Why do people watch sad movies? If they want to see something truly depressing, they could just turn on the news.
While I don’t know why other people watch them, I can tell you this: they are great for making you fall asleep.
Not in a bad way. Not that they are so boring they will make you fall asleep, because staring at your eyelids is a lot more interesting than the movie. But crying does make it easier to fall asleep. It makes a person so exhausted that they just fall asleep. That or take Benadryl.
But if you’re just taking it so that you can fall asleep, you might want to talk to your doctor about that. Do not pop pills for any reason other than medicinal.
I discovered this trick for myself when I was scheduled to work the 2-6am shift in our student center. Yes, they really do sound as terrible as you would think. On nights that I’m scheduled to work that shift, I never get enough sleep. I usually fall asleep at midnight on a normal day, but on those nights, I worry that I won’t wake up for my alarm. I worry so much that I don’t get any sleep.
And because I don’t want to take medicine I have no real need for, I decided to watch a movie. I had seen a review somewhere that Irreplaceable You was a good, sad movie on Netflix. I don’t know why, but the first thought was “Okay, I could use a good cry.”
I hate movies. I hate watching them. I have such a short attention span that I get bored no matter how good the movie. Even if I really want to see a movie in theaters, I will always end up looking at my phone to see the time and going to the bathroom to check the run time for the movie. But for some unknown reason, I really wanted to watch this movie.
And I did. And I cried.
I hate crying in front of people, even people I know, but I sat there, on my computer, crying my eyes out in front of my roommate—who yes, judged me for the entire event.
But I got to sleep. And that night, while I still missed about four hours of sleep for my shift at work, I didn’t sleep as bad as I could have.
Movies are a great way to escape from reality and crying about things is exhausting. So next time you can’t sleep, considering bawling your eyes out.