog for Roombas - sailors ashore probably have the cleanest rooms this day and age.

I would wager that you are not sleeping well because you have a lot of stress, are under a lot pressure or even depressed.