In August 2017 I came across a video on Instagram that horrified me. It wasn't graphic, it wasn't full of swearing (you know me, right?), it wasn't sexually explicit. It was THIS. I quickly sent it a to friend with this note, "F*#$ me! This shit is stupid. Do we really want to behave like this manic twat and miss all of the amazing life that's occurring around us?? I may also be due for my period ....and I may have commented." That last bit was unneccesary to include ...but made me laugh.
The video, however, does not make me laugh. It still bugs me. In fact, as I listened to a podcast today called, Eyes Wide Open: Part 2, I immediately recalled the video and went looking for it in my messages (thanks Instagram!!). The podcast episode was on one of my new fave Podcasts, Hidden Brain. In this episode, Shankar interviews Matthew Walker who is a sleep researcher and author of my newly downloaded book, Why We Sleep.
Let me give you a couple of quotes from the podcast:
- "Sleep has an image problem right now"
- "Sleep has been stigmatised ....and is akin to laziness"
- "Sleep is the Swiss Army Knife of health"
- "Sleep is a wonderful form of night time blood pressure medication"
- "Every night I give myself a non-negotiable sleep 'opportunity' of 8 hours"
And from Matthew Walker's book (in the first 5 minutes!!)
- "Can we go so far as to say that a lack of sleep can kill you outright? Acutally, YES"
- "Routinely sleeping less than 6 or 7 hours per night, demolishes your immune system, more than doubling your risk of cancer. Insufficient sleep is a key lifestyle factor determining whether or not you will develop alzheimer's disease. Inadequate sleep, even moderate reductions for just one week, disrupts blood sugar levels so profoundly that you will be classified as pre-diabetic. Short sleeping increases the likelihood of your coronary arteries becoming blocked and brittle, setting you on a path toward cardiovascular disease, stroke and congestive heart failure."
Believe me when I say that this doesn't even scratch the surface of 'ah-ha's' in this episode and book.
Now go listen to that podcast and don't be like that manic twat on the instagram video! You can still be an entrepreneur AND look after your health, sleep and all.