The Relationship Between Sleep & Self Improvement | Fixing the Machine.
- medium.com
- Feb 27, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 1, 2024
One of my shortest and favorite stories from my past I can tell with a singular sentence:
“One night — it was about three in the morning — I stopped at a green light and waited 5 minutes for it to turn red so that I could go.”
While it is funny to think of and the dangers of driving in suburbia at such an hour are minimized by the lack of traffic, it points out a simple and undeniable fact: we do not make the best decisions while we are tired.
When I was younger, sleep always felt burdensome. To go to sleep meant that we had to retreat from all the fun activities of the day, whether it be playing video games, spending time with friends and family, or anything else that involved a conscious presence. Living was always more fun than sleeping as a child, especially during the weekends or summers when school was out. While this holds true today to some degree, sleep is now seen as something exciting. Or rather, it is just exciting enough to outweigh the feeling we get from all of the menial responsibilities of adulthood. For some of us, we would rather sleep than work because it makes us feel better.
Others, however, still possess a strong opposition to sleep. These people can be found toting their lack of sleep like a badge of honor. When I think about these people, I imagine a grumbling middle-aged man looking down upon us with baggy eyes as he shouts at the log of his lungs: “I am greater than you because I work while you are asleep!” Regardless of where you are on the spectrum of sleep lovers to sleep haters, there is something that we all must admit is true. And that is that sleep is important.
When we get sick or injured, we seek medical attention because we trust that doctors and nurses will be able to help us with our ailments better than anyone else. However, doctors also recommend that the average adult gets between 7–9 hours of sleep on a regular basis. So, why do we respect doctors and their advice during certain times, but completely ignore it in other circumstances? It’s kind of ridiculous, if you ask me. Yet, in a country like America where nearly half of us are obese and there are more fast food restaurants than libraries, hospitals, and schools combined, it is no wonder why we are the way we are.
While America is likely never to change its ways, it doesn’t mean that we as individuals need to partake in the foolishness which is self-sabotaging. And, for anyone else who is as slothful as I am, there is no better place to start improving your life than working on your sleep.
Why is sleep important?
Calm down, brothers and sisters of the hustle culture. Lower your pitchforks and consider what I am about to tell you.
Sleep is absolutely one of the most important aspects of self-improvement. We can sit here and talk about how we are going to master our minds through intellectual pursuits, achieve our peak physiques, and meditate our way into nirvana for hours. Yet, if we aren’t getting enough sleep, our progress will be hindered dramatically. Hell, we might not even make any progress at all. For example, I cannot count how many times I have made the decision of trying to meditate late into the afternoon only to wake up from an unplanned nap an hour later groggy and confused. Ensuring we get the proper amount of sleep will provide us with the energy to conquer the challenges ahead of us and put our best (and most productive) foot forward.
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