Thoughts on Sleep

Do you ever think about sleep? It is a major part of life for humans, and it seems that most people do not think or know much about it. Conventional wisdom says to sleep around 8 hours a night, more for youngsters and less for older folk. But is there more to it than that?

According to this interesting article from CNN.com, adults need 7-8 hours of unmitigated sleep per night. This one claims that any hours more or less than between 6.5-7.5 hours is bad. One thing that seems to be true is that too much consumption of caffeine or "energy drinks" (in quotes since most of them don't work or leave you with a horrible crash) can negatively effect sleep habits. And too little sleep has been tied to "ill health" and lower longevity of lifespan.

So it seems that one easy thing we can all afford to do is cut down on the poor "energy" that we are massively consuming these days. For more natural and healthy forms of energy that won't affect your sleep, try incorporating more milk, fruit and vegetable drinks, chocolate, green tea, and many others. Check out this site for unique ways of kicking your caffeine habit.

Finally, if you are still having trouble sleeping, try listening to soothing music before bed, like this purrrrrcast (yes, it is exactly what you are thinking).

-Alexander Yerpat