Quartz: Sleep deprivation has become the trendy new cause of the uber-wealthy
A 2013 Gallup poll reported that 40% of Americans are not getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Eager capitalists have quickly recognized this hole, swooping in with new products and new slogans and new ironies. Today, we’re being sold everything from digital gadgets to celebrity-endorsed mattresses to help us sleep better and longer. Bizarre attempts to commodify a basic and essentially free human necessity only serve to highlight how troubled our lives have become.
For the past month, for example, media mogul Arianna Huffington has been aggressively peddling her new book, The Sleep Revolution. A successful capitalist, Huffington has been praised and criticized in equal measure for the labor practices that built her massive online empire. Now, the media mogul turned lifestyle guru is hoping to sell us something that is free under the guise of luxury.
In The Sleep Revolution, Huffington observes we are collectively experiencing a global “sleep crisis,” abetted, no doubt, by the extant digital culture which demands that we be plugged in 24/7. Oddly, she suggests this crisis is tied to an individual desire to make money, rather than the interests of employers attempting to maximize the efforts of their employees. In an interview with ThinkProgress, she went a step further, blaming a masculine workplace culture that believes bragging about a lack of sleep indicates dedication: “I think it starts with men using it as a symbol of virility almost. But then a lot of women who think it’s how to get ahead in the workplace have adopted it. It seems primarily a machismo thing, like whose is bigger?”
From: Sleep deprivation has become the trendy new cause of the uber-wealthy — Quartz
Sleep requirements are so individual that telling someone how much sleep they need is pointless. There’s a mean and there’s a fairly wide distribution around that mean.
Since I started using my CPAP I’m hard pressed to sleep more than about 5 hours at a time and I wake up totally ready to go. I think the longest I’ve ever logged with the thing is about 7 hours. But I’m legally required to take 10 hour rest breaks every day and some of that is just wasted time as far as safety is concerned. On the other hand I know people that really need at least 8 hours to function properly.Report
I’ll say that sleep deprivation is undoubtedly a fairly widespread issue, but my personal experience has been it’s biological, not work or society driven.
I know half a dozen people with CPAP’s who claim they’re miracle devices. One of which was ‘sleeping’ 12 hours a night, and still falling asleep while standing up during the day.
Because she wasn’t sleeping very well. Two or three hours to fall asleep, waking up hundreds of times an hour due to interrupted breathing, etc.
Now? She conks out the second the CPAP is turned on, and does fine on 5 hours sleep and rarely sleeps more than 7.
Dropped her blood pressure and reduced her migraines too.
Turns out sleep is kind of important to your overall health.
By and large, I’d just recommend that if you feel like you’re not getting enough sleep even when you slept 8 or 9 hours, go get a sleep study.Report
Yep. That was my experience as well. I’d fall asleep almost instantly but I’d wake up feeling like crap and usually with a headache. The longer I “slept” the worse I felt in the morning. And I’d feel tired all day and would need to take a nap, even though that didn’t really help a lot either.
It’s like night and day, truly life-changing. The problem I have now is that I have to have my machine set so high (19 out of a possible 20) that getting the mask to seal is tricky. I have to have the straps pretty tight or I get whistling and what amounts to farting noises. And the straps are adjusted with velcro and that wears out. So, a bit of a hassle but worth it. Also, legally required to keep my medical qual.Report
You might need a new device. They tried out a number of masks on my wife to get the one she has. (And our insurance happily sends out new masks, hoses, and straps on a schedule. Which I pay for, of course. Stupid HDHP).Report
As a society, we seem to obsess over what I call the “brass-ring” jobs. These are the jobs that pay people six figure salaries right out of undergrad and grad school. They are largely few and far between.
I suppose this is no surprise in the age of large student debt but the thing about these jobs is that they tend to own you. There is no such thing as free time when you work for big consulting companies like Bain or McKinsey, Investment banks like Goldman, or the BigLaw firms. People make fun of these people for living in really expensive areas instead of commuting but that short commute means all the more when you are constantly at the office until 10 PM or Midnight and need to be back at 8 AM or 9 AM, the next morning.
Most people can’t handle these jobs for more than a few years. Investment Banking is theoretically easier than Consulting or BigLaw from what I’ve heard in that you are expected to show up at 9 AM but the junior analysts are not given any real work until 3 PM or 4 PM and then they do their 8 or 9 hours. This is just second-hand stories though.
The thing about the Anglo-world or maybe specifically Ameircans, is that we seemingly buy that long hours for the sake of long hours are good. Or this is a personal issue and not a policy issue. The rest of the developed world seems willing to say that this is a policy issue and a lot of Americans make fun of them for said decision to make a nights sleep a policy issue.Report
I have to admit, I can’t think of a better way to get to sleep than reading a book by Arianna Huffington.Report