No Rest for the Wicked

I want to talk about sleeping patterns today, mainly because most of the people I’ve been talking to lately about it have horrible sleep patterns. If your always asking yourself on a consistent basis why don’t I have any energy, its most definitely related to your sleeping patterns.

Getting 4 hours of sleep in a night is not okay.

You should at least try to double that number. I think the universally recognized number is 8 right? Don’t quote me on that, but at least ball parking 8 should be your target.

Other people I know like to do mini naps throughout the day where they’re just resting there eyes for a few minutes. In other countries outside of the states I’ve learned that sleeping for one long period at night usually isn’t how its done at all.

But I believe the body responds better to complete dreamland for an extended period of time versus chopping it up. Then again if you get your body into the habit of waking up and falling asleep at all different times during the day, that cycle will obviously be hard to break.

Sometimes I sleep for crazy long hours. On a weekend I once did up to 13 hours. Maybe its genetic though and I come from a family who’s big on sleep. My brother once hit something just shy of 15 hours back when he was in college.

I know we’ve all heard the saying “No rest for the wicked” right? It means someone won’t rest until they get paid whatever they feel should be coming to them. Although mostly a criminal expression, I think it applies to today’s point well.

See criminals don’t rest until they accomplish whatever area of business they’re in for the day as the expression goes. I like putting a twisted and then reversed angle on how one might look at this classy old saying.

And here it goes…

The best way to accomplish something is by actually first getting the proper amount of rest which is the first step to success in the day to be coming.

Look just get plenty of sleep.

It looks like now that I look at it, there is no real creative way to put a spin or twist on this point.

I did an experiment once with a job I had that demanded long hours. Oh I won’t go into details on the job don’t worry. At first I said screw it, and went about my business like I did beforehand and stayed to my current sleep schedule while having to wake up much earlier now with this job.

I remember going into work almost dizzy and sometimes even nauseous. I continued on this way for about a week or so and finally said lets see what happens when I tag on an extra few hours of sleep. Not to my surprise, I went in with the added sleep time and felt nothing. It was as if 8 am felt like 3 pm.

I realized for myself that when I don’t get enough sleep, it has cataclysmic effects on my entire everything everywhere. My whole chi and brain and body and mental acuteness is gone and I’m functioning on the same level as an inter species bred goat sloth hybrid.

True, some deal with sleep deprivation much better than others. Those damn 19 year old’s can function on 2 hours of sleep and can still walk around like they got ants in there pants. Or maybe its a thing to them where they think its cool telling others how little a sleep they got? Don’t know, I’m far from 19 and have forgotten of what is actually comprised of being cool.

So remember today’s magical number, which is 8. I’ve been reminded of this number several times in my life so now I’m just passing it along to you. Realistically though 7 hours of sleep is more easily maintained than a whopping 8 right? I mean that gives you a whole extra hour of living.

Then again, we always have to consider balance. Do you want 19 hours in a day with low energy, or 14 hours of turbocharged energy for your day? Both seem a bit extreme so try finding the your own perfect amount to give you the perfect balanced energy plan for your days. Everyone’s different with this remember now.

Oh, and if your 19 this post isn’t for you. Go ride a bike up a giant hill on its highest speed on 3 hours of sleep. If you make it to the top, well I hate you. If you fall dramatically back to the bottom, then your welcome come back here and rejoin the rest of us. I’ll probably have a new post up by then for all ages!