For something that feels so good, why do we spend so much of our time fighting sleep? As the night creeps in we hide from it by watching television, flicking through our social media, or deep in our favourite book. We’ve battled the sleep enforcer all our lives. First it was our parents and then it became ourselves. Our parents were much better at getting us to sleep at a certain time!
Hundreds of thousands of sleep hours around the world are lost every night to activities that aren’t nearly as valuable as the sleep we are missing out on. We finally shut our eyes, battered by exhaustion and promising not to stay up as late ever again. Twenty-four hours later, we find ourselves having that very same internal conversation.
The Little Rectangle
Modern times have brought about an “always on” culture. Our phones are rarely out of arm’s reach. That little rectangle allows us to immediately put our mind and attention somewhere else, and it is this attention that we are giving away far too easily, especially around bed time.
It’s unfortunate that our one and only time to sleep comes after numerous hours of momentum building in the form of being awake. At night, most of us have built up a head of steam from our day and, instead of wanting to wind down, I for one, just want to keep going at whatever task or fun activity I’m involved in.
FOMO!
So much is happening at any one time that FOMO kicks in as our thoughts turn to shutting down our day. FOMO stands for Fear Of Missing OUT. I only learned of this neat little four letter acronym recently when an old roommate of mine told me how he regularly stays out all night at the weekends because of “FOMO”. You can just imagine how he feels on Monday mornings as he drags himself into his brand new week!
This roommate of mine certainly isn’t alone. Whether it’s an exciting night out, a new episode of your favourite series, or the online chats you are having with friends, FOMO totally messes us up by pushing us to ignore the warning signs that tell us it’s bedtime.
The Under Six Mood
There is a lot of research done on the recommended amount of sleep needed for adults each night. The consensus seems to be between 7-9 hours, with adults over 65 needing slightly less. Personally, I do reasonably well on seven hours but if I go under six, I really start to see how that affects me the following day. I work at a slower pace, am more irritable, day-dream more often, lose focus more easily and drink too much coffee!
This in turn leaves me more stressed which cranks up my moodiness too. Also, I find a big downfall of not getting enough sleep is how it affects my emotions. On days when I don’t get enough sleep the night before, I feel a little down. Nothing bad may be happening in my life at that moment but my chemistry just seems a little off. I tend to dwell on the negative a bit more and don’t seem as grateful for what I have.
Make it Visual
I know how a lack of sleep affects me but this still doesn’t fully deter me from staying up late. I needed something visual that I could memorize in times when my momentum was beginning to push me into another late night. That’s when I came up with the sleep acronym. It simply reminds me, when I need it most, how going to bed earlier will significantly increase my chances of a great tomorrow. Sleep will Substantially Level-up your Energy, Efficiency and Performance!
I’m not sure if a truer sentence has ever been spoken (even if I did say it myself!). Sleep simply matters more than we think. Imagine functioning as a fresh, fully focused human being even five days out of every week? Your productivity would go through the roof, not to mention the added patience, attention and love you would give to those around you. This would mean enjoying your job more and having greater relationships with the people that matter in your life. Never mind how good you would feel working out!
Yes, we could go through all the statistics and pinpoint the exact number of hours every individual needs, but that still wouldn’t properly highlight the fact that this one life hack could change a hell of a lot for everyone.
Aim for Eight
There will always be an excuse to stay up late but none of them can truly stand up to an immediate improvement in your energy, efficiency and performance. I’m aiming for eight hours of sleep tonight and, instead of it being a usual once off, I’m going to do it consistently for the week. I’m expecting big things from this one change. If it backfires and makes me a worse human being, then I can always pick back up that midnight oil and start burning it again!
Dream
Human psychology can be difficult to understand sometimes. The big bangs for your buck like your health, fitness and sleep slip under the radar, while the “in the moment” things like stress, problems and a never-ending inbox get pushed to the forefront of our world. We all need to quite literally dream more. Nobody dreams of passing out on their pillow after a grueling 18-hour work day. We dream of a better life for ourselves and the people around us.
With so little sleep being had each night, we are slowly losing our ability to dream, and that is one of the saddest things we can do to our lives. From this week onward, let’s go to bed earlier and give ourselves the time to dream all of our dreams, so that when we wake up each day we have the energy, focus and mindset to hunt them down.
Dreams make our lives exciting and worthwhile but are also tough to go after and catch. Give yourself the best possible chance of catching them by allowing yourself the sleep you need. Recharge and reconnect with your dreams, so once you flick those eyes open in the morning, you’ll know your next move, and that’s a very nice feeling indeed.
Screenshot the SLEEP acronym as a quick reminder that your sleep matters!