by Richard Galochkin
I haven’t always seen eye to eye with my body’s need for sleep. While I’m certainly a fan of the rest, I’ve always struggled with things I’d rather be doing. You know, like the kid who always begs his parents for 5 more minutes in front of the TV. I just never grew out of that and spent the vast majority of my years equating sleep with an interruption from studying, watching TV, reading and any number of things I wasn’t quite done with when the yawning started. It was the inevitable harm to my health that finally turned me around.
The real shame of it is I’m not alone in my struggle with sleep. In western and developing cultures, the demands of our jobs often require we spend less time in bed and more time making our bosses rich. The irony, of course, is that we do this to line our own pockets in pursuit of the good things in life while sacrificing the one really good thing that costs nothing (sleep, in case you didn’t catch it.) Giving up sleep for an 11th hour crunch now and again is fine. As a matter of routine, it’s horrible. Not only does lost sleep directly impact our health, it also contributes to a chain reaction that can diminish our quality of life.
It doesn’t take years of medical school to recognize some of the benefits of quality sleep. Sleep affords us better moods, increased productivity and better concentration. That’s backed by study after study. What you may not be aware of are that there are some unexpected associations being made with sleep. For example, did you know that we have an easier time burning fat and maintaining healthy weight when we have healthy sleep habits?
One of the theories behind the association of quality sleep with good weight management is based in evolution. The premise is that our bodies interpret a low stress environment and react accordingly. There must be plenty of food and it must be readily available or we wouldn’t be sleeping so soundly all the time. Poor sleep, on the other hand, triggers stress reactions and our bodies respond differently. We tend to go into a type of horde mode to carry us through tough times. It’s the metabolic equivalent of a squirrel packing away nuts to carry it through the winter.
Whether or not you agree with the popular science behind the association of sleep and weight management, what isn’t up for debate (it’s been well studied) is that there really is a relationship between them. “Why” isn’t as important as the simple acceptance that symptoms such as weight gain, depression, fatigue and mood swings are legitimately tied to our sleep habits and the message is clear. Sleep is important.
What isn’t so clear to many of us is the insidious way in which sleep deprivation has the potential to create a chain reaction of events that perpetually feed into a spiraling series of worsening circumstances. Starting with bad sleep, events follow one after another which, in turn, can contribute to more lost sleep and worse circumstances. Eventually, we feel caught up in some horrible Shakespearean drama in which all the players are doomed to horrible fates and nothing short of deus ex machina can liberate us from our circumstances.
Imagine, for example, a tough day at work following a few nights of poor sleep. As a result, you botch a very important proposal. Your boss isn’t the least bit happy. It’s all you can think of that night as you crawl back into bed and your head just won’t let you doze off. Your alarm goes off the next morning after hours of tossing and turning and you drag yourself to the office even more fatigued where, predictably, your performance continues to suffer. Your work doesn’t go unnoticed and when promotion time rolls around, you find yourself passed up after a demoralizing review in which your boss tells you that you’re not living up to his expectations.
Nor does your situation end at the office. The lack of sleep, poor performance at work and growing depression over the direction your life is taking leads to problems on the home front. Your temper is short and your spouse becomes fed up with your unpredictable mood swings. Arguments become more regular and all of it combines into an epic scene of bad circumstances following bad sleep followed by more bad circumstances. If only you could catch a few nights of good sleep.
But wishing for it doesn’t make it a reality. All your problems, your work, your home life, tumble through your mind as soon as you close your eyes. Your career is a wreck and your relationship is little better. And you owe it all to a few nights of interrupted sleep.
Now if all of that sounds a bit contrived and unrealistic, think again. Those who suffer from depression or struggled through tough times can tell you it’s sometimes a razor thin line between surviving and feeling like your world has fallen apart. Poor sleep over a period of just a few days can wreak havoc on a person. Given that planes have crashed and highway accidents routinely occur due to fatigue, is it so difficult to believe that less immediate problems can arise and compound due to lost sleep?
Our minds and bodies are complex and require care. Like any complicated piece of machinery, they require maintenance and upkeep. Rather than fuel and oil our machine requires nutrition, water and rest. Rest allows us to recharge our batteries and, without it, we simply can’t function as well as we should.
When a caring parent asks their adult child, “how are you sleeping,” it isn’t because they want to know if their kid likes their mattress. The driving point behind that question is, “how is your life going?” Bad sleep leads to tougher lives. Tougher lives lead to bad sleep. Just knowing how somebody is sleeping can tell you a great deal about the circumstances in which they are living.
So when you find life or work depriving you of sleep as a matter of routine, ask yourself what you’re gaining. Granted, a few more hours in the day, but at what price? Are they quality hours? Would you be performing better if you were more rested? Are you depressed or struggling through your slightly longer day? Do you lose your temper more often? If the answers to those questions are anything other than what they should be, recognize the cause. You’ll gain much more quality out of life for being rested than you will from an extra hour or two in the day.
