Latest posts by Bill Nickerson (see all)
- PLR – Should You or Shouldn’t You? - October 8, 2012
- Why Skipping Sleep Won’t Save You Time - December 28, 2011
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Are You Exhausted?
You’ve done it. I know you have. I’ve done it too.
We’ve all, at one time or another, fallen for the trap of skipping sleep to make more time for important things.
In fact, you may have developed a lifestyle of skipping sleep for work, family and/or entertainment. Studies show that we’re already spending an average of 1.5 hours less time asleep than our ancestors did 100 years ago.
So I Sleep Less, So What?
In the past century technology has progressed at a rapid pace, providing us with the ability to pursue career and recreation activities 24 hours a day. It has also brought an abundance of activities to pursue that never existed before. A century ago you would not be tempted to stay up late to watch a DVD or late night movie on television. You wouldn’t be tweeting to your tweeps at 3 am or playing hockey at midnight. It just wasn’t possible to do those things.
People didn’t have as much that they could do, so they just went to bed and slept.
But are we short changing ourselves by skipping sleep to do all of these important things?
Or is sleep just a waste of valuable time?
The Research
Well, the past 60 years or so has seen an incredible leap forward in research about sleep as well. And the research is resoundingly telling us that sleep is not a waste of time — in fact, sleep is vital for our survival.
My Story – Why I Care
I have sleep apnea. For a period of time, before it was diagnosed, I would spend my days in a fog of fatigue. I would fall asleep within seconds of hitting the sack. I would sleep for 8, 9, even 10 hours. And I would wake up just about as tired as I was when I went to bed.
So I have a pretty good idea of what severe fatigue looks like. I saw it from the inside.
When I was diagnosed and treated, I began to sleep properly at night. It was amazing. After a couple of weeks, I even had a night of insomnia (thankfully it was just one night 8=)
For the past 14 years, I’ve been gladly using the CPAP treatment that provides the relief from apnea. But for some reason, I never thought to learn more about sleep itself until this year.
The Story of Sleep
What I’ve been learning (and I’m just beginning) is astounding. It seems that sleep research has been revolutionized in the 1950′s with the introduction of EEG technology and the discovery of sleep phases.
This research has shown us that our brains are far more active when we are asleep than previously thought. It has allowed us to learn about sleep disorders that were previously misdiagnosed — things like narcolepsy and sleep apnea.
It has also shown the dark side of sleep debt. This is the concept that people need to pay for every waking hour with an amount of quality sleep. The ratio seems to be around 2 hours of waking for each hour of sleep for most people. That translates to 8 hours of sleep per day. Some people require less, others more.
When we don’t get the full sleep that we need, whether it is due to sleep disorders or just not taking the time, the sleep debt accumulates. So skipping 1 hour of sleep not only adds an extra hour to the debt, it leaves 2 hours unpaid. We wake up the next day feeling as if we’ve already been awake for 3 hours.
After a couple of days we will simply be waking up exhausted.
Productivity falters. The time we thought we would gain is wasted.
Motivation disappears and apathy takes its place.
Mistakes happen, costly and even deadly mistakes.
Does that sound familiar to you? Do you know someone like that? Are you feeling it?
The Epidemic
Fatigue has become epidemic in Western society. People still carry around myths about sleep. There is still a lack of awareness about sleep deprivation and sleep disorders. We need to change the way that we think about sleep. And the way our corporations and governments think about sleep.
Lives are at stake!
There is so much to learn. The research available is amazing. And I’m starting to share what I’m learning at the Toxic Habits’ Sleep Apnea web site. If you want to learn more, join me there and be part of the solution.
To close, I’d like you to consider the following quotation. It is from one of the pioneers of sleep research (and my new hero 8=)
We are not healthy unless our sleep is healthy, and we cannot make our sleep healthy unless we become thoroughly aware of both its peril and its promise. — Dr. William C. Dement – The Promise of Sleep
Twitter: musicianmakers7
If I’m tired the whole day, my performance won’t be optimal, so I’ll be working on things slower and that = not saving any time.
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