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Our world today is one that thrives on the romanization of over-exhaustion. Sleep is often an afterthought for most people, especially for college students. Cramming for tests, pulling all-nighters, and drinking so much coffee that your hands start to shake are normalized and even glorified aspects of a typical college student’s life. The thought of getting a good night’s sleep is often met with laughter, as sleep is usually something we don’t prioritize. Being tired all the time is something we expect.
Arianna Huffington, cofounder and editor in chief of The Huffington Post, refutes the way sleep is viewed in our world through her new book, “The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time”.
The dedication of the book reads, “For all those who are sick and tired of being sick and tired.” In The Sleep Revolution, Huffington shows how our work, personal, and even sex lives are being compromised because of how we don’t take sleep into consideration. She brings up the facts, new scientific evidence that comes out almost weekly about why sleep is a good thing. She also delves into commentaries on the sleeping pill industry, our culture’s fixation on being burnt out and exhausted, and our addiction to technology.
Huffington provides readers with tips from scientists on how to get better sleep. She claims that “If we’re going to truly thrive, we must begin with sleep. It’s the gateway through which a life of well-being must travel. From the moment we’re born until the moment we die, we’re in a relationship with sleep.”
Sleep is something that we ignore because we believe that in order to be more successful, more time must be spent awake working than asleep. Huffington shames the concept of “the collective delusion that burning out is the necessary price for accomplishment and success.” She says that this actually leads to less productivity. It has been scientifically proven, over and over again, that more sleep leads to better function, especially in terms of creativity.
Huffington herself realized the consequences of not getting enough sleep when she passed out from exhaustion. From this experience, she is trying to raise awareness about sleep and why we need it, especially on the collegiate level.
“The Sleep Revolution” isn’t just a book; it’s a movement. Huffington wants to help students embrace sleep instead of avoided it. She has been traveling around the country, using the hashtag #SleepRevolution, to host “sleep fairs” that give students tools to embrace better sleeping habits.
In this book, Huffington really drives home the point that sleep will help transform our lives, our communities, and our world.
She also acknowledges and understands that we are busy people. Naps are the solution to this, also known by the National Sleep Foundation as “a pleasant luxury, a mini-vacation.”
So here’s to reclaiming sleep so we can be the best possible versions of ourselves that we can be.