I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
Why this is toxic and we need to rest
I’ve been pushing myself hard lately and jokingly ended an IG Story post with, “Let’s go!!!! I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” It got me thinking about how harmful the idiom is for our mental and physical health.
When I say it aloud there’s an air of toughness, like I’m trying to justify the hustle and my exhaustion. To whom exactly? Versus giving myself permission to rest and take care of my mental and physical health.
This week’s post is dedicated to how we can be better about making time and space for sleep.
Vol. 18 // In This Issue:
Why sleep is important
Sleep chronotypes and your optimal time for everything
Kitchen cures for insomnia
Why Sleep is Important
Deep sleep is restorative. Our bodies need it to replenish energy and repair itself. Our brain needs it to process the day’s information for cognitive function.
According to the CDC, 1 in 3 adults don’t get enough sleep. Long-term sleep deprivation negatively affects thinking, concentration, memory, mood, sex drive, and immune system; increases physical health risks including weight gain, high blood pressure, and heart disease; and dramatically lowers our quality of life.
YIKES. What are we doing to ourselves and why is it so hard to fall asleep and stay asleep? When we can't, we lay there worrying about why we can't fall asleep. To compensate for not sleeping enough we drink too many cups of coffee, pound energy drinks, and do hippie speedballs to compensate until our kidneys shrivel up and fail. Perhaps there's a better way?
True Story: A friend told me about when she took a sleeping pill, and hours later she woke up in front of her laptop with her credit card in hand about to click “buy” to purchase over $800 worth of stuff on Nike.com.
Hilarious, but also damn, what the hell? That can’t be good. Anyone else have a wild sleeping pill story? Share in the comments, I wanna hear this.
Sleep Chronotypes: Accepting My Body’s Natural Sleep Patterns
I’ve wasted a lot of energy feeling guilty about not being a morning person. I’d agonize and feel guilty over why I couldn’t wake up earlier to squeeze in a few more productive hours in the day. I had a boss who would call me full of ideas wanting to talk at 7:30 a.m. and I was an incoherent lump before 9 a.m. I was a night owl trying to be a morning person, and science says it may (literally) be killing me.
Several years ago, I attended a talk by sleep doctor Dr. Michael Breus and received a copy of his book “The Power of When” which changed my relationship with sleep and allowed me to lean into my chronotype. His book offers advice for how to work with your body’s inner clock to find the best time to eat, sleep, drink coffee, take meetings, workout, etc. He categorizes people broadly into four chronotypes – bear, lion, wolf, and dolphin.
Understanding these chronotypes helped me accept my body’s biological patterns, organize my life and work within my optimized time windows, and be more understanding of other people’s time and sleep needs.
Take the “What’s Your Chronotype” Quiz
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My ideal chronotype-optimized day
I’m a Wolf, a classic night owl who finds it hard to wake up early and prefers to stay up late. In ideal conditions, I naturally wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go at 9 a.m. I rarely schedule calls or meetings before 10 a.m. It’s hard for me to be creative and write before 12 noon, so I spend that time doing admin work and chores. My caffeine cutoff time is at 2 p.m. so I can fall asleep by 12 midnight. Between 3-9 p.m. is my optimal creativity and focused work time. It’s better for me to exercise in the evening after 6 p.m. rather than coercing an early morning workout. By 11 p.m. I’m tired enough to crave rest and start to prepare my mind and body for sleep.
Whether or not this is realistic given life’s daily demands is another story. Knowing this about myself, I try to give myself permission to make adjustments and accommodate my sleep needs without guilt.
Kitchen Cures for Insomnia
Before products marketed for sleep hit the shelves, our ancestors had herbal remedies and homemade cures for insomnia. Tea blends made with chamomile, lavender, and lemon balm were meant to induce drowsiness. Roots like valerian, ginger, and turmeric have beneficial properties for sleep and whatever ails you. Herbal smoking blends with herbs like catnip, marshmallow leaf, mullein, and mugwort, which can be mixed with cannabis, sounds like witchy shit but hey it works.
Try these sleep-inducing recipes from Well + Good.
What about cannabis? People often ask me how to use cannabis to sleep better, and what products to try. I’ll dive into this in next week’s issue.
FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS
Coming Up Next Sunday:
Guide: Cannabis for Sleep
The science of how cannabis can help with sleep
Recommended: Products to bring on the sandman
May your sleep be restful and satisfying like a spoiled cat napping in the sun.
Sweet dreams! Christina W.