Sleep Debt

I have a goal at work for 2012 that revolves around being more efficient and organized.  I have access (through my work) to an online site that has tons of books available so I picked a few that might help me with my goal.  The first one that I started reading is called “The 26 Hour Day”.  It is subtitled “How to Gain at Least 2 Hours a Day with Time Control”.  One of the chapters that I was reading this week was about being more efficient by getting enough sleep.  The basic premise being that you can be more productive if you are well rested.

In this chapter he states that most people need 8 hours a night of sleep.  On a good night I might get 7 so I began to think of ways of getting more sleep.  Since getting up later does not work very well I had to focus on going to bed earlier.  I need to get up around 5:30 AM in order to get in some coffee time with the wife, exercise time, shower time and drive time to the office.  That would put me in bed by 9:30 PM which just seems too early.

We put the kids to bed around 9:00 PM (that is to say, they have to go to their bedrooms by that time and have to be in bed by 9:45 or so).  This leaves very little time after the kid’s bedtime for the wife and I to do much of anything (we usually watch a TV show then head to bed).  For the past two nights, after chatting and praying with each of the kids, the wife and I headed to the bedroom (after letting all the dogs our for one last time) and get settled into bed.  I thought I would have a problem falling asleep but it was not a problem the last two nights.  I woke up around 3:30 AM both nights but was able to fall back asleep until the alarm went off.  So far, so good.

One other thing the author of this book mentioned was something called Sleep Debt.  The idea being that you “owe” your body 8 hours of sleep each night and if you get less than that then you incur a sleep debt that you have to pay back (he mentioned nothing of interest on the debt).  Over time, a person can amass a very large sleep debt that must be repaid.  I checked out the Wikipedia page for Sleep Debt and there is debate on this idea of course.  Whether or not the science is sound, I like the concept of Sleep Debt on the surface and my going to bed earlier each night is my attempt not to pile up any more debt.

I have felt better over the last few days.  That might be due to the Outsourcing of My Body to the wife but I think in no small way that the extra sleep is doing me good as well.  The wife is loving it.  She usually falls asleep 1/2 way through the TV show anyway but refuses (for reasons that I cannot grasp) to go to bed without me.  If anything, she is running a sleep surplus (just kidding dear).

Jon