Since I have been a teenager, most friends who know me will tell you, Sham is crazy - she doesn't sleep or she doesn't sleep much. The past 21years I have been able to go through days without sleep or little sleep (1-4hrs max every night) with an occasional huge Knock Out session lasting 1full day of sleep. I am constantly told by everyone that this unhealthy and I believe it isn't. I just wished that I could go to sleep easily but I simply can't. Call it insomnia or hyperactive or just got too much on my mind or have too many things to do in 24hours or even workaholic. However since the 2 recent funerals that were back to back, in a row slightly more than a month ago, it's a reality check for me. I need to stay healthy and alive for many years to come, for my family - my 2 girls who have no one else but me, their only parent. So all the years or nagging from my friends and family, that I should sleep more finally stopped. After the funerals, I made a conscious effort to sleep.
Yes I had to learn to sleep. Miss Know-It-All Sham had to learn the basics. It was difficult initially for the 1st few nights but I think with the help of loads of holistic supplements and vitamin pills I started taking, eventually after a few days and consciously trying very hard to sleep, I finally did the basics of life - SLEEP!
There's tons of articles and proven research that you can Google on all the good effects of sleep such as Harvard Health. However for me, these past 21 years I have lived or 'slept' on the mantra that lesser sleep is better for me because I am more efficient. These past years, whenever I would sleep a normal 6-8hrs like majority of the human population, I would wake up heavy, still tired and for the next 8hrs I will feel sluggish and even more tired. I would feel like I am not sharp, unable to multitask or perform as per norm.
In comparison to when I have my ideal 3hrs a night sleep, I would be up super fresh, sharp minded, able to perform extremely well, have great ideas, multitask and well be in TOP FORM. So I came up with my own hypothesis that less sleep is better for me and that sleep was for the weak. However, occasionally I would have the 1 KO session which is a deep long sleep of about 12-14hours.
The years of nagging from friends & family is finally heard. With my past health issues and most importantly for the sake of my 2 wonderful children, I am learning to sleep.
Many friends have told me that even if I have to ONLY sleep 3-4 hours then I should only sleep between 11pm - 2am as this is when the body regenerates/detoxifies at its optimum level. After some simple online research, in the Dr Oz website its best to sleep from 10pm - 2am. I figured, hey why not. I will only sleep 5 hours and it is optimum sleep. I can then be awake at 2am and go back to doing the things I normally would do.
It wasn't easy to go to bed at 10pm so initially it started at 11pm, then gradually over days it became 10pm. The surprising element for me though is that the 1st few days I go to sleep at 11pm, I would naturally wake up at 2am. The gradually as the days go by, I would naturally be asleep from 11pm to 6am, then it progressed to 11pm to 7am. I am sleeping 8 hours a day DAILY, which in my life terms - it is simple UNHEARD of.
And how I used to be inefficient, feeling lethargy, cranky if I had slept more than 4hours a day, that all became history. Now with 8 hours of sleep a day, I am happy, functioning very well, still as efficient, able to multitask, feel good and have great skin!
So when Monday night/Tuesday morning, I slept at 5am, I could not wake up at 6am (1 hour sleep - what was I thinking). Instead I woke up at 8.30am and last night (Tuesday) when I was putting both my children to sleep at 9.30pm, I fell asleep with them. I naturally became so tired that I went to sleep so early. My body can no longer survive on 3-4hours sleep a day, it needs the 6-8 hours at least.
This morning I woke up fresh to the sound of the Subur Azan (Muslim call to morning prayer) from my nearby mosque at 6am sharp. It is a great feeling.
At 6am I decided to write this article on my blog and then go to the gym for the 1st time in many many months.
At CHI Fitness doing my 1st TRX class this morning 7am
So from a person of extremities, from extremely very little sleep per day (averaging 3 hours/day) to an average of 6-8 hours/day, there is a huge difference. I personally feel that sleep is good for your body, mind and soul.
The only downside, I have lesser time to use in the 24hours we have in a day once 1/4 - 1/3 of the day is taken up by sleep.
But longevity and good health is very important to me now, for the sake of my 2 children. So 11pm - 7am sleep it is for me everyday. But after reading Dr Oz's article earlier on, I am going to try and sleep 10pm - 6am daily now and learn to be even more efficient with the remaining time I have left in a day.
For those few crazy people out there like me that still sleep less than 6hours per day and sleep at 1am - 3am at night, try to put in 1 extra hour of sleep by going to bed 1 hour earlier. Keep trying that till you are able to fall asleep at 10pm or 11pm and feel/see the difference like I do.
I intend to try and keep this up for as many days I possibly can in a week (except weekends when I do go out to nightspots).
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