The Power of Sleep

Sleep is a wonderful thing.  There have been various times when I have made a concerted effort to get enough each night, which for me is about 8 hours.  When I'm sick, I am consistently amazed by how often I can feel better just by sleeping for 12 or 14 hours straight.  And yet, even knowing that I feel better when I sleep enough, and it can cure many ills, I don't consistently get enough sleep.  It is, I suspect, a problem of the delayed gratification of feeling generally good the whole next day, versus the immediate (perceived) reward of staying up late working on "things I want to do."  Even though the things I often end up doing later at night are obviously, even as I do them, a giant waste of time.

Every person's sleep requirement is different.  I have read that Albert Einstein needed 12 hours of sleep each night.  Some of my friends claim to need only 4 or 5 hours sleep a night.  I do tend to believe that almost everyone I know is chronically sleep deprived.  And high school students are some of the worst of all.  Research suggests that the developing brains of teens need about 9.5 hours of sleep each night, more even than 8 - 10 year olds.  Instead, schedules overloaded with school, homework, sports, clubs, socializing, other extra curricular activities, and sometimes even jobs, lead to the zombie-like shuffle of chronic sleep deprivation.  And it doesn't just make teens grumpy.  Sleep deficit can result in increased chance of accidents, inhibited cognition, and diminished learning capacity.

Rotating shift work, such as the schedules used by many police departments, also results in extremely poor sleep hygiene.  It can take weeks to shift your sleep schedule around when you change shifts, from days to evenings to graveyard, and about the time you finally settle into a new schedule, it's time to change again.  It's like being continuously jet-lagged.

If you don't consistently get a good solid 8 hours of sleep a night, I challenge you to record how much sleep you DO get each night for a week. Then spend the next week making your very best effort to get to bed at the same time each night, and to sleep for at least 8 straight hours every night.  You might be amazed how good it makes you feel.  And before you point out how you can't afford the time, consider that the time you are awake, once you're well rested, will be MUCH more productive.

I'll try to get enough sleep as well myself... right after I take care of a few more things yet tonight...