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HomeCultureOde To

Gossamer Dusk

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I am not an active person. By nature, I much prefer sleep, and other similarly sedentary activities, like sitting on my couch. Or lying on it. A good armchair works in a pinch. Reading on the beach is very much my jam, as is sitting at the bar of my favorite restaurant with a martini (gin) and cheeseburger (medium-rare). I like to walk my dog, but he’s 14 and doesn’t move much, so it’s probably more accurate to describe that particular exercise as a stand.

So it might be incredibly confusing at this point to tell you that a sleep tincture called Dusk is the only thing that stands between me and a life of complete and utter indolence. (Full disclosure very necessary here: I’m the co-founder of Gossamer, which is to say, I make Dusk.)

And that’s because I’m actually a terrible sleeper. It isn’t falling asleep that’s the problem—I tire easily—it’s staying that way. Left to my own devices, I wake up at least once and often twice a night, my mind racing while my body idles. I think of all the work I didn’t get done, the emails inexorably filing their way into my inbox, the big picture ideas I never have enough time to execute, the small tasks that fell victim to daily triage, my dread mounting with every minute.

So you can imagine that finding not just the time, but the energy and will to exercise doesn’t come easily to me: there’s always more—or, better yet, less—to do.

By now, you’ve probably been inundated with the word “CBD”: in your coffee, at your corner store, in misspelled text messages from your mother. CBD is great for a lot of things—it helps regulate your endocannabinoid system, which is what keeps all the different functions in your body running in tune—but it doesn’t actually make you sleep. It just helps with some of the things that might be preventing you from sleep: anxiety, inflammation, breath. Cannabinol, or CBN, on the other hand, is known for its sedative properties. Alongside a hand-picked blend of rest-inducing terpenes, CBN is the real hero of Dusk.

A dropperful before my nightly ritual of reading (currently: Richard Powers’ The Overstory—recommend!), and I’ll sleep straight through to morning. On the rare nights I do wake up, my mind is calm, my breath even. I drink some water, and roll right back into sleep, waking naturally a few minutes before my alarm. That consistency is what enables me to actually get up and make it to a 7 or 8 AM yoga class or on an extra-long, phone-free, post-work stroll. It would be absurd, particularly if you know me, to make the case that Dusk has me running marathons, or sweating my way through spin.

But without rest, unnecessary movement is the first thing I cut from my schedule. With it, activity becomes, at the very least, attainable. And that, as they say, is better than nothing.

It isn’t falling asleep that’s the problem—I tire easily—it’s staying that way.

Written by Verena von Pfetten

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