I lead a crazy life running a business, volunteering 30+ hours a week for my organization – the Jewish International Connection NY – and the CEO of Caila’s intervention team. I am also mom and wife, hostess and I even find time, to work out 4 hrs a week. Everyone asks me how I do it. It’s simple math – I sleep on average 4 hours a night except Friday nights.
Let’s assume each night I sleep 3 hours less than the average person getting 8 hours of sleep a night. Four hours a night equals approximately 1000 hours a year.
Let’s assume the average person is productive 40 hrs a week. If you take my extra 1000 hours a year and divide it by a 40 hour work week, you get 25. So by sleeping less I gain the equivalent of an extra 25 work weeks – almost 6 extra months a year!
So how do I do this? Well there are people who are able to sleep less or at least can train themselves to get by with much less sleep. These people are called “short sleepers”. Gavin thinks that I am a short sleeper and am able to sleep “quicker” or more productively. There are several phases of sleep, the most restful is called delta-wave sleep and this is when we have REM sleep. When I put my head on the pillow, Gavin is amazed to see that I can be in REM sleep within a few minutes (he can see the rapid-eye movement under my lids). Most people take several hours in alpha and beta wave sleep before moving into delta wave sleep. I guess I am just programmed to be sleep more efficiently
I am so fortunate that I can function on a little sleep and I see this as a blessing.
Originally published: April 6, 2013