Sleep vs. 2020
Sleep is not important enough for you to hate yourself for not getting it.
Sleep is crucial for all species, and we keep missing out on its full potential time and time again. While hunter-gatherers had to worry about being attacked in the middle of the night, modern humans have other, though equally stressful, problems. Insomnia, together with elevated cortisol levels, is no longer a defense mechanism against lions but simply a symptom of the 21st century.
To add insult to injury, we’re constantly bombarded with pro-sleep information and a false choice. Either we fight against the 24/7 lifestyle and go down in rank as a result, or we play the game like everybody else. The alternatives do suck but never is it wise to blame yourself for having to choose between the lesser of two evils.
Don’t hate the player, hate the game
It’s not your fault that sleeping is just so damn inconvenient. We live in a society where quality sleep is rarely an option. We also live in a society where quality sleep is a necessity. Thanks to this dilemma, there’ve been only a few winners. The biggest one — Big Pharma and their smart drugs.
If you can’t afford a good night’s sleep, then you better be able to afford other means to stay awake and productive during the day. Naturally, you start with coffee (1). Once all of it starts tasting like decaf, you move into the world of energy drinks. You realize that stimulants such as caffeine and taurine are way too inconsistent and make you go to the toilet more often than you’d like. As soon as you start looking for other options, someone introduces you to amphetamines, and your life is no longer the same.
At this point, you’re barely getting any sleep, but hey, you’re productive as hell. The worst part about your lifestyle is the fact that it feels intentional. You consider yourself powerful, independent; however, you don’t have time to stop and realize that you’re just a cog in a soulless machine.
To make matters even worse, the same people that are promoting micro-dosing are also saying that sleep is the best nootropic. A dichotomy is hence created, which leads you to sleep-related anxiety, where you’re not satisfied with either option. Should you dive into the well of stimulants at the expense of sleep or rely on your brain to do all the processing in bed?
Let’s stop with the victim-blaming
We keep learning how sleep affects weight, physical performance, mood, the immune system, and, frankly, everything. Not only is it falsely assumed that everyone has the ability to get a good night’s sleep, but also that the duration is the end all be all. First, let’s discuss why sleep is not for the week.
If you somehow manage to extend your sleep, you’re likely to improve your mental health as well as athletic performance, including reaction times, grip strength, accuracy, etc. (2). If you’re like me and tend to prioritize productivity, then increasing REM sleep should help you with memory issues and problem-solving (3, 4).
Furthermore, there’s a whole host of modern age obstacles making us fat and depressed, and lack of sleep is certainly one of them. Ultra-processed, hyper-palatable foods may be what’s causing you to gain weight, but less than 7 hours of sleep is responsible for you not having control. If you want your hunger hormones in check, enough motivation to exercise, and a better mood overall, then you have to befriend sleep (5, 6, 7).
With all that being said, it’s your responsibility to know this information, but you can’t blame yourself for not being able to apply it. It takes time to come up with a schedule in which sleep isn’t just an afterthought. Additionally, the unpredictability of our modern lives makes it even harder to stay consistent and not sacrifice productiveness in the meantime.
Every story has an ending
The reality is that you can’t expect to be “on” all day and effortlessly go to sleep whenever you feel like it. Toggling back and forth between sympathetic and parasympathetic states is an awesome goal but unachievable for most folks. Your schedule should have peaks and lows and sleep that naturally fits into it.
While we have little choice as to when to be happy, we can still set up opportunities to get the most out of life. Sleep should work the same way. You shouldn’t fight it but rather tame it to your needs. A cup of coffee in the morning is totally fine since it acknowledges your circadian rhythm and helps you get to work. Caffeine in the evening, on the other hand, tells your circadian rhythm to piss off.
Before bed, it’d be wise to simulate the learning and recovery process that’s going to happen once you close your eyes. No new tricks are learned during sleep. Instead, the progress of your day is being carefully saved. It would frankly suck if your PC were to malfunction while saving your game’s data; a disturbed sleep cycle should scare you even more.
We’ve already discussed the stimulus side of things, now let’s enter the world of sedatives. Once again, you’re probably going to start with a cup of chamomile tea or maybe a few chapters of a good book. At some point, you might try messing with your environment, making it colder, darker, less distractive. Hopefully, that and a nice mattress will suffice; however, don’t be surprised if it does not.
Before getting any prescription drugs, I encourage you to give meditation, yoga, sauna, and other “natural” remedies a go. Sadly, I don’t have high hopes. If your circumstances require you to use various stimulants to begin with, then it makes sense for them to also lead you down the path of sleeping pills.
Takeaway
Ultimately, I’m not sure whether a world of stimulants and sedatives is a sign of a functioning society. For the time being, these are the rules of the game.
If you can afford to live a life of good sleep and low stress, go for it! Perhaps it’s time to stop worshiping Big Pharma and the modern-day 24/7 lifestyle.
