I love sleep so much. Adore it like a pet. Miss it when it's gone. What a wonderful thing sleep is.
My sleep experience when I'm away at a no-electricity, no-internet, no-mobile phone service cabin is completely different than when at home. I fall asleep earlier, sleep better, and have that nighttime "second sleep" broken by a little less than an hour of being awake, which I usually spend looking at the stars. Similar, though not the same, when I'm camping. Artificial light affects us in so many ways we know of, and I'm sure many we don't.
Sleep is just the magic elixir of life.... Every single thing, from our mood, to our energy, our relationships to our creativity goes better when it's going well. I truly believe it's the single best gift we can give to ourselves. A big priority for me in my work with clients is nervous system regulation. A regulated nervous system plus a tired body cannot help but sleep well. Thanks for your slightly scary but very useful info here 😃
I sleep, but nowhere near the recommended amount. I've been getting better having discovered and being diagnosed with sleep apnea--you know, that thing where you stop breathing when you're sleeping. So they put me on a machine. I've gone from 5 hours of sleep to 6 1/2, almost 7 some nights. I just use the extra wake time to do my writing and catching up.
Fascinating, and I do like that idea of sleeping outdoors…I shall do it when the nights are warmer and see how I get on for a couple of nights. It’s been a long time since i camped!
I was sleep deprived for a couple of months last year because of sciatic pain, and I felt like I was losing my mind. I’ve never appreciated sleep as much as when I was finally able to sleep a full night again.
The psychosis of accumulated sleep debt pretty much describes the first 5-6 years I was raising children. My son, from about 4 to 9 or 10 months old didn’t ever sleep for more than an hour and a half at a time, and I couldn’t sleep and nurse at the same time. So when he’d wake to feed I’d be awake the whole time, then struggling to get back to sleep. I only slept for 45-60 minute stretches for months. I’ll never quite know how we all survived.
Love this post (except for the acute fogginess that you so deftly explain surrounding the sleepless years I spent in architecture school). But I have a legit question: It makes sense that heart attacks go up when we skip an hour of sleep, but I've never understood that the same would be true when we get an EXTRA hour of sleep and return to standard time. I'm a rather enthusiastic proponent of staying on Standard Time (during which solar noon aligns naturally with our circadian rhythms, unlike DST), so I'm curious since you brought it up, can you verify that the latter purported equivalence is actually a thing... or more of a commonly accepted misbelief that... perhaps may not be true??
I've had insomnia my whole life and done a good few sleepless nights, which probably prepared me for the best part of 6 days I spent awake giving birth (3 days in labour in too much pain exactly every 5 minutes to drop off, 3 days in hospital during which I was visited so often by nurses, doctors, and a crying baby right next to my bed that I only managed 4 hours sleep across the whole 3 days). I began replying to things people said to me in dreams that I had sitting up with my eyes open. I also blacked out a number of times and lost that time completely - for example, I was totally unaware that I had had an epidural about 2 and a half days in. The psychological effects have been long lasting - PTSD, panic and irritability over minor sleep loss, short term memory loss...
Well, this was a GREAT article to read after going out for a friend's birthday last night, getting home at 7am, getting to bed after 9am, and having to be up at 2pm.
Then again, a wise man once said to me, “The first thing you lose as you age is the ability to pull an all-nighter without paying for it.” He was right.
I could spin anecdotes of my teens and early 20's, remaining more or less functional over working Fri to Mon with no sleep, or 36 hours in a edit bay finishing a project to make the screening time. Surprisingly there are memories to retrieve.
Now I'm in my 50's and it's gonna take me a week to recover from last night, much like it took a week to recover from a convention the week before.
That knitting video ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I love sleep so much. Adore it like a pet. Miss it when it's gone. What a wonderful thing sleep is.
My sleep experience when I'm away at a no-electricity, no-internet, no-mobile phone service cabin is completely different than when at home. I fall asleep earlier, sleep better, and have that nighttime "second sleep" broken by a little less than an hour of being awake, which I usually spend looking at the stars. Similar, though not the same, when I'm camping. Artificial light affects us in so many ways we know of, and I'm sure many we don't.
