It’s all Edison’s fault! I mean, have you ever read about people complaining of insomnia before the light bulb was introduced? Now add work, stress, overstimulation, coffee, computer screens, and small children on top of electricity and the result is that we need a National Sleep Awareness Week to help us sleep better.
Interestingly Tomas Edison also wrote this quote: “Sleep is an acquired habit. Cells don’t sleep. Fish swim in the water all night. Even a horse doesn’t sleep. A man doesn’t need any sleep.”-Thomas Edison.
No one has yet invented the pill that eliminates the need for sleep, so we continue to “waste” about a third of our lives while being unconscious. While most of us feel like there’s not enough time in the day and our resting time is being reduced to some precious 4-6 hours per night, we don’t do ourselves any favors by not making quality sleep a priority in our lives. I know this from experience, as I used to work nights and rotating shifts for years. Even after I returned to working “regular hours” I used to prefer staying up later than going to bed on time, until I finally realized that it’s not a sustainable practice. I used to say “I can sleep when I’m dead”, and while that may be true, who wants to go through life feeling stressed, grumpy, irritable, sick, and with low energy, just because one didn’t get enough sleep again and again.
Did you know that after 17 hours of being awake the average human will experience a decrease in performance equivalent to having a blood-alcohol level of 0.05%?
As it turns out, quality sleep is one of the most important ingredients for a healthy life along with holistic nutrition and exercise. Healthy sleep helps to:
Tips for better sleeping habits:
And with that I wish you a good night and sweet dreams!
Written by Eliane Baggenstos, owner of bodono, Registered Nurse, and Certified Health Coach with certification in Plant-Based Nutrition by the Cornell University and Evidence-based Health Coaching for Healthcare Providers by the National Society of Health Coaches, Licensed Massage Therapist with certifications in Advanced Sports Massage and Medical Massage, and Personal Trainer NASM CPT.