Photo/workethics.om
Most people know what it’s like to be up 4 hours and 2 cups of coffee after 12 AM burning the midnight oil because “sleep is for the weak”. Some people are night owls who believe are nocturnal by nature, that they reach peak levels of productivity at those hours when no one else is awake.
Others just have trouble sleeping at night, so they choose to do something more valuable with their time than stare up at a ceiling, whether it’s working on a side hustle or catching up on TV shows. And then there are those of who just procrastinated for too long and have to suffer the consequences.
For whatever reason, sacrificing sleep is usually seen as a badge of honor to be worn with pride. And therein lies the problem. Sleep is seen as the ironic-but-inevitable price paid to chase our dreams. The first thing we sacrifice for our ambitions. But the cost might be steeper than it seems.
In fact, some of the not-so-smart lifestyle decisions we make from eating poorly to smoking a cigarette even after quitting to serial drinking coffee can be traced back to the poor judgment and impulsiveness that stems from a lack of sleep.
Missing out on proper shut-eye detracts from the overall quality of your life. That’s why mastering your sleeping habits can be the key to a more productive lifestyle, especially if you’re working significant hours on top of your 9 to 5. It all starts with debunking some of the myths we rely on to rationalize the night owl behavior we’ve come to normalize, even celebrate.
This is referred as “sleep debt” and it’s one of the most troubling myths because it results in week-long stints running on limited sleep and then “spree sleeping” on the weekends to make up the difference.