What's the best thing to do at 3:00 AM when you're having trouble sleeping? Post on Steem of course! What to post about though... I know! How about sleep!
Ok, all joking aside, I've been thinking about a blog post on sleep for a little while now and it seems the perfect time to write it for the reason listed above.
Recently I've had so much I want to get done, that I'm doing my best to sleep more. Sounds weird right? While it may seem counterproductive, it really isn't! I do truly believe that I'm more productive, creative, and focused when I'm well rested and in better health. While I may end up spending more hours in bed... the time outside of it will theoretically see great gains in productivity. That's certainly not bad logic and not a day goes by that I don't see some article or study touting the benefits of good sleep or the horrendous effects of poor sleep. So I'm trying to work on those rest and health habits to boost my energy and mental functioning, as I've got a big 2019 planned ahead... and I'm failing miserably.
A while back I purchased an Apple Watch and since then I've played around with a couple different sleep tracking apps, the latest being AutoSleep which I really like. It tracks fairly accurately and is capable of learning and becoming more accurate as you use it multiple days and fine tune its readings and results manually at the outset.
In the few weeks I've had AutoSleep, I've only managed to hit an 8 hour sleep goal several times during one week that I had a fairly solid rhythm down I guess. (or was it for other reasons... stay tuned for the "shocking" truth below!)
The application also tracks what it calls a "Sleep Bank" which basically calculates out your level of sleep deprivation over a longer period of time. I haven't been doing that well on that chart... and tonight will probably push me to an all time low!
That Sleep Bank chart struck me as funny as I browsed through a couple different applications on my phone in quick succession. I of course had to glance at the Steem price chart while lying listlessly!
Steem price and my Sleep Bank have a suspiciously similar "head and shoulders" pattern... Hmm. Coincidence? Or do I just sleep better when Steem is doing well? That wouldn't be that surprising honestly!
I like data and numbers. I make lists, I track things, I keep timecards of my activities... So I actually enjoy looking at stuff like this. But maybe that's just the 3 AM (sorry... 3:30 now!) tired listlessness talking.
I know there's plenty of people who sleep way less than this as a norm, or of course at certain points in their lives (parents of young ones, crazy work hours) but I guess I still have hope that if I click some of these blocks into place a lot more will follow and I'll feel better and do better much more often.
So what's your relationship with sleep? Good, bad, indifferent? Do you ever make sleep resolutions? Any tips or tricks on getting quality sleep?
Well, I'm off to bed. Good night Steemlandia! But before I go I'll leave you with both the title of my post...
and a classic and relevant children's book...
Night, night.
