Print This
Email ThisSome highlights of my “secret:”
- It costs nothing.
- Most of us can do it naturally.
- We willingly ignore it to our own detriment.
- Though when we occasionally do it, we feel like a million bucks.
My “secret” is something all of you know: getting a full night’s rest. Sufficient sleep is the basic step to feeling amazing. It erases the stresses of the day and promotes good health.
But you didn’t need me to tell you sleep is important. I’m here to address another question: why don’t more people get in on the “secret” of sleep?
Why is sleep ignored?
For one, sleep isn’t sexy. If you look at this Wisebread article on “10 killer ways to feel like a million bucks,” it has a lot of catchy tricks, but no mention of sleep. It is full of things you can do during the waking hours. In my opinion, the real reason the advice is “killer” is that it does nothing to reduce sleep debt, a major contributor to lethal traffic accidents.
But there’s another reason for our neglect of sleep. It is the result of our tireless American work ethic and our drive to be busy. Paul Martin, Ph.D., captures our strange view of sleep:
A century ago the majority toiled long hours while the affluent few idled away their time. Today, however, the more conventionally successful you are, the less free time you will probably have. Having nothing to do is seen as a sign of worthlessness, while ceaseless activity signifies status and success. Supposedly unproductive activities are deprioritised or delegated. And according to the prevailing cultural attitudes, sleeping is one of the least productive of all human activities – more worthwhile perhaps than sitting around picking your nose, but not much. In their ceaseless pursuit of work and pleasure the cash-rich buy time from others, hiring them to cook and clean their houses, look after their children and cook their food. But one of the activities you simply cannot delegate to anyone else is sleeping.
–Counting Sheep [emphasis added]
(If you’re looking for a book on sleep, I highly recommend Counting Sheep –I improve my sleep habits each time I read from it.)
Sleep should be financial advice
Financial advisers often talk about the miracle of compound interest. If you sock away money for several years, have decent stock returns, and wait it out, you’ll surely be a millionaire and make your investment worthwhile.
I recently reflected on what we financial writers do instead of what we could do. We spend our time telling people to be patient, to control temptation, and to hang on to bear markets for the hope of monetary gains at retirement. Imagine if we also told people to sleep more so they could feel like a million bucks right away.
I’d call that one heck of a return on investment.
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I totally, agree! My friends poke fun at me because I like to stay on track with my sleep schedule even on weekends, but going to bed between 9:30-10pm and getting up at 5am is my natural body cycle, and I feel great sticking to it. When I slight myself even a half-hour of sleep, I feel it the next day. And I don’t need any caffeine or sugar to get me going in the morning!
I have a sleep disorder (mild apnea) and it’s definitely wrecked havoc on my life in a number of ways. Waking up feeling like you haven’t gotten good rest is the absolute worst way to start your day. Sleep refreshes you mentally, emotionally and physically. Some people don’t know how good they have it. If you can get quality sleep, USE IT!!!
I’d agree with a lot of that Presh. I found that a year ago when I started working from home and having more control over when I go to sleep and get up my ability to focus went up. There are still the occasional times when I may get less sleep, but it’s not day-to-day-to-day which makes life much easier!
Presh,
Great post. Sleep is not sexy or not considered as important as exercise and nutrition by many people. However I have read recently that lack of adequate sleep is not merely a feel good (mood) or mental alertness issue for your body. Lack of sleep over an extended period of time contributes to cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity according to a Washington Post article dated 10/9/05 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
content/article/2005/10/08/
AR2005100801405.html. My sleep patterns are OK but could use improvement so I think I’ll have to check out that book you recommended. Thanks.
Mark
Thank you so much for your post! It’s so true! I read some of the book Counting Sheep on Amazon after reading your post and I realized that the lack of sleep that started with our baby being born a year ago has taken a toll on our happiness so much. My husband and I have a short fuse for sure, and I thought it was more because we weren’t getting any free time. Now I realize how we can solve it! Now that our baby is sleeping pretty well, we have been staying up late because we have no time to ourselves when she’s awake. But now I realize that sleep will bring more happiness than staying up late to watch a DVD. Thanks!
