Sleep vs. Productivity: What’s More Important?
Sep 4th, 2009 by Carlos
It’s 5:30am and I’m tired. I don’t have to go to work until 7:45, but I’m awake anyway. Why? It’s become a habit to get up and write, which I’m doing right now.
Which I’m really proud of, by the way—don’t get me wrong.
Being Tired Sucks
But I’m still tired. As in, really tired. And I’ve been really tired for a long time now. What I’ve noticed is that, by the time 7:30pm rolls around, I’m about ready to crawl into bed and call it a day.
Going out with friends and having some drinks during the week? Ugh.
Yeah, I’m that guy.
A month or so ago, some friends were in from out of town and I was sitting right there in front of them in their hotel room trying to stay awake. Finally, Josh says to me, “You OK?” I was trying to battle the nodding off and I was losing. Right there in front of everyone.
My sister is in from out of town and I’m so tired when we go out after work that I feel like one of those boring people you never want to hang out with because they’re so blah. I’m not blah—but by 7:30 my “blah factor” shoots up.
Why I’m So Tired
I’m directly attributing it to getting up so early in the morning every day. On average, I probably get around 6.5 hours of sleep (and yes, I know, I don’t have a baby yet—we’ll cross that bridge when we absolutely have to). Is that enough sleep?
Apparently not.
Why I Keep Doing It
Productivity, baby! I do it to get things done. Those two hours in the morning are when I get to sit in a quite place and think, brainstorm, and let my imagination roam. No TV, no music, no nothing. Just me and the keyboard and some scraps of paper with ideas jotted down on them.
And the computer waiting to take it all in. Sometimes I’ll write on this site, sometimes I’ll write for other sites. Sometimes I don’t write for anyone but myself.
The point is: I’m sacrificing sleep in order to get all these things done. The question becomes, “is it worth it?”
I don’t have the answer to that, but I haven’t figured out any other way to get all I want to get done done, so I’m going to keep on waking up early and being a little tired later in the day.
For me, right now, it’s worth it. Is it worth it for you?
Image by Raul DS
The sleep vs. productivity conflict is one all writer’s struggle with, I’m sure. I’m of the opinion that you should write when you can.
My wife and I have a 2-year old and another baby due in November. The time I get to myself is gold. If I stay up until midnight writing instead of getting sleep, so be it.
If 5:30 a.m. is when you’re at your best, do it, friends and nights out be damned.
Why not try it the other way for a few weeks. If you get more sleep you may be more productive. Maybe it will not take as long to write if you were better rested. Since having a baby I have gone from 7-8 hours of sleep to 5-6. Amazingly, to my surprise, most mornings I am fine. Although I have much less patience for things now. Especially when people sleep when I am visting them in town. Just kidding.
Josh: you bring up a good point — it might work. Lately I’ve been VERY unproductive from 5:30 to 6…I’m still waking up I think. And this started lately, which is when I’ve been feeling more and more fatigued. So I might be better off just sleeping through to six as an experiment.
Do you awake with an alarm, Nut? Or do you wake up naturally? I go to work around 7:30am, but for some reason always wake up around 6am on the dot without an alarm, so I write then for an hour.
Try seeing what time you would wake up everyday for a week without an alarm clock.
My vote is for sleep. Sufficient sleep is important for good health, and no amount of productivity is worth sacrificing your health for. Besides, how productive can you really be in a day when you’re tired? Been there, done that. When I’m tired, my brain screeches to a halt and I don’t get any good writing done. I’ve worked with people who bragged about how little sleep they got, and to me it made as much sense as bragging about smoking.
Interesting comments…
Samurai: I wake up without an alarm most of the time, but I can’t sleep well if it isn’t set. It stresses me out.
Cara: Here is the thing: I write in the mornings, when I feel just fine. What I’m sacrificing is at night, when I’m like a zombie. But I’ve gotten my writing in, so I feel ok with it (so far)
Gotcha Nut. Try waking up without an alarm and see how you do over the weekend. Worth a shot and see what time you wake up naturally.
It’s so funny to hear people whine and complain that they don’t make X amount of money, or don’t have enough time etc when they sleep 8 hours a day.
[...] the differences? I’m cool with the sleeping—I can handle feeling a little tired every now and then if it means I have more time to do stuff like reading, blogging, and —hello!— [...]