Capitalism vs sleep
Elisha Malik explores the constant internal battle of the typical millennial.
Living in the 21st century rat-race, prioritising our eight hours of sleep a night comes miles behind achieving our personal goals. Climbing the career ladder, caring for our families, maintaining our social status— just a few of the primary objectives of a (wannabe) successful adult. Eight hours of sleep simply doesn’t fit our shrewdly organised Google calendars. We idolise those who can perform a day of work whilst sleep deprived, when really we should be prioritising sleep as a means to prevent illness and improve our mental and physical health.
Looking at sleep biologically, we can see its indispensable importance. While sleeping, we are vulnerable to predators, unable to gather food or protect our young. Why would Mother Nature put us in such a compromising position if it wasn’t essential for our bodies? Initially perceived as simply a passive period of rest and relaxation, research now shows that sleep is an active process, during which the body strengthens, processes, and restores damaged tissues. Sleep is considered as vital as eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly. It benefits productivity and concentration, calorie regulation, athletic performance, disease risk, social and emotional intelligence, mental health, and the immune system. No man-made medicine provides advantages to so many different parts of the body without any unwanted side effects, yet Sudafed and Ibuprofen apparently warrant so many more advertisements than the free, uncompromised, and unparalleled medicine of sleep.
We can also look at sleep deprivation to understand how important sleep is, and to what lengths the body goes to achieve it. After consuming alcohol or drugs, REM sleep — the sleep cycle stage in which we dream — is blocked, so the body is not completely rested. We then experience an REM rebound effect, in which the frequency of REM sleep intensifies as the body tries to recuperate. This often happens when people quit alcohol or marijuana, and causes intense and weird dreams. It can even happen acutely after a night out: once the alcohol is out of the body’s system, the body binges on REM sleep as it is no longer blocked, causing bizarre dreams in the last hour before waking. There are even theories that Delirium Tremens (DT), hallucinogenic behaviour caused by acute alcohol withdrawal, is a mixed state of consciousness caused by a powerful build up of dream sleep. The body is so exhausted that this spills over to the awake state, causing confusion, dream-like hallucinations, and nightmares.
The indispensable importance of sleep is known by healthcare professionals, who provide guidelines for the amount of sleep people of certain ages should be getting: between 7 and 9 hours for adults. However, a 2018 Chemist 4 U study showed that the average person in the UK gets between 5.78 and 6.83 hours of sleep a night— a deficit of up to 100.6 minutes of sleep that our bodies need. So the question is, why? The extraordinary health benefits of sleep outweigh the completion of tasks that we prioritise instead, and in addition to being well-rested, sleep helps us work harder, faster, and more productively. Therefore, why would doctors not urge their patients to simply sleep a few more hours a night to counteract their health disorders? Why would the NHS not include the advantages of sleep on their bus stop advertisement posters? One of the standout reasons: capitalism.
Pressure from big companies on their employees to crunch numbers or physically exert themselves for unethical hours often overrules health advice for career-driven individuals. This has, in practice, proven counterproductive. A 2010 study observed 4,000 workers at four large American corporations and found startling consequences for employees who suffered from insufficient sleep. They spent almost three times as much of their day on time management alone, lacked motivation and focus, and struggled with recall and decision making, experiencing the steepest productivity losses overall. The conclusion of this study: in order to be successful and happy, sleep is essential. But merciless companies whose profits rely on the tedious labour of unappreciated workers cannot benefit from this — which is why in many cases sleep is not recommended, despite it being so necessary.
Interestingly, the 2018 Sleep Study mentioned above found a positive correlation between the amount of money earned and the amount of sleep an individual gets. Those earning £50,000+ slept for an average of 6.38 hours a night, contrasting with 6.29 hours for those earning less than £25,000 and 5.84 hours for those with no income. Despite many wealthy businessmen preaching a “sleep is for the weak” tycoon attitude, they are actually sleeping more per night than their exploited employees.
With modern day socialising, dating, family life, and fitness expectations, the day doesn’t even finish when you leave the office. Commuting home in rush hour, spending an hour at the gym, cooking dinner, and then heading to meet the latest Tinder date await those who have just spent hours contributing their ideas to the latest budding company. Sleep comes only once all of those other tasks have been completed. The consumer culture created by these capitalist companies encourages the public to buy the latest clothes, makeup, and perfume, and then spend hours attempting to achieve the aesthetic ‘perfection’ of magazine models. Social media means that this consumer culture is constantly in our hand or pocket, buzzing with Instagram notifications of ads. How many of us know someone who will wake up early to apply makeup before special events, or stay awake late at night browsing Instagram?
The aphorism ‘sleep on a problem’ translates to ‘la nuit porte conseil’ in French — literally, ‘the night will bring you counsel’. Often a dilemma can seem huge and unsolvable before sleep, but when you wake up in the morning the solution appears clear and simple. This simply shows the unparalleled power of sleep, and why we all need to re-evaluate our priorities to get 7-9 hours a night.