During my first semester in college, I met a fine arts student named Beth who thought sleeping was a waste of time. She slept in 20-minute periods working diligently on art projects in between several naps a day. She was perpetually tired, lethargic, and lived in a dreamy fog that many of her friends took to be “cool.”
Beth was an extreme case, but her story typifies a common American mistake: When it comes to sleep, we have better things to do. Consequently, many of us are sleep deprived and sleep disorders are becoming more common.
The advertising media bombards us with advertisements for prescription and over-the-counter sleeping pills. We see so many commercials and advertisements for mattresses that promise a better rest. How many of us have not walked into a store in the mall to find out what our dream number is and who can resist finding out what the Tempurpedic does the mattress feel?
Convenience store shelves are stocked with packages of vitamins and energy drinks. Coffee is now an American obsession, commonly consumed even among teenagers. ($18 billion worth of coffee a year is consumed in the US)
Just twenty years ago, it would have been hard to find someone who had taken a sleep test. Back then, anyone who had a sleep test probably had to travel a long way, perhaps even by plane, to get tested at a sleep center. Now a simple count of the directory in dreamcenters.org reveals that there are at least 945 sleep testing centers across the country. According American Dream CentersMore than 70 million Americans have a sleep disorder, and more than 10 million people a year see their doctors about sleep-related problems.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drowsy driving in the United States kills more than 1,500 people a year and causes 71,000 injuries in approximately 100,000 sleep-related accidents a year.
If you ask me, America could use a nap.
Winston Churchill put it eloquently when he wrote: “Nature had not intended mankind to work from 8 a.m. to midnight without the refreshment of wounded oblivion, which, even if it lasts only 20 minutes, is enough to renew all vital forces.” “.
Research has validated his observation by showing that even a short nap of 20-45 minutes will rejuvenate you and increase your ability to focus making you more productive.
Until a few years ago, I worked as hard as any other baby boomer in the workforce. I got up early, went to the office, worked late, came home and had trouble sleeping because I was so nervous. One day, I arrived an hour early for a meeting and waited in my car.
The next time I looked at the clock, it was 20 minutes later, a snore and it woke me up. Aside from the slight self-conscious embarrassment of snoring, I felt great and my meeting went very well. I had recently made fun of an article about power naps and companies installing power nap facilities in their offices. Who in their right mind was going to pay someone to take a nap?
I was so impressed with my own experience; I tried again on purpose. The difference in my day was incredible. I started planning my appointments so that I could only find half an hour a day for a nap. I bought a sleep mask and a small travel pillow and kept them in the car. Since then, napping has become part of my regular routine. While others socialize in the dining room, you can find me lounging in my car taking the 20-minute nap recommended by Winston Churchill.
There are many people who do this. They don’t talk about it. It’s a secret. On some level, I think it embarrasses them. After all, napping is for kids, right? I admitted it, I take a nap in my car because I doubt I could take the teasing I’d get if someone heard snoring behind my office door. I’ve met quite a few people who say they could never take a 20-minute nap because they’d be gone for hours. Well, that just makes a stronger argument for the fact that they, like many of us, are probably sleep deprived.
Sleep researchers have found that sleep deprivation makes it difficult for us to learn and concentrate. Sleep-deprived people are less productive, more forgetful, and more prone to both mistakes and accidents. It also causes weight gain, affects our immune system, reduces our ability to handle stress, and can put us in a bad mood.
None one Some of these side effects can throw our work-life balance off balance. By not getting enough sleep; we increase our exposure to all of them. Getting enough sleep is one of the most effective steps we can take to improve the quality of our lives. Here are ten simple things you can do to improve your sleep:
- Save time to relax. Give yourself over an hour of mindless activity at the end of the day so you don’t spend half the night reliving the day’s events or rehearsing what might happen the next day. Read something frivolous. Watch TV, pray, or meditate.
- Avoid eating late. While you sleep, your body wants to heal and rejuvenate itself. If you spend half the night digesting food, you’re not reaping the full benefits of your sleep. Do not eat less than two or three hours before going to sleep.
- Avoid drinking a lot of fluids just before bed. If nighttime trips to the bathroom are a frequent problem, see a doctor.
- Avoid caffeine after 2 pm. I know this may go against everything you hold dear and Starbucks shareholders may scoff, but the effects of caffeine can last a long time. If you need an afternoon pick-me-up, instead of grabbing a cup of coffee or an energy drink, consider the humble nap or some physical exercise to get your energy flowing.
- Consider non-chemical sleep aids. Buy a sleep mask and/or earplugs if you are a light sleeper. Pull the curtains to close them. Covers LED lights. And if you live on a busy street or in a noisy building, white background noise can help: a recording of waves or rain or even the hum of a fan. (My dishwasher, which I can hear from my bedroom, puts me right below it.)
- Invest in a good mattress. You spend a third of your life in bed, you must have a high-quality mattress that meets your needs.
- Regulate your internal clock. Try to go to bed and get up at the same time every day, whether you’re working or not. You’ll know you’re successful when you wake up just before your alarm goes off feeling refreshed and ready for the day.
- Limit your alcohol intake. While alcohol can relax you, it also has a dehydrating effect and reduces the quality of your sleep.
- Consider taking power naps in the middle of the day but more than 8 hours before bedtime. Taking a nap later in the day can make it hard to fall asleep and stay asleep.
- Do more physical exercise during the day. If our work isn’t physically taxing, chances are we’re not working our bodies as hard as we are working our minds. A little exercise can fix things.