Do you count sheep to fall asleep? Wikipedia says, “Although the practice is largely a stereotype, and rarely used as a solution for insomnia, it has been so commonly referenced by cartoons, comic strips, and other mass media, that it has become deeply engrained into popular culture’s notion of sleep. ” However, an Oxford study “found that subjects who imagined ‘a beach or a waterfall’ were forced to expend more mental energy, and fell asleep faster, than those asked to ‘simply distract from thoughts, worries and concerns.

’” It’s doubtful anyone trying the sheep counting plan ever notices any worry or concern on the sheep’s faces unless they’re familiar with SPFES, or the Sheep Pain Facial Expression Scale developed at Cambridge University “to recognize whether a sheep is in pain, and estimate the severity of that pain,” according to “Researchers Design AI System to Assess Pain Levels in Sheep. ” The veterinarian researchers used a similar AI system used for humans but looked to see if sheep’s eyes narrow, cheeks tighten, ears fold forwards, lips pull down and back, or if their nostrils change from a U shape to a V shape and then ranks the pain on a scale of one to 10. Greg Hill is the former director of Fairbanks North Star Borough libraries.

He can be reached at hillofbooks@gmail. com.