the.com/drowse
the warm static between awake and asleep, where the brain runs on standby and gravity wins
means To be half-asleep, sinking into a heavy, drifting sleepiness without quite nodding off.
from From Old English 'drūsian,' meaning to sink, become slow, or grow sluggish — the same root that gives us 'drowsy.' It's a cousin of words for heaviness and falling, fitting for a body that's quietly surrendering to gravity.
- micro-sleep
- the brain can nap for seconds without you noticing
- old word
- rooted in Old English meaning to sink or be sluggish
- post-lunch dip
- afternoon drowse is a real circadian rhythm event
- head bob
- the jolting nod is muscle tone vanishing then snapping back
for instance
rip van winkle — washington irving's 1819 character who fell into a drowse for 20 years in the catskill mountains
sleeping sickness epidemics — african trypanosomiasis outbreaks causing prolonged drowsiness, particularly the 1901-1920 uganda epidemic killing ~250,000