Reality A:<\/p>\n
In 2017, Fiverr \u2013 a platform functioning as a marketplace for independent professionals in various fields (web design, animation, digital marketing, programming, etc.) was involved in a huge scandal. Why? Because of an advertising campaign that went something like this: “Your eat coffee for lunch. You follow through on your follow through. Sleep deprivation is your drug of choice. You might be a doer. In doers we trust.”<\/p>\n
Reality B:<\/p>\n
Neuroscientists talk about how, when we don’t get enough sleep, our immune system stops doing its job and we become vulnerable: we get sick more often and faster, the risk of heart disease increases, wounds heal more difficult, we gain weight, etc. Lack of sleep also increases the risk of cancer and Alzheimer’s dementia. In 2018, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the US classified sleep disorders as a threat to public health around the globe (about 65% of the Earth’s population is sleep deprived).<\/p>\n
How do we join these two realities? How are they consistent?<\/p>\n
We live in a culture that glorifies sleep deprivation, as if deep dark circles around our eyes and constant exhaustion are indisputable proof of character virtues. Consumer society encourages this distortion, and we are told that to succeed, one must sacrifice oneself. On top of that, we also try to “steal a glimpse of life”, as we want more than professional and family responsibilities. So, instead of going to bed at the right time, we keep our eyes on our phones or watching yet another episode of or favorite series on Netflix. Next day, we do pay the price for “we\u2019ve got just one life to live”, as we do also in the future, whether we’re talking about health problems, low cognitive performance, increased risk for depression and anxiety, or relationship problems.<\/p>\n
How did a method of torture (still used) become our drug of choice?<\/p>\n
It might be worth remembering that sleep is an universal behavior (present in one form or another in all species known so far) and has a profound protective and regenerative role for the body. When you sleep, your immune and cardiovascular systems reset, blood sugar and blood pressure are regulated, hormones are prepared to help your muscles work well; your mind processes information, stores memories and, through dreams, enters a self-healing process by which it clears away the emotional residues of the day. You don’t need a mountain retreat detox \u2013 you need sleep! Matthew Walker, one of the leading sleep researchers, puts it simply: sleep is “the best life insurance policy.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reality A: In 2017, Fiverr \u2013 a platform functioning as a marketplace for independent professionals in various fields (web design, animation, digital marketing, programming, etc.) was involved in a huge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9798,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n