WSJ: Stop Worrying About Sleep

WSJ: Stop Worrying About Sleep

WSJ: Stop Worrying About Sleep

Everyone knows that getting eight hours of sleep is the key to health and happiness.

Everyone should know to doubt anything that everyone knows.  The knowledge that “everyone knows” is built from half-assed news reports, advertising and unverified assertions made often enough.

Thomas Edison only slept 4 hours per night, but he was a dick.  Nikola Tesla slept about 2 hours per night, but he wasn’t mentally or emotionally stable.

The trick is to know that everyone is different, and to pay attention to what works for you.  I do well at 1 1/2 hour intervals.  I can sleep for 6, 7.5 or 9 hours and feel refreshed, but if I do 6 hours for more than a few days, it takes a toll.

But one of the worst things you can do about your lack of sleep is to stress out about it, say scientists and doctors. Forcing yourself to try to sleep better will backfire.

“The more you focus on going to sleep, you’re not able to sleep,” says Dr. Reena Mehra, director of sleep-disorders research at Cleveland Clinic. “It works against the individual.”

People obsess over mundane human requirements like sleeping, drinking water or eating at specific times due to some news article they’ve read or heard about on NPR.  It’s best to not obsess over things humans have done for thousands of years.