Some people say they’ll sleep when they’re dead; they can’t bother to sleep right now. Too much to do. Too many books waiting to be written. And they’re not going to get written while they’re sleeping.
For those of us (yes, I’m one of them) who feel sleep should be phased out, ignoring the need for sleep is going to make us “dead” sooner than later. Pushing hard without sleep for long periods of time is bad for our health. And worse (as far as some of us are concerned)—it’s a productivity killer.
Studies show that the short-term productivity that results from skipping sleep is negated by the detrimental effects on our mood, ability to focus, and access to high brain function for days that follow. Even drunk people can sometimes outperform those who are sleep-deprived.
New research shows that when you sleep, your brain actually removes toxic proteins from its neurons, and this can only occur when you’re asleep. It’s like our brains offload bad stuff while we’re konked out, sneaking it out the back door, so to speak. If we don’t get enough sleep, those toxic proteins build up, wreaking havoc in our heads and impairing our ability to think clearly. And no, coffee won’t fix this problem. Continue Reading…