Sleep Your Way to a Happier and More Productive Life
I haven’t always seen eye to eye with my body’s need for sleep. While I’m certainly a fan of the rest, I’ve always struggled with things I’d rather be doing. You know, like the kid who always begs his parents for 5 more minutes in front of the TV. I just never grew out of that and spent the vast majority of my years equating sleep with an interruption from studying, watching TV, reading and any number of things I wasn’t quite done with when the yawning started. It was the inevitable harm to my health that finally turned me around.
The real shame of it is I’m not alone in my struggle with sleep. In western and developing cultures, the demands of our jobs often require we spend less time in bed and more time making our bosses rich. The irony, of course, is that we do this to line our own pockets in pursuit of the good things in life while sacrificing the one really good thing that costs nothing (sleep, in case you didn’t catch it.) Giving up sleep for an 11th hour crunch now and again is fine. As a matter of routine, it’s horrible. Not only does lost sleep directly impact our health, it also contributes to a chain reaction that can diminish our quality of life.
It doesn’t take years of medical school to recognize some of the benefits of quality sleep. Sleep affords us better moods, increased productivity and better concentration. That’s backed by study after study. What you may not be aware of are that there are some unexpected associations being made with sleep. For example, did you know that we have an easier time burning fat and maintaining healthy weight when we have healthy sleep habits?
One of the theories behind the association of quality sleep with good weight management is based in evolution. The premise is that our bodies interpret a low stress environment and react accordingly. There must be plenty of food and it must be readily available or we wouldn’t be sleeping so soundly all the time. Poor sleep, on the other hand, triggers stress reactions and our bodies respond differently. We tend to go into a type of horde mode to carry us through tough times. It’s the metabolic equivalent of a squirrel packing away nuts to carry it through the winter.
Whether or not you agree with the popular science behind the association of sleep and weight management, what isn’t up for debate (it’s been well studied) is that there really is a relationship between them. “Why” isn’t as important as the simple acceptance that symptoms such as weight gain, depression, fatigue and mood swings are legitimately tied to our sleep habits and the message is clear. Sleep is important.
What isn’t so clear to many of us is the insidious way in which sleep deprivation has the potential to create a chain reaction of events that perpetually feed into a spiraling series of worsening circumstances. Starting with bad sleep, events follow one after another which, in turn, can contribute to more lost sleep and worse circumstances. Eventually, we feel caught up in some horrible Shakespearean drama in which all the players are doomed to horrible fates and nothing short of deus ex machina can liberate us from our circumstances.
Imagine, for example, a tough day at work following a few nights of poor sleep. As a result, you botch a very important proposal. Your boss isn’t the least bit happy. It’s all you can think of that night as you crawl back into bed and your head just won’t let you doze off. Your alarm goes off the next morning after hours of tossing and turning and you drag yourself to the office even more fatigued where, predictably, your performance continues to suffer. Your work doesn’t go unnoticed and when promotion time rolls around, you find yourself passed up after a demoralizing review in which your boss tells you that you’re not living up to his expectations.
Nor does your situation end at the office. The lack of sleep, poor performance at work and growing depression over the direction your life is taking leads to problems on the home front. Your temper is short and your spouse becomes fed up with your unpredictable mood swings. Arguments become more regular and all of it combines into an epic scene of bad circumstances following bad sleep followed by more bad circumstances. If only you could catch a few nights of good sleep.
But wishing for it doesn’t make it a reality. All your problems, your work, your home life, tumble through your mind as soon as you close your eyes. Your career is a wreck and your relationship is little better. And you owe it all to a few nights of interrupted sleep.
Now if all of that sounds a bit contrived and unrealistic, think again. Those who suffer from depression or struggled through tough times can tell you it’s sometimes a razor thin line between surviving and feeling like your world has fallen apart. Poor sleep over a period of just a few days can wreak havoc on a person. Given that planes have crashed and highway accidents routinely occur due to fatigue, is it so difficult to believe that less immediate problems can arise and compound due to lost sleep?
Our minds and bodies are complex and require care. Like any complicated piece of machinery, they require maintenance and upkeep. Rather than fuel and oil our machine requires nutrition, water and rest. Rest allows us to recharge our batteries and, without it, we simply can’t function as well as we should.
When a caring parent asks their adult child, “how are you sleeping,” it isn’t because they want to know if their kid likes their mattress. The driving point behind that question is, “how is your life going?” Bad sleep leads to tougher lives. Tougher lives lead to bad sleep. Just knowing how somebody is sleeping can tell you a great deal about the circumstances in which they are living.
So when you find life or work depriving you of sleep as a matter of routine, ask yourself what you’re gaining. Granted, a few more hours in the day, but at what price? Are they quality hours? Would you be performing better if you were more rested? Are you depressed or struggling through your slightly longer day? Do you lose your temper more often? If the answers to those questions are anything other than what they should be, recognize the cause. You’ll gain much more quality out of life for being rested than you will from an extra hour or two in the day.
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