I just want some more sleep! Why getting a proper night’s rest will speed you to Financial Independence, and make you happier and healthier

November 29, 2018 10 By Caveman

Why, Oh Why, Oh Why, Oh Why, do I do it to myself? I know that I’ve got an early meeting tomorrow so, is this the conversation I have with myself?

“Hey Caveman. You know what would be a really good idea right now?”

“Hey yourself Caveman’s subconscious. No, I don’t know. But speak on good buddy.”

“Well. You know how you’ve got to meet with the CEO for a breakfast meeting at 8am tomorrow?”

“Yeah, yeah. I totally know that. Really important. I’ve got to bring my A-game.”

“I’m just going to put it out there that you could do with an early night ahead of that.”

“Wow. You know what? I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Just flying a kite to see which way the wind’s blowing. Up to you what you do of course but I thought I would mention it.”

“I’m glad you did my friend. Heck. I’m going to turn my computer off right now and read a book in bed to unwind before turning my lights out at 10pm on the nose.”

“Hey, that’s an awesome idea! Nice one.”

“Thanks. You’re the best.”

“No you are.”

Is it chuff? Do I  behave like a grown-up? No. The conversation I have with myself goes more like this.

“Hey Caveman. You know what would be a really good idea right now?”

“Shut up.”

“Say what now?”

“You heard. Shut it.”

“That’s a bit rude.”

“I know what you’re going to say so don’t even start.”

“I didn’t say anything. Man, you’re so defensive.”

“You don’t need to say anything. You’re going to go on about how I should go to bed because of that breakfast meeting.”

“Well now you mention it…”

“Just go away. I know. But the internet’s not going to read itself you know? In fact… Oh. My. Dayz.”

“What?”

“Someone’s just said something stupid on Reddit.”

“Caveman…”

“No. Not now. He needs correcting. He needs correcting right now in a pithy yet humorous way that will get me massive upvotes.”

“Er, Caveman, about tomorrow…”

“Shush unhelpful subconscious. I’m creating. I’ll talk to you at 1am.”

So then it’s the next morning. And I’m grumpy because I’m tired. And over caffeinated. And I’ve not managed to do my awesome morning routine (it works for real people you know…).

Me trying to stay awake at my breakfast meeting

But it’s not just what I do when I have an early meeting. I do it all the time. I sabotage myself so I don’t get enough sleep and then get annoyed at having screwed myself over…but I don’t change.

Almost the worst bit of it is that I know how great I feel when I’ve got a proper night’s sleep. I feel amazing. My judgement is on point. I’m witty and charming to the people I meet. My family don’t try to avoid me. Heck I just LIKE myself so much more.

My history of not getting enough sleep

When did bed change from somewhere that we reluctantly went to do when ordered up by our parents to our favourite place in the world?

Well for me the real problem it started in my teens. Before then I had definitely been one of those kids that would stay up reading a little too late, but when my parents told me to turn out the light I was pretty good at doing that.

It was when I was about 13 that things started to escalate. Do you remember that mad good moment the first time your parents went up to bed and THEY DIDN’T TELL YOU TO GO AS WELL? I can. My parents suggested it but then they didn’t tell me I had to go.

Man that was incredible. I was in the living room watching TV listening to them get ready for bed. I was just waiting for them to call to tell me to come up. BUT THEY DIDN’T! As an equivalent youth today might remark has on this state of events coming to pass: Totes Amaze-balls. [I know. It’s tough being as down with the kids as I am, but it’s a burden I bear with equanimity.]

I guess they thought that I was old enough to take responsibility for myself. Hah! No, Mater and Pater. How wrong you were. I wasn’t responsible enough. I stayed up until past midnight on a school night aged 13 watching TV. How cool was I? Very cool.

What I was like on my way to school after staying up

And that was the start. I’ve loved staying up late ever since. Even when I was out late at university I would come back to my room and potter around for another hour or two. It’s something to do with the feeling like I’m owed time to myself.

It then continued through my 20s and I’ve already touched on my lifestyle from back then. I was also doing a lot of travelling for work at that time and that stuffed up my sleep as well.

Through my 30s I had the classic sleep deprivation of a parent of young children.

And that takes me to now when, in my 40s, frankly, I’m out of excuses and I’m forced to face the fact that not getting enough sleep is down to my own choices.

Why not getting enough sleep is a terrible idea

A year or so ago there was a big thing about a book by a chap called Matthew Walker titled “Why We Sleep”. He’s the Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology, and Director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley.

He showed that there are links between sleep loss and, Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes, obesity memory, and mental health. That’s a pretty hefty list right?

His conclusions seem pretty compelling. Sleep is the magic bullet, it appears to fix pretty much everything.

If you want to know more about Professor Walker’s work there’s are articles in the Guardian or the Evening Standard which is most of the info in this post has come from…or yanno, you can read his book (NOT an affiliate link).

