Czeisler, a professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School, calls early rising a “performance killer,” because, he says, regularly getting four hours of sleep is the equivalent of the mental impairment of being up for 24 hours. That group quickly developed higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol, higher blood pressure and produced half the usual amount of antibodies to a flu vaccine.ĭr.
In 1999, researchers at the University of Chicago monitored a group who slept only four hours a night - a common amount for those who wake up very early - for six days in a row. Those who slept less than six hours a night “produced cognitive performance deficits equivalent to up to 2 nights of total sleep deprivation.” In the study, 48 healthy adults, aged 21 to 38, had their sleep chronically restricted. In a 2003 study, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Medical School found that reaction times and performance on cognitive tasks plummet for those getting four hours of sleep and those getting six hours of sleep. What happens when we don’t get enough sleep? And while some people seem to need less sleep than others, we can’t game our body clocks. Kirsch said that this early-rising trend propagated by entertainers and entrepreneurs is deeply troubling. What he left out of the picture is he was a pretty prolific napper as well.”ĭr. “Thomas Edison used to say the same thing: Four hours are good enough for me. Kirsch, a neurologist and the president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. “This trend goes back a fair bit further than our recent tech C.E.O.s,” said Douglas B. Is the key to success emulating high-profile achievers who are hacking their bodies to increase productivity? Even if capitalism favors early wake-up times, at least as a badge of honor, there is no data that shows that successful people get less sleep.Īmericans sleep, on average, less than seven hours a night, which means that many of us get less sleep than the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends. Recently, Steve Harvey declared: “Rich people don’t sleep eight hours a day.” And Jennifer Aniston wakes up at around 4:30 to meditate, as does Kris Jenner, the same time that Michelle Obama is hitting the gym. David Cush, the former Virgin America C.E.O., has said that he wakes up at 4:15. President Trump wrote in his 2004 book that he only needs four hours of sleep a night. I’ve never felt so defeated in my life.Tim Cook, the C.E.O. “Resting my eyes” is always a great idea in the moment…Ģ3. Tim Gunn would be proud of how well I make it work.Ģ2.
Somehow knowing how long I’ll seep for prepares me for how tired I’ll be.Ģ1. I should have all of my arguments just as I’m trying to fall asleep.Ģ0. What really happens to time when I’m asleep?ġ9. I swear I develop supersonic hearing only while laying in bed.ġ5. When panic and doubt take over your sleep time.ġ2. I’d rather not put “nap” and “waste of time” in the same sentence…Ħ. Do you ever make plans just becasue the feeling of cancelling is too good?ĥ. Everyone else is just going to have to deal.ģ. When you’re used to running on empty, having energy during the day is very confusing.Ģ. Whether it’s for daylight savings or just normal life, the struggle is real. We can relate a little too well to these memes about not enough sleep.