I might have to check out that book too. Sleep always evades me. I just love being awake and going at full steam all the time.
I think there are more factors at play than just getting enough sleep. I think it’s that I think I’m losing something by sleeping, and the cost of less sleep is worth whatever I’m staying awake for - at least that is how I rationalize it. I’m not saying that is a sound approach…
I love to sleep! This is great advice, I know way to many people who actually pride themselves on not getting much sleep. Like you mention, sleeps not sexy, but being constantly busy apparently is. I don’t get it.
Since college, I’ve taken a different route. If I was tired when studying the night before a big test, I would just shut down and go to sleep because I knew that being well rested would make me much sharper the next day. It usually worked..
Now that I can create my own hours, I try my best to only work when my head is 100% in it. If I’m too tired to do my work well, I’ll take a break and relax or even take a nap.
Luckily, I’m well rested today
If you want to read a GREAT book on optimizing your brain power, check out John Medina’s new book, “Brain Rules.”
Its part science, history, and a LOT of fun to read. He has an entire chapter on how important sleep is to performing our best. The website, brainrules.net also has a bunch of the good stuff posted there from the book.
I recently read an article on entrepreneur.com that suggested that a business owner could increase sales by…exercising regularly. I think the point is that our body needs rest, exercise, and the right nutrients so that we feel whole.
Personally, I need to work on this because I often miss out on getting adequate rest amongst other things whilst working on launching my company.
Thanks all for your supportive and insightful comments. They are so great I want to respond to each one of you.
Jenn S.: I respect your sleeping schedule. I used to have a similar morning-routine but it was too hard to avoid late-night fun on the weekend. I also poke fun at people who are dependent on caffeine. I stay up later on weekends and sleep in a bit.
Tim: Thanks for sharing your story. I have friends and relatives with sleep apnea and that is why I added the caveat “most of us” can sleep with ease. They too get annoyed at people who disregard sleep. To them, it’s like watching someone have a winning lottery ticket and choose not to cash it in!
Alex Fisher: Working from home definitely seems like it’s working out-too bad not everyone has that freedom. I sometimes wish offices added some places where people could nap.
Mark W.: That Washington Post article was great. I have heard about sleep being associated with such diseases. I wonder if it is sleep itself or a correlated cause–diet, exercise, or a busy lifestyle. Nonetheless, good sleep is necessary and I hope more research is done in this area.
Caroline: Babies are notorious for disrupting sleep schedules. It is funny as you point out how sleep debt causes a variety of problems but we usually blame something else. Sounds like you got to the heart of the problem!
Milena Thomas: I sympathize with your view. It is in fact how most of us approach things when we consider economic opportunity costs. The issue is that we forget the hidden cost of sleep debt and the direct cost of being busy all the time. It’s important to look at total work output. I find I’m most productive when I’ve slept. 8 hours of alert work is easily worth 12 hours of sleep-deprived work.
Ryan Healy: Naps are great. I have trouble napping consistently, however, so I make sure to sleep a lot at night. I’ve heard studies about how sleeping is better than pulling an all-nighter. Glad to hear another story on that matter.
Jenn S.: Thanks for the book and website recommendation. I look forward to reading it!
Keith Ashe: You raise an interesting point: perhaps we ignore “non-activities” like sleep an exercise because the return on investment is hard to quantify. To people who rely on such methods, I usually try to convince them there is more to the numbers. After all, not everything that counts can be counted.
Presh -
Some offices DO provide places for people to nap! There’s also a business in New York City that provides private rooms for noon time naps for tired office workers!
Newsweek reports that about 37% of Americans nap during the day. One expert says that the ideal nap is 20 minutes long. I blogged about this:
http://keppiecareers.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/
Maybe if we all take your advice and get sleep at night, we won’t need naps during the day!
Miriam Salpeter
Keppie Careers
Miriam Salpeter: This is interesting news–thanks.
I also find heavier meals make me sleepier, even when I’m fully rested. There is some science that seems to corroborate this. Very fatty meals constrict the arteries and restricts blood flow, taking up to 6 hours to recover (also a cause for heart attacks).
Looks like we all need to sleep and eat better, but that’s another article