So um, Caveman, what’s this actually got to do with FIRE…

…well, my dudes, let me tell you. Sleep is just the foundation of everything. It will give us the willpower to not buy stuff. It will help us to wake up in the morning energised by the journey that we’re on rather than feeling ground down by it. It gives us the energy that we need to do our side hustles. It will help us be more resilient to the bricks that, inevitably, will be thrown in our path. It will allow our brains to not be foggy when we’re at work so that we can be more effective, which means that our chances of being promoted will increase.

That effectiveness at work point is an important one. A classic argument for why people don’t get enough sleep is because they’re working too hard. I have some strong views on the value of much of the work that people spend their time on, but putting that to one side sleep makes you more efficient. I’ve repeatedly found that something that I have spent hours on and stayed up late to do can get done in much less time the next morning. It’s been more efficient for me to go to bed, get more sleep, set my alarm a little early and then bash it out.

More delivery in less time. What’s not to like?

What I’m like with enough sleep

The other thing is that sleep is free. That’s the magic price point right? Yes you can buy new mattresses, pillows, hot water bottles, blackout blinds, eyes masks, ear plugs etc. But you don’t have to. Many of the tips to get better sleep are about discipline not money.

But it also comes to why we’re shooting for FIRE in the first place. Is it worth trading our health for FI? What’s the point in having all of the time in the world if we don’t have the health to enjoy it?

More importantly it is actually deeply unhelpful to mentally frame this as a binary choice like I just did. It’s not a case of being FI or getting sleep. As I show in my list above sleep and FI are symbiotic. You can have both. Sleep can be the magic sauce that gets you to FI.

My killer argument for why you should get more sleep on the journey to FI

I can tell that I’ve not quite won you over yet. Not a problem. I’ve saved my big guns ‘til last. If this argument doesn’t win you over then I’ve got nothing left.

*Ahem*

Here it is.

Gather round.

You’re going to love this.

If you’re not tired then you DON’T NEED TO BUY THAT FRICKING LATTE. And that means if you get enough sleep you can avoid the most boring conversation in the FI universe. You don’t need to engage in the debate on whether or not to buy a coffee in the morning. BECAUSE. YOU. DON’T. NEED. A. COFFEE.

Boom!

How do you like them apples?

[Yes I appreciate the irony in writing this after having gone on about how much I love coffee. Cut me some slack, OK? I’m tired. I’m maybe getting a little emotional.]

How am I sleeping now?

Well despite knowing all of this for months I’m doing diddly squat about it. Let’s have a squint at my sleep over the last few weeks as measured by my Fitbit.

I’m embarrassed to put this up…

Awful isn’t it.

Awful isn’t it. I’m averaging just over 6 hours a night – and that Guardian article says “An adult sleeping only 6.75 hours a night would be predicted to live only to their early 60s without medical intervention.”

*Gulp.*

I’m not close.

This is not good. Not good at all.

Can I change?

Now colour me greedy but I’d quite like to live through more than my early 60s. As Gloria Gaynor might put it “I’ve got all my life to live, And I’ve got all my love to give”…but will I survive?

I’m not sure I know anyone who thinks that they get enough sleep. The question is can we change? Well I want to find out.

My inspiration here is Raptitude and his experiments. I think that there’s something about choosing to hold yourself to account – even if you’re anonymously on the web then just deciding to put it out there means that you have more chance of success.

So I’m going to carry out a sleep experiment. Yes siree Bob, an experiment is what I’m going to carry out and none of you can stop me. In fact you can join me if you want.

No. Not kind of experiment.

My sleep experiment

My objective here is to get more sleep. More precisely I want to average more than 7 hours a night over the course of a week.

While, of course, that itself isn’t directly in my control some other things are. So what I’m going to do is this:

Firstly, if I’m going to get 7 hours of actual sleep every night I’m going to need to be in bed for 8 hours a night. My alarm goes off at 6.40 so I’ll need to be in bed by 10.40 every night.

Secondly I know that using electronic devices is definitely having an impact on my sleep. So, as a result I’m going to stop using them no later than 10.15 (Prof Walker says you should do this an hour before bed but throw me a bone…).

Thirdly I’m going to do what my boy Professor Walker does and not drink coffee after midday or booze after 6pm (which in practise means that I won’t drink at all during the week). I should be clear though that I’m totally going to give myself a pass for Christmas and New Year parties – I’m not a monk you know.

At the end of six weeks or so (so early in the new year) I’m going to report back to show you how I’ve fared.

But first I’m going to get to bed…

Thoughts?

Do you get enough sleep? If so do you have an tricks or routines to help you?

If you don’t get enough sleep what’s stopping you?

How does lack of sleep affect you?

Do you fancy joining me on my sleep experiment?