(Editor's Notes by Christina Myer - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

A friend shared with me a BBC article last week, cleverly headlined “Swede Dreams,” about something I had never heard of — sleep tourism.

Yes, apparently people will travel far and wide (and spend lots of money) in pursuit of a good night’s sleep.

In the BBC story, the reporter discusses arriving at a cabin on the edge of a forest, overlooking a lake. It’s a minimalist cabin — no TV, even — designed to limit distractions. Other sleep tourism destinations provide pillow menus, zillion-thread-count linens, fancy mattresses, lavender-scented everything and access to “sleep-inducing activities.” (Think kayaking, hiking, swimming, biking and even “forest bathing.”)

In the case of the BBC reporter in Sweden, there was also use of the hotel sauna followed by a dip in the “bracing sea.”

There are special dinner menus, evenings spent reading and maybe lounging around a campfire. There is a heavy emphasis on eliminating technological distractions. Some resorts even have mobile phone bans.

Some hotels have “sleep concierge” service. Some offer packages that include access to a sleep clinic. Some employ electromagnetic and infrared technology to enhance the chances of a good night’s sleep.

“Our clients were coming to us saying they felt generally depleted, and this often seemed to be down to lack of sleep,” Stella Photi, founder of Wellbeing Escapes, told the BBC. “We try to incorporate elements of the local cultures into our sleep programs. In Buddhist countries such as Thailand or Sri Lanka we offer meditation and mindfulness. In India, Ayurvedic treatments use locally sourced herbs; and in Italy, guided walks through vineyards are part of a sleep-promoting program of activities.”

If you’re like me, you looked at elements of these “escapes” and thought “Well that’s just a weekend at a West Virginia state park.” Maybe minus the saunas and access to some other resources.

But think of the marketing opportunity we’re missing if we don’t find a way to tack on a few of those extras to, for example, a three-day stay at the lodge in Blackwater Falls State Park. Hawk’s Nest, Lost River, Cacapon Resort, Canaan Valley, North Bend … we have ten parks with beautiful lodges. And for the right person (it’s me) providing a pre-set-up campsite with a decent mattress in the tent would be even better.

West Virginia Tourism Secretary Chelsea Ruby has done an excellent job staying on top of trends that can support all the wonderful reasons for people to visit West Virginia. The State Parks in West Virginia website says our parks are “where Almost Heaven beauty and serenity surround you no matter where you go.”

Imagine the possibilities if some of our parks offered not just the outdoor activities that will both invigorate and exhaust the body, but some of those other “sleep concierge” services that will help calm the mind and lead to the best night’s sleep visitors have ever gotten — right here in the mountains as opposed to hundreds or thousands of miles away.

I hope it’s an idea the department would give serious consideration. Maybe they should sleep on it.

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Speaking of ideas for a new administration, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is active in West Virginia. Families can contact a local partner and become involved. In fact, there are 49,747 children enrolled in the program in the Mountain State.

But the program does not have the high-profile and widespread support here that it does in Ohio. For example, the affiliate for Wood County families is the June Harless Center at Marshall University in Huntington.

A reader asked me what it would take to start a movement toward West Virginia becoming a more involved partner with the Imagination Library and maybe even becoming the third state (behind Tennessee and Ohio) to offer a Dolly Parton Imagination Library license plate.

The truth is, I have no idea. But I know there’s a way to start. We can ask. So, in addition to asking what it would take to make West Virginia state parks marketable as a sleep tourism destination, I’m also asking what it would take to increase our involvement in a fantastic literacy effort.

They are small things, sure. But small things lead to big things; and if we are going to change West Virginia’s story, we’ve got to start somewhere.

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com