Enter Sandman

About a month ago I read a book called "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. As I've mentioned time and time again on various platforms, it was the first time since August of 2000 that I had read a book written by a female author ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"). I'm a little disappointed that I didn't make it a full decade, but "The Happiness Project" was well worth the read. The novel falls into the recently dubbed genre of stunt non-fiction. Stunt non-fiction is when the author does something for an extended period of time (usually a year) with the intention of writing a book about the experience. In the case of "The Happiness Project", Rubin dedicated a year to becoming a happier person. She called it, "My year-long quest to be happier by changing my life-without changing my life."

In the book Rubin highlighted specific areas of her life that she wanted to improve. Each month she attempted a handful of stategies in the hopes of improving her happiness with regards to one of these areas (her energy, marriage, work, parenthood, friendships, etc.). Naturally some of these strategies worked and some of them completely backfired. For example, in her attempt to boost her energy she decided to go to sleep earlier, excercise better, remove the clutter from her life, write and complete an extensive to do list including all of the nagging tasks that people consistently put off, and simply to act more energetic. Overall the book provides the reader with ample suggestions on how to become a happier person even if they already consider themselves to be happy.

Since reading the book I've tried to apply many of Rubin's strategies to my own life with mixed results. One specific area that I wanted to address was my sleep. Four of my friends and I are a part of a daily email thread. They all work normal hours so by the time I crawl out of bed and check my email they've usually gone back and forth on a few topics. Usually someone will specifically direct a question to me and someone else will respond by saying not to expect a response from me until about 11:30-11:45, which is very accurate. Now I like to sleep just like everybody else, but I've started to feel that if I sleep too late (past 11 a.m.) I'm wasting my time. I'm under the impression that if I wake up earlier I can be much more productive with my time before heading off to work around 4.

Around the same time that I read "The Happiness Project" I also read an article about sleep in Men's Journal written by two time NBA MVP Steve Nash. The Canadian sensation suggested that everyone keep a sleep journal. No, not a dream diary. I'll let Nash explain:

"I write down the time I go to sleep each night and the time I wake up. Here’s why: Research suggests that our sleep needs are cumulative. If humans generally perform best after eight hours of slumber, you can’t sleep for six hours one night and think that a good eight hours the next will cure all your problems. Theoretically, you’d need 10 hours the next night to “catch up on sleep” so that over the two nights you’re averaging eight hours. This is called sleep debt. By keeping a journal, I can look back and see how much debt I’m putting myself into. If it’s bad, the journal shocks me into making sure I get to bed plenty early — even if I’m not tired — since I know it will come back to haunt me later on."

Ever since I read this article I have been charting my sleep. What can I say? Nash is a convincing guy.



Now some people have said, "Well how do you know what time you fall asleep?" Obviously I don't. I usually read before I go to sleep, so right before I turn the light off I look at the clock and write down whatever time it is. So I guess, in theory, I'm actually charting the amount of time that my eyes are closed (shut-eye) and I will say that I can't recall any of those dreaded nights where you can't fall asleep and you're constantly tossing and turning.

Well it's been about a month and half and I've finally calculated the numbers. I transferred my handwritten document into an excel spreadsheet and figured out the average time I go to sleep, the average time I wake up, and the average amount of hours of sleep that I get each night.

Before I get to the numbers I would like to remind those of you that don't know that I usually work until about 1:30 a.m., so I typically don't get back to my apartment until about 2 a.m. Also, on weekend nights where I've gone out I have guestimated my actual bed times, but I believe that they are very accurate.

Now for some numbers.....

The earliest that I've gone to bed- 12:57 a.m.
The latest that I've gone to bed- 3:42 a.m.

The earliest that I've woken up- 7:31 a.m.
The latest that I've woken up- 11:45 a.m.

The least amount of sleep that I've gotten in one night- 4 hours and 53 minutes (Saturday March 20th)
The most amount of sleep that I've gotten in one night- 9 hours and 57 minutes (Sunday March 21st)

The amount of times that I have gone to bed before 1 a.m.- 1
The amount of times that I have gone to bed before 2 a.m.- 13

The amount of times that I've woken up before 10 a.m.- 6
The amount of times that I've woken up after 11 a.m.- 14

My average bed time- 2:29 a.m.
My average wake up time- 10:29 a.m.
The average amount of sleep I get per night (you don't have to be a math major to figure this one out)- 8 hours and zero minutes

Apparently I need my 8 hours like this guy in one of my favorite commercials going needs his coffee.