Sleep is the Best Meditation.

You know who said "Sleep is the best meditation"?  The Dalai Lama.  He's a SMART man.  This is one of the may invaluable lessons I think we can and should all learn from him.

I could have chosen a lot of topics for this blog post, but this specific topic has been on my mind a lot because many of my friends, classmates, and students bring it up. All-nighters.  They’re SO STUPID.  Your opinion may be vastly different from mine, so feel free to share it, but this is my blog and I want to express my opinion on this very important subject as eloquently and convincingly as possible.

The hours we spend sleeping, throughout our lives, is supposed to add up to about 1/3 of our time here on earth.  It makes sense that something so good and so essential to our health is an activity that takes up such a big chunk of time we are alive.  When people don’t sleep at all, or just not enough in general, it is very difficult for them to act like their normal selves and especially to succeed in school or work to their fullest potential.  College students tend to think that all-nighters are fun, funny and a rite of passage that comes with being in college.  I could not disagree more with that sad stigma.  It makes perfect sense to me that we need to give our bodies a certain amount of sleep every day, and if we don’t sleep enough every day, we need to catch up later.  When we sleep, we take care of ourselves, and when we take care of ourselves (and our friends by encouraging them to sleep) we’ll feel so much better and do so many more things that we have to and want to do.

My friend Emmi mentioned once that her manager always tell their employees that if they decide they need to pull an all-nighter, they should at least “Pull a FUN all-nighter.”  Basically, if you decided you want to or need to stay up all night without sleep, you might as well be doing something enjoyable and worthwhile.  Valid reasons include a philanthropy event (Dance Marathon, St. Jude’s Up til Dawn, Relay for Life) and just plain fun times (going out with friends, celebrating a birthday or holiday, going to a concert, taking a roadtrip).  I can confidently say that 99% of the people I know would much rather do any of those things than use their all-nighter time to study, do homework, or even just to watch Netflix.

Between high school and college, I think I’ve only ever pulled 3 all-nighters to do schoolwork. Granted, there have been a solid amount of nights that I had to stay up til 2 or 3, very rarely even 4, in the morning, to finish a project or paper or study guide.  However, it is a proven scientific fact as well as a true statement from personal experience that staying up all night and getting little to no sleep in order to finish a task or prepare for something for the upcoming day is unhealthy, counter-productive, unhealthy, and downright uncomfortable.  If you choose to stay up all night without sleeping, I hope it’s for a good cause or a fun event, a night that will instill positive, happy memories in your brain as opposed to mushed up facts and anxious feelings.

Here are 7 awesome (dare I say inspiring) quotes about sleep, representing the 7 nights of the week that you should try to get a healthy amount of sleep.




















Comments

Fan Favorites

The Undeniable Signs of an American Tourist

European Adventure

The Emerald Isle

Week 1 Part 2: Marrakech

Followers