Last night, the Big Man and I went to sleep at 9:45 pm. This seemed preposterously early, but we were both so tired that we decided to turn off the light.
However, it occurred to me, 9:45 is not all that early. Usually we get up at 6:30 am. A bedtime of 10:00 pm means 8 ½ hours of sleep. The recommended amount for an adult is 8 hours – however, only 26% of adult Americans get that much sleep a night, down from 38% just six years ago.
Usually we go to sleep around 11:00 pm. That means we’re chronically underslept.
One common sleep problem is insomnia, but another common sleep problem is ignoring sleepiness to keep working, reading, cruising the internet, and TV channel surfing.
Studies show that people get accustomed to being sleep-deprived. At first, they notice the effect on their mood and alertness, but before long, they adjust to that state as normal. So even if you insist that you feel fine, if you got more sleep, you might feel a lot better.
I know, it’s hard to turn off the light. There’s so much to do, so much interesting information to absorb. But when I woke up this morning, feeling well-rested and energetic, before the alarm rang, I was very happy that I’d put down Prokosch’s The Asiatics to go to sleep.
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Even more than getting more sleep, clearing clutter is one of my favorite ways to boost my happiness — so I love the blog Unclutterer. Today’s post, an interview with clutter expert Peter Walsh, was a fascinating discussion about the roots of clutter and how to tackle it.
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