I’ve got an awesome treat for you today, an excellent infographic provided by my friends at disturbmenot! as well as some health facts you may not know about sleeping less.
This infographic describes some bizarre sleeping habits of famous people, such as Einstein, Newton, Tesla, da Vinci, van Gogh, and more. Read the post, and then check it out below.
The Deadly Myth of Sleeping Less and Working More
The modern world is one created and (seemingly held together) by paradoxes – we live longer, but we are not healthier; we have all the trappings technology and rampant advancement in just about every area in life offer, but we are increasingly feeling isolated and lonely. We do not seem any more happy than our ancestors, who had to contend with far less.
And then there is the fact that we increasingly work more and sleep less. There is even some sort of displaced pride in boasting how little we sleep and still manage to get everything done. There are plenty of those that claim that sleeping less helps them get the work done and even be more creative.
Certainly, there are well-documented cases of successful people throughout history who either struggled with sleep disorders or simply had very strange sleep habits and still managed to be brilliant in their respective fields.
However, one would argue that while this is true, this is still a very limited number of people and this argument could hardly be successfully applied to the world at large. Actually, open any newspaper and there will be an article about just how important sleep is for humans. It cannot be disputed, it is a fact.
Just as it is a fact that there have never been so many people struggling to get a decent night of sleep. Just how alarming the situation became is clearly depicted in figures showing how much sleep disorders are costing the economy. It is hardly a surprise then that we all seek to increase our productivity and still have time to actually live our lives too.
Sleep and Creativity
Can we truly be more creative (and productive) if we sleep less?
The recent research points this is not so and sleep plays a vital role in how our mind works and how creative and productive we are during the day. The right, creative side of the brain is traditionally linked with creative and insightful solutions and research has shown that this side of the brain works better when we have a proper rest.
It is the REM phase that is especially important for creativity and there are certainly plenty of artists that claim they produced their best works influenced by their dreams such as Dali, Mary Shelly, and Coleridge. Actually, in more recent years Stephanie Mayer, the author of megapopular Twilight Saga books, claimed the idea came to her in her sleep.
t would seem that important memory restructuring happens during the REM sleep phase and it is this restructuring that provides the necessary boost for the right brain hemisphere, which can then lead to creative and out-of-the-box solutions.
Sleep and Productivity
While there might be some among us who can come up with creative, brilliant ideas while struggling to get some quality sleep, most cannot go long without it and keep up with daily tasks. In fact, the more tired we are, the less we can accomplish. A tired person makes mistakes. A tired person is slow. A tired person is often grumpy and not always pleasant to be around.
However, the slow, grumpy and irritable bit is nothing compared to fatal mistakes that can happen to medical staff if they are tired, over-worked, and up all night.
Of course, this is not just true for doctors and nurses. Just think about tired parents, sleep-deprived drivers or those operating heavy and dangerous machinery.
Perhaps it is time to stop feeding ourselves with this dangerous, superman-ish narrative we can go on indefinitely on just a few hours of sleep. Or, even worse, that we can do an inordinate amount of work and be brilliantly creative too.
This silly myth that has wormed its way into a modern-day living is just as dangerous, just as detrimental, as actually going without proper sleep.
Conclusion
Paradoxes, the plage of humanity in a way. Having all we have in terms of medicine, technology, and educated experts and still, for whatever reason, we run around pretending to be able to cope with it all alone. Especially when it comes to sleep disorders.
An asinine idea most definitely. But one that has far-reaching, dangerous, and sometimes even deadly outcome.
We need to sleep in order to function and if we are not one of those genetically blessed creatures (and mind you there are only about 1% of those walking about), then we need to stop, sort out our priorities, and sleep more so we can be the better, more creative, and more productive versions of ourselves.
Infographic – Bizarre Sleeping Habits of Famous People
Find the original post of this infographic here, with some excellent editorial details about what is shown below.
