Today is the last official day of the HuffPost/Glamour Sleep Challenge 2010... and I ended things by not getting a wink of sleep last night.
No, this was not an act of defiance or the sleep equivalent of a last day of school blowout. It was a twist of fate -- and scheduling.
Last night, HuffPost LA hosted a party in honor of Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough -- and Mika's wonderful new book, All Things At Once, which will resonate with every woman trying to pull off the high wire act of balancing work and family.
Sleep-wise, the trouble was not the party but the fact that Mika and Joe had asked me to co-host the show with them this morning which, since Morning Joe goes live at 6 a.m. Eastern time, meant I had to be at NBC's Burbank studio before 2:30 a.m. for hair and makeup (and had to leave my house around 1:30).
So, in between the last guest leaving the party and my heading to the studio, I did an hour of meditation but didn't actually go to sleep. Talk about missing my 8-hour goal!
Instead of sleeping, I talked about sleep, our Sleep Challenge, and the benefits of changing our sleep-deprived culture. Mika and Joe ended the show as they always do, by asking, "What have we learned today?" I said I'd learned that if you have sleep credit in the bank, you can occasionally get away with missing your goal -- especially if you're having fun.
But here's the thing: because of all the lessons I've learned during the Sleep Challenge, and the newfound importance I've given to getting enough sleep (and the amazing results I've seen from it), I'm not worried that one aberrant night is going to throw me off my new sleep routine.
When it comes to sleep, I'm not going to let the perfect become the enemy of the good. As soon as I finish this post, I'm going to do another hour of meditation... and then, tonight, I am going to get right back to my new sleep schedule -- without guilt.
That's been one of the best things about taking part in our Sleep Challenge: it's given me so much more awareness of the importance of getting enough sleep, and shown me how essential it is to make sleep a priority. Making a sleep appointment -- and treating it as seriously as I would a business appointment or a doctor's appointment -- has really worked for me, and given me a sleep structure and routine I can count on.
I also learned how valuable it is to talk to people about sleep. It's as though you are enlisting the world around you in helping you meet your goal. Not only did people share with me their sleep tips, but having people constantly ask me if I was getting enough sleep or making sure I wasn't drinking coffee after noon or staying up past my scheduled bed time were a wonderful safeguard against falling into old, bad habits.
You don't have to write about your sleep experiences twice a week and publish them on HuffPost and Glamour to get the same benefits. Tell your friends and family about your sleep goals -- put it out there -- and watch how many "sleep angels" start looking out for you and holding you to your sleep commitment. It's like a Field of Sweet Dreams: build it, and they will come (to tuck you in).
Our Sleep Challenge has also helped focus media attention on the seriousness of the issue. I am now regularly asked about sleep and our sleep-deprived culture, and read or watch stories about sleep and sleep deprivation much more often than before. Hopefully we are nearing a tipping point, and more and more people will make getting enough sleep an essential part of their daily -- and nightly -- lives.
And while the official HuffPost/Glamour sleep challenge is coming to an end, our commitment to covering the issue and bringing you the latest sleep-related information will continue.
I'm sticking with it, and I hope you will too.
Thanks to everyone who took part in Sleep Challenge 2010, especially my sleep buddy, Cindi Leive, and her great team at Glamour -- and our HuffPost sleep team, led by Living section editor Alana Elias Kornfeld, who has helped put together quite an encyclopedic collection of information on the subject.
Sweet dreams, everyone...
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
Dr. Michael J. Breus: Regular Daily Routines Enhance Sleep Experience
LIVESTRONG.COM: Sleep: Good for the Brain and the Belly
Dr. Michael J. Breus: A Sleepless Couch Potato?
