I’ve been trying to sleep more lately. And yes, this post belongs in the writing category, because when I get enough sleep, I (shockingly) think better and have more energy to write.
But it’s an interesting trade-off, isn’t it. Because sleep is one of the easiest things to cut back on. Which means that adding more sleep means cutting back on something more difficult–in my case, exercise, which is making me crazy. So that’s not going to work for long, even though getting up at 5:30am in the cold and dark to go swimming is…not my favorite part of the day.
What I really need to do is pretend I don’t know what the internet is…
I’m a big fan of sleep.
I have the theory that everyone who uses an alarm clock is chronically sleep-deprived. It’s okay to use an alarm a few times a year—to catch a train or something—but more than that is harmful.
Quite a bit is known about the harmful effects of sleep deprivation, because of its use in torture and brainwashing, but the harmful effects go way beyond those. It weakens the immune system, probably causes cancer and type-2 diabetes, raises blood pressure, and probably causes cardiovascular disease.
Links to references here:
http://www.wisebread.com/get-enough-sleep
I sort of agree with you about the alarm clock. Most people who have to use one daily are probably sleep deprived, but not using one doesn’t mean you’re getting enough sleep. I wake up before my alarm goes off even when I’m getting up at 6am after too little sleep, just because my body knows that it’s time to get up. Also, going to bed earlier sounds like a simple solution, but tossing and turning for an hour or two isn’t very restful. I while ago I established a wind-down time instead of a bedtime; it’s helpful except when I’m in the middle of writing and I’m supposed to turn the computer off.