Sleep: we know we need it. We know we don’t get enough. From research in scientific journals to features in every women’s magazine, we know the situation. And more than that, we feel it. Coffee becomes a necessity and many of us can’t remember the last time we had enough sleep. We know we have a problem, but that doesn’t stop us.
As one of the easiest things to take off our plates, sleep often gets “leftover” time. Sleep is never a priority, but rather a sign of laziness or at best a necessary evil that ends our day. Of all the ways to stay healthy, we follow through with this resolution the least. We make decisions about sleep so passively, asking ourselves how time “slipped away” at the end of the day.
Arianna Huffington is trying to change this attitude. As a focus in Huffington’s book “Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom and Wonder,” the discussion about sleep has stepped even further into the limelight. She urges women to analyze how much sleep they are getting and if they’re not getting enough, which is very likely, to get more. Gradually working up is key. This approach is less dramatic than suddenly changing your schedule, and is more realistic to maintain.
Her next key piece of advice is to ditch the cell phone. Huffington says the bedroom should be a device-free zone. Dozens of sources support the benefits of avoiding screen time an hour before bed for better sleep. We don’t just need more sleep, we need better quality sleep as well.
Huffington views getting more sleep as a major means of improvement for women, both professionally and in quality of life. The “superwoman” epidemic has set such high standards for women, and sleep is the first thing to go. Huffington’s own battle with exhaustion inspired “Thrive,” and Huffington urges women to take care of themselves and “sleep to the top.”
But does this message conflict with Sheryl Sandberg’s widely discussed “Lean In” mentality? Certainly leaning in adds to women’s long to-do lists. Yet both ideas are fundamentally trying to help women succeed to the greatest extent. You can’t lean in if you haven’t gotten the sleep you need. It’s up to us to navigate these well-meaning pressures and find the balance between leaning in and sleeping in.
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Elizabeth McCumber, marketing maven and freelance writer, focuses on providing quality creative content for entrepreneurs. She also specializes in email marketing and social media planning. Connect with Elizabeth on LinkedIn.