I think that the Sleep Challenge fulfilled many more "dreams" than we could have ever hoped for, so thank you for creating and taking the Challenge! As you discovered, one aberrant night without sleep can be overcome when you are sleeping on a regular schedule and following a few simple self-imposed rules. And yes, everyone is interested in sleep. That is one of the reasons why I blog about it weekly here on Huffington Post. As you found out, if people don't have a problem with their own sleep, they know someone that does. I really like your term Sleep Angels, as we can all use a little help from an angel now and then. And of course when taking the challenge we have the chance to learn more, about our sleep and our selves. Taking the Challenge gave us all an opportunity to look at ourselves using sleep as a lens - I am a firm believer that by looking at your sleep, you are looking at yourself. Remember everything you do, you will do better with a good night's sleep. Keep up the good work and check in with us all every now and then to let us know how your sleep, and life is doing.
Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD.
The Sleep Doctorw
ww.thesleepdoctor.com
You will also find that after missing a full night of sleep, you will fall asleep easier, earlier and will sleep for a longer period of time than usual.
My new, New Year's resolution is to add one hour to the number of hours I sleep each night. I have succeed 3 of 7 nights so far and is committed to pressing on.
Here's to a good night i.e. 8 full hours nightly to everyone!!
Great work - and continuing Sweet Dreams to you!
You constantly inspire me, Arianna. It is a pleasure to write for Huff Po each week. I have to admit, I was skeptical about devoting an entire month's of content to one subject, but I am amazed at how much I learned. This truly has become a resource for so many out there who struggle with sleep.
Thanks to you and Cindi for your candor, honesty, humor and lessons learned along the way!
Kari :)
I hope Arianna took the rest of the day off and got some well deserved sleep.
I've come to the conclusion that Obama is asleep at the switch. I think the president needs you. He needs you to give him permission to save his presidency and to save the democratic party.
The economy is on the edge of collapse. Deficits are soaring and unsustainable. The voters are angry and the more denial they get from Obama the angrier they get. Obama seems to be an empty suit.
I think you will have to step in and start a movement to push Obama to the middle on deficits and get him to cut spending. It's the only way Obama can help democrats hold some power in 2010 and the only way he can get elected in 2012. If Obama continues to hold the course, lecture those who disagree with him, and push the progressive agenda, particularly the massive deficits he's still supporting.....the progressives are finished.
Obama is asleep at the switch and the progressives need to stop eating the junk food of power, wake up, and realize it's all slipping from their grasp as bad government and a bad economy are taking us down. Obama must step in and must bring REAL fiscal discipline back to Washington if the progressives are going to survive.
You can save Obama, he doesn't seem capable of saving himself.
There were a lot of things that became evident in late 2008. One was that the economy had imploded based, primarily, on some kind of pozzi scheme/derivative trading that NO ONE in the bank/insurance/wall street recipients of these millions was willing to discuss, own up to, or even talk about truthfully. This compelled the Bush administration to issue a call to arms that has cost the American taxpayer over one trillion dollars of additional debt, but debt that was immediately transposed into currency printing. This means an additional one trillion dollars flooded the market and was not amortized over 20 - 30 years!
That added considerably to the doubled national debt that Geo. W. Bush had run up in his eight years of "governance".
(to be cont)
(to be cont.)
Now healthcare is supposed to cost what per year? Will that unbalance the budget or will it require mothballing one of the 11 carrier battle groups we have circling the world protecting us from an enemy who steals its planes?
We know how effective those billion dollar ships from WWII are now for what we face but they employ a lot of Pentagon people.
So where do you want the money to go? The American people or somewhere else????
what IS a good idea is not to get overly rigid about ANYthing even GOOD HABITS so that you beat yourself up over falling off the wagon, instead, you just get back up on that wagon, knowing it's a better place to be.
or. as arianna said (and Obama often says , since some insisted on discussing his sleep needs as well),
"don't let perfect be enemy of the good."
i.e., don't turn down a piece of yummy wedding cake or a chance to do something fabulous just b/c you might lose sleep that ONE particular night.
but don't go back to junk food HABITS or late night internet/tv bad habits when you could be getting great night sleep instead.
and on that happy post, "merry sleeping to all and to all a good night! ":)