Friday, February 9

Why a sleep blog?

The fact that most people spend 1/3 of their lives asleep is worth meditating on.
Not only meditating on, but its also worth writing about and talking about, which is why this blog exists.

When you take time to examine and explore this 1/3 third of life the rest of life will be better for it.

Here I’m not just talking about sleep, as you might have noticed by now. Sleep cannot be easily disconnected from the world around it and the environment that allows it or disallows it. Therefore, I don’t want to separate sleep from the night, from alertness, or from wellness. They are connected in meaningful ways and that relationship deserves to be deeply understood. Likewise I think an appreciation for sleep is inline with an appreciation for slowness, relaxation, dreams, creativity, death, stillness, inaction, peace, physiology, and circadian rhythms.

I like to think of words of Gandhi “"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." These are truly wise words to live by. In thinking of sleep, as I so often do, I can’t help but wonder if it is worth thinking of sleep as an inevitability that we should be prepared for each day, and dreams as a lesson we learn, and unusually forget, each night. Is that too much value to give sleep? Is it too much meaning for this 1/3 of life. Perhaps it is.