The big advantage of 4.5 hours of sleep per night
Currently, I find myself in the middle of ’team no sleep’ and that sounds funny but it is not.
That I used to think that if I went to sleep at half past eleven and had to get up at a quarter to seven, I would be tired. That I thought that if I could ‘just’ sleep in until ten after a night of wine on the weekend, I would be tired. Sorry. But I really meant this. If you don't have children, you truly have no idea. I didn't either. But now I know better. Sleep is rare. Sleep is a luxury. Sleep is something that my two boys definitely do not know.
And so my husband and I, if all goes well, sleep about four and a half hours per night. I decided to investigate what that does to me, to my mental and physical state. Everywhere I read: ‘Too little sleep is bad for you! Too little sleep leads to depression, burnout, poor work performance! Do you sleep less than six hours in one night? Then you might as well not sleep at all!’ Okay, I don't feel very cheerful about that. Still, there seems to be one big advantage to the whole motherhood combined with the whole 'team no sleep'. Here it comes, for all the mothers who are joining me in this team: if you only sleep four and a half hours per night, you are much more often awake. Awake to, well, do useful things. The laundry, that to-do list from work, that long email to your boss, sending a card to your grandma, returning that package with that ugly sweater, that kind of stuff. And you think: oh, what does it matter. But add it up. It ultimately gives you two extra months of awake hours per year. Two months. And then I thought: well, maybe it's not so bad.
Because I also want to do a whole lot, like writing a book, making a photo album about my boys, reading books, spending time with my parents, chatting with my sisters, helping that friend with her job applications, ordering clothes and then not finding them nice enough after all. You can find me, because I suddenly have a year of fourteen months thanks to my twins. December is nice and all, but for me, there's still a babytober and.
a momcember behind it. Ha. Most people have a sleep cycle of seven or eight hours per night. As a mother of young children, you know better. Then you have what's called polyphasic sleep. You sleep about three to four hours in a row at night, not much longer, and you take a little power nap during the day. Those save your life. Just twenty minutes here, half an hour there to close your eyes. And that's how you get by. Until they are about two or three years old and you start on the next baby. Sounds funny too but it is not. Ah, motherhood. Or should I say: the tired-motherhood. That's what you get from little sleep. Silly jokes.
a girl lying in bed with her hands over her face.
Source: Business Insider
