#86 - Modern day smoking - sleep deprivation
What I’m Reading
I don’t read too many self-help books nowadays but wanted to give The Magic of Thinking Big a chance, mainly because it is recommended by Tim Ferriss. I don’t agree with everything here but there are some thought-provoking concepts.
Resource of the week
Noah Kagan was one of the early employees at Facebook who subsequently went on to found several businesses. He has a YouTube channel focused on entrepreneurship and money which I find entertaining and educational. A lot of it is asking successful entrepreneurs how they made their money, life advice that sort of thing.
Quote
Once you drop below seven hours, we can start to measure objective impairments in your brain and your body. The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life. Short sleep predicts all-cause mortality.
Matthew Walker - world-renowned sleep expert
News and trends
- House prices rise in October ending 6 consecutive monthly falls.
- Michael Gove plans to slash ground rents for all leasehold properties. It seems there is a push to bring widespread reforms to the whole sector with the final goal to get rid of leasehold as it currently stands.
- Average fixed-rate mortgage products continue to fall across the board.
- Omegle founder shuts down the app after 14 years amid a number of lawsuits.
- YouTuber Shelby Church announced she’s quitting Airbnb which started out as a property she purchased in Palm Springs in 2021, which she spent $100k renovating, due to a down-trending economy and a state bill introducing 15% tax. Always find it interesting how property markets in different countries work.
Thoughts
If you look online to find health-related info there is no shortage of content out there. In days gone past, accessing information was difficult, now it’s the opposite, it’s overload. However, having said that it focuses on two things: diet and exercise. To the point where the conflicting information can be annoying - every week there seems to be something we can’t eat. Or there is a new superfood. Similar to exercise, there are a tonne of plans out there, there’s this big hustle culture we should wake up at ungodly hours to grind it out in the gym. However, you very rarely hear advice about the most important factor which is sleep. While diet and exercise are important, as Professor Matthew Walker mentions if we had a choice to go 24 hours without food, exercise, sleep, or even water, it’s not even close as to what would harm us most, it’s sleep deprivation.
However, not only is this rarely mentioned, but culturally it’s the opposite. We’re almost made to feel guilty to sleep. In our capitalist society, we’re pushed to either consume or produce, it’s celebrated if you work 50-60+ hours a week and are sleep-deprived. When in fact it has a direct link to all-cause mortality, muscle synthesis, (if you lose weight while consistently sleep-deprived a much higher proportion comes from lean mass and not fat), memory, mental health, and hormone balance.
I feel like this is our modern-day equivalent of smoking in the 80s and 90s. I talk a lot about investing, investing in consistently high-quality sleep will pay off in the long term both in terms of health and excelling in business/career/mental health.
Just thought I’d put this reminder here as I see too many people rushing around barely held together with 6 coffees a day. As an example, if you don’t get enough sleep as it is, you really shouldn’t force yourself to wake up 1.5 hours earlier to go to the gym, it’s counterproductive. Also, think about what you can cut out of your life so you can get that 8 hours which most people don’t get.
Whether you’re looking to lose weight, feel better about yourself, or perform better cognitively, remember there is no secret diet or supplement or workout that will come close to sleeping properly.
Hope you have a good week and some good rest for the challenges ahead!
Hans