"When I woke up this morning a friend asked me, "Did you sleep good?" I said "No, I made a few mistakes." ~Steven Wright
Amusing as the quote above seems, but sleep is probably one of the more important things you do in life. The Harvard Medical School of Sleep Medicine indicates that there are various theories as to "Why do we sleep", although science has made tremendous strides in discovering what happens during sleep and what mechanisms in the body control the cycles of sleep and wakefulness that help define our lives.
So having flown overnight from Atlanta to London, I asked myself "how well did I sleep?" My answer was, "well enough, but I did make a few mistakes." One was in keeping the headphones on a bit too loud albeit on classical music. You see my sleep patterns on a plane are mostly consciousness interrupted by several moments of unconsciousness.
It is almost as if I'm in a wakening dream state. I can hear what is going on around me, I shuffle in my 12" wide faux leather covered aluminum seat, and I drift in and out. This I call a good night's sleep on a plane. Those moments of unconsciousness added together make up my sleep. The other parts I call dozing and are additive to the whole sleep process for me.
Now why would I write about sleeping at all? Is there really a point to all of this?
For me, sleep is a very under rated activity to the human population. We tend to under estimate its power to keep us healthy and strong during the day. Without sleep, over time we do deteriorate both in how well we function and in how well we feel. Much like eating, it helps to sustain our body over the course of time.
The importance of sleep and why I write about it today is in taking care of yourself. In order to be good at what you do during the waking hours, you need sleep as much as you need exercise, good nutrition, and all of the other balance of the "six spokes" of your life.
Now ask yourself, "did I sleep good last night?"
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