Sleep has been a subject that’s fascinated me for a while now, it’s unknown, wildly weird, when it’s good it’s amazing and when it’s bad I’m like the walking dead. It’s the humble warrior powering how we perform, or don’t perform in every aspect of our life, and yet it is often overlooked and disregarded.
Sleep deprivation is significantly more deadly than drunk driving (400% more with 4 hours or less of sleep), contributes to a rapid decline in most diseases, and is the cause of them entirely in some cases. ‘Functioning’ on less sleep is not something to be proud of, it is literally killing you. I know that’s harsh, but it’s true. Teenagers can be looked at as ‘lazy’, but they need a full 10-12 hours of sleep as their brain develops to young adult capacity, they struggle to sleep early, and thus early start times at school do not support optimal performance or wellbeing. Elderly people are often coined as needing less sleep which is false, they need a full 8-hour cycle but struggle to get it because of frontal lobe deterioration as we age which is also the part of the brain that powers deep sleep. All that said, it’s encouraging to see more awareness and sleep resources becoming widely available that I hope will give more grace to the much-needed slumber, allowing us to live long and healthy lives.
You must sleep at least 8 hours a night, this is a non-negotiable hard and true fact, so allow yourself that time and you will 100% feel better. A full 8-hour cycle allows your body to literally flush and deep clean the chemical build-up in your brain from being awake and prepare for the next day by organizing and clearing memories and experiences. NREM (deep sleep) supports long and short memory – this happens at higher amplitudes earlier in the night. REM (rapid eye movement) is about emotional capacity and integration which happens in the back half of sleep. NREM and REM are both equally important and contribute to overall mental and physical health across every vertical of our life.
I’ve been fortunate to have spent the last 7 years with Equinox Hotels developing programs that optimize your sleep and regeneration, regulate your circadian rhythm, and help you feel better 24-hours a day. To celebrate owning sleep in the hospitality space, we launched The Art + Science of Sleep by Equinox Hotels, a program designed to give guests deep restorative sleep and leave them with actionable steps to take into their daily lives. You can view the program here and the video we shot to tell our sleep story.
