(Expansion) – They say time heals all, but it’s sleep that heals all, says sleep scientist Matthew Walker. Sleep repairs the mind and body, but we live in a tired society that suffers from an epidemic: Bad sleep. Are you achieving bread for the present at the cost of hunger for the future? Analyze it. First think about this example.
Imagine that Alejandro is in a position in a company, he has his partner, his son, friends, hobbies and sports. Alejandro is not a mediocre person, at least that’s what he thinks of himself, but he has a challenge, to have high levels of success in all his roles.
As a partner, father, collaborator, friend and athlete, you no longer have enough time, so one day you sit down to think of a strategy and your brilliant idea is to stop sleeping eight hours and start sleeping five and a half so that the time enough for everything. Well, mangoes, Alejandro already fell into the trap, I hope you don’t.
He is already getting bread for the present at the cost of hunger for the future, because probably with this change of sleeping less he will have a little more success in his career, maybe he will be better with his partner or his children, maybe he will have good times doing sport, but only for a while, what he decided is not sustainable because in the future nothing far:
– It will lower your physical and mental performance.
– It will reduce the recovery capacity of your organs.
– It will mess up your mind’s ability to heal emotions.
– It will remove possibilities to be more creative. And, in general, you will be harvesting stress and chronic fatigue.
As the sleep scientist explains, in his book “Why do we sleep?”, Alejandro can reduce his life expectancy by up to 30% by sleeping poorly. Matthew Walker, after showing us research that shows the relationship between chronic and terminal illnesses and lack of sleep, sentences us like this: “The less you sleep, the shorter your life will be.”
The author tells us that since the Industrial Revolution and the creation of electric light, humanity has fallen into an epidemic of lack of sleep, which in those who suffer from it reduces their lucidity, intelligence, body repair, immune system, levels of happiness and life expectancy. Imagine the size of the epidemic, in industrialized nations, two thirds of the population sleeps poorly.
This #ChidoBook Why do we sleep?, made me conclude three specific things that changed my sleep, I hope they impact you in some way:
First: sleeping well is transcendent
It is very useful to know what we mean by sleeping well. It turns out that humans have a biphasic sleep, that is, we need by law to sleep seven to nine hours a night, that is the first phase to achieve the types of sleep that repair the body and mind.
There is a very beneficial second phase of sleep that is to take a nap, not too late, so that you do not lose sleep at night. Our brain is very old, unlike electric light, so getting a good night’s sleep for our brain means a couple of hours being exposed to artificial light as little as natural light has already gone by itself. Maybe someone will tell me that it is nocturnal and it can be, only that in more than 99% of humans, the brain is made to sleep at night.
Sleep implies physical recovery, mental and emotional reconstruction, but when you alter sleep you reduce that performance, so even if you adapt to not sleeping, you are more in bad shape, less lucid, less close to being brilliant and less happy. Walker says that before many medications, doctors could prescribe sleep, because many ills would be cured thanks to the ability we have to heal ourselves and that occurs while we sleep, but it is a cultural issue. What doctor who doesn’t sleep well is going to prescribe sleep before a bunch of medicines?
In children it is even more serious not to sleep because the organs and the brain develop during sleep. In fact, it is very difficult for a child who has been regularly deprived of sleep during his childhood to achieve happiness in adulthood. In the case of adolescents, although the body has already developed, what it develops when sleeping is reasoning, that’s why in adolescence very bad decisions are made, it’s not lazy to sleep instead of making decisions, don’t you think?
Adults with seven to nine hours we have until we die, because it is a myth that with age one needs less sleep, what is true is that it costs more to sleep and that is why every year we have to dedicate more attention to getting a good night’s sleep, but not with pills. The author shows us multiple researches revealing that sleeping pills make people sleep, but not recover, the impressive benefits of sleep do not exist when sleeping with pills.
Second: sleeping well is a job in society that flatters those who do not sleep
Little by little you have not had to see families or environments where those who sleep are branded as lazy, for example. After reading Walker, I chose a good night’s sleep as a job, as a real priority in my life. The sleep scientist tells us that it is not easy to get a good night’s sleep on a regular basis, because the social and professional context can lead you to sacrifice sleep even for some applause: “Look, she stays awake for the company”, “he doesn’t sleep with such of serving the client or having professional success”.
If you want sleep to work for you, it’s key to declare sleep a priority—a priority for recovery, sustainable performance, and life.
Third: a new paradigm must be established
Believing that the more hours you work, the more productive you can be is a trap. It is the old paradigm, the new one is that with fewer hours, but in which I am lucid and whole, I can contribute more.
If economic wealth does not allow you to sleep, it is not such; being a millionaire implies, among other things, having the opportunity to sleep as long as necessary, the opposite is not wealth. Think of an occasion when you slept spectacularly, that a damn alarm clock didn’t wake you up, but after enough time you came back, you woke up fresh, vital, wanting to generate, feeling that no problem could with you.
No, it wasn’t pills, or a motivational speech, you felt so good because you managed to put your body to sleep and it alone adjusted, prepared, corrected and cured what was necessary. Don’t tell me you don’t want most of your mornings to be like this, lucid and energetic. Don’t tell me that you have to work and that’s why you didn’t sleep, better tell me that you have to sleep well so that your talent develops, maintains its vitality and enjoys itself.
Author’s note: This column is based on the book ‘Why do we sleep’?, by Matthew Walker, editorial Paidós.
Editor’s note: Jorge Cuevas is the author of the Best Sellers Marathon and Kamasutra of Innovation and 10 more books, his most recent work is MARATHONS OF HELL. He is a creative consultant for national and transnational companies, a pioneer of business gamification in Mexico, a lecturer, a passionate marathoner and a reader, who shares the readings that have most impacted him so that you can apply them to your personal and professional life. Follow him on his , e . The opinions in this column belong exclusively to the author.