And wonderful timing -- Annabel Abbs, writer of some of my favorite works on walking, just came out with a new book on sleep and insomnia! https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/733810/sleepless-by-annabel-abbs-streets/
Sleep is just the magic elixir of life.... Every single thing, from our mood, to our energy, our relationships to our creativity goes better when it's going well. I truly believe it's the single best gift we can give to ourselves. A big priority for me in my work with clients is nervous system regulation. A regulated nervous system plus a tired body cannot help but sleep well. Thanks for your slightly scary but very useful info here 😃
I sleep, but nowhere near the recommended amount. I've been getting better having discovered and being diagnosed with sleep apnea--you know, that thing where you stop breathing when you're sleeping. So they put me on a machine. I've gone from 5 hours of sleep to 6 1/2, almost 7 some nights. I just use the extra wake time to do my writing and catching up.
More ideas to help sleep: 1. Exercise 2. Sex 3. Ask spouse for a foot rub with lotion or oil, right before you fall asleep.
Fascinating, and I do like that idea of sleeping outdoors…I shall do it when the nights are warmer and see how I get on for a couple of nights. It’s been a long time since i camped!
I was sleep deprived for a couple of months last year because of sciatic pain, and I felt like I was losing my mind. I’ve never appreciated sleep as much as when I was finally able to sleep a full night again.
Loved the wee knitting video!
I nodded off halfway through the description of sleep deprivation, Mike. Can you recap how it ends?
But seriously, this was fabulously written and really well paced. Thank you!
The psychosis of accumulated sleep debt pretty much describes the first 5-6 years I was raising children. My son, from about 4 to 9 or 10 months old didn’t ever sleep for more than an hour and a half at a time, and I couldn’t sleep and nurse at the same time. So when he’d wake to feed I’d be awake the whole time, then struggling to get back to sleep. I only slept for 45-60 minute stretches for months. I’ll never quite know how we all survived.
Love this post (except for the acute fogginess that you so deftly explain surrounding the sleepless years I spent in architecture school). But I have a legit question: It makes sense that heart attacks go up when we skip an hour of sleep, but I've never understood that the same would be true when we get an EXTRA hour of sleep and return to standard time. I'm a rather enthusiastic proponent of staying on Standard Time (during which solar noon aligns naturally with our circadian rhythms, unlike DST), so I'm curious since you brought it up, can you verify that the latter purported equivalence is actually a thing... or more of a commonly accepted misbelief that... perhaps may not be true??
The knitting video is brilliant.
Over the counter melatonin can vary dramatically in the amount of active ingredient. There are terrific sleep tips here: https://www.hubermanlab.com/newsletter/toolkit-for-sleep
I've had insomnia my whole life and done a good few sleepless nights, which probably prepared me for the best part of 6 days I spent awake giving birth (3 days in labour in too much pain exactly every 5 minutes to drop off, 3 days in hospital during which I was visited so often by nurses, doctors, and a crying baby right next to my bed that I only managed 4 hours sleep across the whole 3 days). I began replying to things people said to me in dreams that I had sitting up with my eyes open. I also blacked out a number of times and lost that time completely - for example, I was totally unaware that I had had an epidural about 2 and a half days in. The psychological effects have been long lasting - PTSD, panic and irritability over minor sleep loss, short term memory loss...
Well, this was a GREAT article to read after going out for a friend's birthday last night, getting home at 7am, getting to bed after 9am, and having to be up at 2pm.
Then again, a wise man once said to me, “The first thing you lose as you age is the ability to pull an all-nighter without paying for it.” He was right.
I could spin anecdotes of my teens and early 20's, remaining more or less functional over working Fri to Mon with no sleep, or 36 hours in a edit bay finishing a project to make the screening time. Surprisingly there are memories to retrieve.
Now I'm in my 50's and it's gonna take me a week to recover from last night, much like it took a week to recover from a convention the week before.
Fuck it. I'll sleep when I'm dead…tired.
Sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture…