There are people who are proud that they don’t need much sleep.
Don’t listen to them. People who don’t sleep enough make more mistakes, they are dumber than they could be, they ruin their health, their sex life, to name just a few of the most important downsides.
Yes, it’s easy to reduce the amount of time you’re sleeping every day and the negative effects aren’t obvious. People sleep just a few hours every night feel powerful and agitated – mostly because of the adrenaline levels you get from the stress of lack of sleep. But adrenaline also makes reckless and unreliable. It bends you towards risky behavior which causes accidents and disasters like the world financial crisis.
If you’re one of these people, stop it. The additional hours don’t really make you more productive, no matter how much you would like to make yourself believe. Your ruler is broken – a sleep-deprived brain isn’t able to notice just how tired it really is. And even at the best of times, it costs your company almost $2’000 every year for every employee.
Richard Wiseman has put together a short list of tips to help you sleep. Plus he has created the World’s Most Relaxing Music. One hour of sound that has been scientifically engineered to relax you.
Related:
- Sleep Habits: More Important Than You Think
- How long can humans stay awake? (Scientific American)
- Sleep deprivation (Wikipedia)
- Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance (Wikipedia)
Tagged: Medicine, Sleep
