Dr. Neil Stanley says that, given 20 minutes, he can whip up a 1-hour presentation on anything as it relates to sleep.
And we don’t doubt him.
Dr. Stanley came to one of our stores recently—the one in Belcaro, Denver—to talk to staff and some curious members of the public about sleep. And while a “sleep talk” might sound snooze-inducing to you at first glance, think again. We were all mesmerized (in the good way, not the drowsy way).
See, Neil Stanley is hilarious. He can put down a beer with the best of ‘em and plays a mean game of billiards. He’s also a Brit, which means he has a great accent and snark and can get away with saying things to Americans that Americans never could. (Read on for some quotable doozies.)
He’s also a sleep expert with a PhD and a bunch of scholarly research and publications under his belt, so what he’s saying is actually interesting in a scientific way. Like, you can learn some really cool things from this guy in just 60 seconds.
Getting enough sleep, he told us, is the most important thing we do for our health, after drinking water and breathing, of course.
“So why don’t we do it?” he wondered. “Because we’re too stupid. ‘Oh, but I’m busy,’ you say. Yes, you’re busy updating your Facebook status. Get a life, get a real job, and go to sleep.”
Stanley says there’s a difference between being “tired” and being “sleepy.” If you’re sleepy at the top of the stairs, for example, it means you feel like curling up for a nap. If you’re tired, you feel like you can’t go on without a vacation.
If you’re sleepy, you’re not getting enough Zzzs. If you’re tired, “you’ve got a rubbish life.” (We think that could mean you’re dealing with too much stress.)
One thing we learned from Stanley was that it should take 20 minutes tops to fall asleep. Lying wide awake at bedtime thinking, “I must get to sleep” over and over will not help, and counting sheep is for shepherds. If you can’t fall asleep in 20 minutes, get up and do something—read, etc. until you feel sleepy. The same advice applies if you wake up in the middle of the night.
So, some takeaways: 1) If you have a rubbish life and feel tired, the problem isn’t primarily about sleep. And 2) don’t sacrifice bedtime for Facebook. But if you can’t fall asleep, or wake up in the night and can’t fall back asleep, Facebook time is entirely legit.
We’ll be scattering more pearls of sleep wisdom from Neil Stanley in this blog from time to time. Stay tuned!
And sleep tight, Urbanites.