Oh gawd, eight inches.

Snow, not anything fun.

I sleep much better knowing my roommate is, if not home, going to be home at some point in the night. Then my subconscious can associate any weird noises with her. If she's not home sometimes I get weirdly spooked by the wind and the rattling doors or whatever and end up locking my bedroom door and being easily startled by every weird/normal noise.

I slept with the bedside light on every night

For the first year, I always had a light on in the bedroom. I'm able to sleep now with just the light coming in from the hallway.

It's an improvement, during most of my marriage, when I was home alone overnight, I slept with a broadsword in the bed. There's a knife somewhere among all the pillows right now, but that's just because there's always been a knife (in a sheath, I'm not dumb) somewhere among all the pillows.

Medievalists, that's how we roll.

Then my subconscious can associate any weird noises with her.

Yes! It's always the cat's fault! Even that weird noise from the roof is the fault of the cat that's sleeping next to me.

I've always had a large dog so that may help with the alone stuff. Locking doors or turning on lights never occurs to me.

during most of my marriage, when I was home alone overnight, I slept with a broadsword in the bed.

I occasionally slept with a baseball bat in the bed. Usually it was on the floor, just underneath the bed, but once in a while I got spooked and needed the bat on the bed.

I live in an old apartment building and there are a fair number of noises at night, so sometimes if I wake up in the middle of the night and hear "suspicious" sounds I have to turn the lights on.

I live in an apartment. I can usually ascribe most noises to my cat or upstairs neighbor. And, honestly, I love hearing my upstairs neighbor moving about. Aside from being a delightful person, her footfalls and occasional thud remind me that I'm not alone in the world in the late evening.

Also, I have a puukko (a traditional Finnish knife) on my bed's wide headboard. [link]

her footfalls and occasional thud remind me that I'm not alone in the world in the late evening.

A major reason I want to live a building with other occupants.

I sleep with a Kellight (very heavy flashlight) and a claw hammer at my bedside. One high, one low.

There is only one door into my apartment and quite a few noises to be made between my front gate and the bedroom door.

Plus, I live on a very brightly lit corner. People on the street all the time.

I've been very fortunate.