Sleep
Maybe it's time to get enough
The self-described Rachel Megan Barker checks in from England with a pretty typical new year’s resolution: get more sleep. The problem, though, isn’t that she wants more sleep. She’d rather be awake. Always has. Therein lies her challenge.
by Rachel Megan Barker
I have what I would call a resentful relationship with sleep. I resent the amount of time it takes up, I resent how long it generally takes me to get to sleep, I resent just how necessary it is.
I have a very distinct memory of when I was around eight years old and I realised I could just not go to bed when I was meant to; that I could read under the covers with a torch, or play Pokemon (I won many gym badges during those late night gaming sessions).
Putting aside my on and off struggles with insomnia, that really has been the root cause of my issues with sleep; I want to use the time I should be asleep to do more things; sometimes productive things, sometimes just things that are purely for fun - but the desire to do more and have more time in the day has led me to forgo eight hours of sleep many a night. But as I have got older, I have also started to love being up at night because it has become a place where I can breathe a little, away from the noise of people needing things from me and wanting to ask me questions and all of that (honestly, it isn’t even that I don’t get people contacting me during the night, but it’s that I feel comfortable turning off my phone and not replying till the next day).
But the absolutely unavoidable truth is - sleep is absolutely vital to both physical and mental health.
So my resolution for next year is to get enough sleep.
A huge part of achieving that will be shifting my perspective - which I am very aware will be easier said than done, but it is a process. It is going to involve letting go of my resentment and finding ways to embrace sleep as a positive thing (I am very open to suggestions on this one; so far I have 1. My bed is comfy 2. Dreams are fun sometimes and 3. Falling asleep to podcasts is nice, and I should make more of an effort to have a varied selection of podcasts I like to listen to).
And it’s also about finding ways to switch off; particularly in the context of working long hours, I know part of my struggle is I often don’t have a tonne of time to wind down between finishing working and when I go to sleep. I am looking at meditation, music which helps me switch off, just turning my phone off and giving myself fifteen minutes where I can completely disconnect - I don’t know yet what will work but I am going to try and find something that does.
But beyond that, I know I just need to force myself to make it happen. To block out enough time to sleep and stick to that.
It’s hardly the most glamorous or exciting resolution. But hopefully it will provide the solid foundation on which I can build my year.
Rachel Megan Barker is a political adviser in London. Her most recent contribution to The Experiment was “Physical Feelings.” Follow her on Twitter at @rachellybee.
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