Sleep is the Unsung Hero.
Plenty of health-minded people advocate nutritional information, functional movement, and stress management. But only a few, such as Robb Wolf, place it as highest on the totem pole. I like how he devotes an entire section of his website to sleep. He encourages people to sleep 8-10 hours a night, to sleep as much as you can without getting fired, and he wonders if people’s health issues would nearly vanish if electricity went out for a few weeks, and we all re-aligned ourselves with our biological clocks.
Sleep is also the Unsung Hero of happiness, productivity, of self-awareness. You process information while you sleep, sorting out the clutter of the mind (it helps you learn music). You secure long-term memories. You wake up alert and ready to proactively initiate your day.
The benefits of napping have also been outlined by Gene Stone in The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick and by Daniel Coyle in the The Little Book of Talent. Mark Sisson from the Primal Blueprint outlines how to convince your boss to allow napping. Can you find a corner during the day to create 20 minutes, prop your feet up, put on headphones with binaural beats (I use the Sleepstream App), and enter Stage 1 or Stage 2 sleep? You’ll actually contribute to your productivity, not only because you’re processing the information you’ve already learned so far that day, but because you will wake up refreshed and can proceed to do more in less time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but sleep is a luxury, it’s like a massage!
I definitely understand it can be challenging to create the time, especially if you have kids. But sleep doesn’t require a financial hit, it requires intention. Here are some tips to increase “sleep hygiene.”
– Turn off/dim lights in your house as soon as possible before bedtime
– Download the Sleepcycle App to measure your sleep quantity/quality, and wake you up at the optimal stage of sleep
– Black out your room with dark curtains and/or wear a sleep mask
Maybe I’m wrong and the studies are wrong. Sleep for yourself!
