I always thought I couldn’t sleep without the low hum of my old silver desk fan blowing cool air across my face. Friends joked about it. My coworker Maxton even teased that I’d marry a fan before a person. But last week, I read an article claiming that sleeping with a fan could dry out your throat, trigger allergies, and worsen asthma. I wondered if that was why I often woke up with a scratchy voice.
That night, I decided to sleep without it. I turned the fan off, slid under my covers, and lay in silence. At first, I thought I’d adjust. But the quiet was unsettling. Every creak of the house sounded amplified. My mind wandered to unpaid bills, unfinished projects, and the awkward dinner with my sister’s fiancé who couldn’t stop checking his phone.
By 2 AM, I surrendered and turned the fan back on. The whirring instantly soothed me, but a small unease lingered: was I harming myself for comfort?
The next day, I shared the article with my neighbor, Callista. She laughed, dismissing it as nonsense—but her teenage son mentioned a friend whose father got bronchitis from sleeping with a fan. That planted a seed of doubt.
I tried sleeping with the fan aimed away from me, thinking the sound might comfort me without the direct air. But I woke drenched in sweat around 4 AM, the July heat relentless. I surrendered to the fan again, craving its comfort.
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