Giving up on a good nights sleep
If it’s true what they say about needing 7–8 hours of sleep per night, many of us are in a great deal of trouble. I couldn’t tell you the last time I got a solid 8 hours of sleep, but can assure you it hasn’t happened in the last 6 years. It’s not something I’m proud of, or a choice I’ve made, but I’ve come to accept and appreciate my insomnia as a blessing. Don’t get me wrong, I love sleep, and treasure the hours I am able to get in every night. I wish I was the kind of person who could lay down and fall into a deep restful night. However, I’ve discovered some of the most valuable hours of my day occur between 12am and 6am. For years I wasted these hours, frustratingly tossing and turning around my bed. Having heard so much about the detrimental health effects of not getting enough sleep, I clung to the idea that the middle of the night was reserved for rest and that to do anything else during these hours was plain wrong. I tried all kinds of behavioral changes, dietary changes, supplements to try and aid my sleep,all to no avail. Until, one day, a phone call with my Dad changed my understanding of the late night hours. I discovered that night that the sleepless nights I’d become used to, ran in my family. My father, my uncle, and my grandfather all had lost the ability to sleep around the age of 18, and apparently they had all came to the same solution. Use those sleepless hours to your advantage.
I’m not saying this was an easy attitude adjustment, or that the behavioral adjustment was immediate. The opposite is true. It’s struggle to find the right balance of sleep and levels of production. I still am finding the right levels for myself. So rather than talk about my experience with changing my sleep habits and how you may change yours, I will focus the rest of this discussion on how my life has changed since I decided to give up on a good nights sleep.
The most obvious way that my life has changed is that I literally have more waking hours in my day. Morning’s have always been the most productive time of day for me, but I often struggle with concentration between the hours of 1pm and 5pm. This would be a big problem if I wanted to do anything in the evenings besides work. Embracing my insomnia has given me those hours of productivity back. If I’m going to be up from 12am-330am, why not get shit done! I’ve found my creativity shines during these hours, similar to my early morning level. This realization has also enabled me to make more of my mid-afternoon sluggish hours. Instead of attempting to work and instead staring at a computer screen checking my social media, I now use this time to run errands, exercise, hike, take out my dog, etc…In this way, changing the way I look at sleep has increased my productivity during my least productive 8 hours each day.
The less obvious change has come from my anxiety and my work flow. As a habitual procrastinator, balancing my need to work close to a deadline and managing the anxiety that comes with doing things last minute was always a struggle. To my surprise, adjusting my sleep habits has also drastically affected my work habits and attitude. I no longer put things off until the moment they need to be done. I enjoy getting things done early, giving extra time to review work the night before a deadline. In turn I’m more calm, and my work process is more complete and without hurry. In converting my sleep habits I have been able to effectively change my work and time-management habits to derive more productivity and less stress out of every day.
It is impossible to say exactly why so many positive side effects have occurred, the changes have felt natural and subconscious. Aside from the initial shock, everything has just sort of “happened”. These positive changes all stemmed from my conscious decision to give up on a good nights sleep. Insomnia isn’t for everyone, but if you are one of the many Americans struggling to get to sleep tonight, maybe it’s time to consider something different.
