Are You Sleeping Away Your Future?

in #philosophy6 years ago

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A couple of weeks ago, I went to a doctor to complain that I'm sleeping too much. He told me I need about 8hours of sleep a day. Well, I told him he's lying and I want to tell you all today, don't be deceived, if you are in your prime age (20's and 30's), and you are still sleeping eight hours a night, something is pretty wrong.
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Source: Pixabay

Please note that this is not a medical advice. I'm just sharing my thoughts with you my readers. A lot of us sleep longer than necessary for our growth and financial achievements. It is necessary to cut down your sleep, supplement it with daily exercises and eat healthy.

I read this particular quote many years ago when I was in my second year in secondary school. It's a quote from Henry Longfellow and it says

The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night. - HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.
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Before this time I was doing poorly in my studies and I loved the feeling of my pillows too much, I could barely sacrificed my sleep for anything else. But things changed when I became victim of some bullies. I didn't have the physical strength then to fight them back so I decided to be the brain of the class so I could have more friends and even teachers on my side. That was when that quote became so dear to me like the ten commandments. I gave up a lot of hours of sleep to about only 4-5hours a night, and that contributed greatly to the man I am today.

So today, it's been a while I read the Bible. But I decided to check some scriptural references from the Bible that pertains to excessive sleep as the fastest way to lose your dreams. Isn't it funny that one has to be awake to pursue his/her real dreams.
So here are a few Bible quotes from the book of Proverbs on this matter.

19:15 Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. Proverbs

20:13 Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread. Proverbs

The two portions above clearly shows the relationship between excessive sleep and poverty. While some people are busy sleeping, their companions are busy building networks and gaining knowledge.
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26:14 As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed. Proverbs

6:9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
6:10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
6:11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. Proverbs

Most of us have this problem that is talked about above. When you want to wake up by 5.00am, then you got awake but decided to give yourself some extra seconds on the pillow. The seconds turn to minutes and minutes turn to an hour. We all have this issue at some point. You have to be ruthless to yourself and decide to leave the bed the exact moment you wake. As a rule, I have decided that in the morning, once my eyes open, I must stand up from my bed immediately. You will have a thousand and one reason to add a little sleep, a little cuddling on the pillow, a little slumber, you will be turning on the bed as a door turns on its hinges. STOP IT


6:4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
6:5 Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. Proverbs

First step to breaking free is to examine if you are sleeping too much. The acceptance period is difficult and differs from one person to another. I won't decide for you but for myself if it's more than *5hours a night, then it's too much. Once you examine yourself and accept that you are oversleeping, next step is to make a conscious efforts to break free from the chains of sleep. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hands of the hunter. Find whatever method works for you.
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Source

One strategy I used was to sit on my working table and continue reading even when I was sleeping. Truth is I won't understand anything but after some weeks of consistently refusing to give in to the sleeps, my body realised that between the hours of 1am and 5am, I should be awake. So even on days I don't have light to work with, I'll still be awake through the night during these hours.

Take charge of your body and teach it what you want for it to do.


Also, do you know that the more you sleep, the more you give your enemies and the competitors the chance to bury you in the sand. You might say you are not in competition with anyone but quote this from me

That your friend if given the chance wants to take your house, your job, your wife, even your dog.

See what the Bible says in Matthew

13:25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. Matthew

Most of us don't read the news to stay updated on information and developments. My friend once had a discussion with a governor's wife who mentioned that she and the husband sleep for just a few hours a day. She mentioned that the Nigerian political environment is a rough one and you have to be awake getting updated on all front. An extra one hour sleep is enough for you to lose election or get impeached. Your enemies are constantly sowing weeds and tares among your wheat, you have to be awake to nip it in the bud else you will wake up one day to see a full grown iroko tree in your vegetable garden. I hope you get the gist?

So I ask again: Are you sleeping away your future?

Don't tell me the answer, you can add some contributions to the discussion but the question above is for you to tell your own self the real truth.
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Btw, I don't support the used of drugs to stay awake. It's just a short term solution to a long term problem which probably will have bigger side effects.

If your problem persists and you can't control, you can see a doctor as it might be an indicator of a bigger medical condition. Like in my case, medical revealed I had chloroquine resistant malaria so the previous malaria treatment didn't work. After solving that, I'm back to 18-20 hours work time (kidding, I play around too and usually take an hour nap by noon).

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This piece hit me like a hammer to my forehead. I am very much guilty of this. I have always slept a lot and I still do sleep a lot especially these days that I don't have to go to my place of primary assignment. This is a wake up call. I feel like I was personally being addressed in this write-up. Time to grind in my twenties.

One thing I do to help me overcome this is to set up an itinerary for the next day at night before I go to bed. and I have to insist that my plans for the day begins early hours of the morning and I attack those plans as though someone's life depended on them. That way, I would have overcome the need to sleep some more being reminded that there are things to be done.
Thanks @lordjames for this great reminder.

Well, a very good reminder for me that recently I sleep too much.
Normaly I wake up around 2-3 or 4 am and do some work.
This is the time when our brain is calm and we could be easily inspired...

Different people have different effective time. If it works for you that way, hold on to it.

Yes, depends on the period.
Lifestyle is changable.

"There is time for everything....."

Ecclesiates 3:1-8

" To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven:............................... "

I can categorically say there are three phases in a man's life : Morning,afternoon and night. Each of these phases play a paramount role in ones life and if you miss components of any of these phases,a tough life awaits you.

Morning phase is the stage of being born and growing up as a baby to teen years and there are things that are expected Must be learnt e.g going to school and learnig good habits and attitudes, good home training

Afternoon phase : Is the time to work and not to sleep . Lordjames this is where your write up falls into. A very important phase where life planting,training, investing,apprenticeship is done. Things that moulds a man are all formed here.

Night phase : It is your resting or retire phase where all that was done in afternoon is now bringing up dividen and harvest . So like I said earlier on "There is time for everything. ....." time to sleep, Time to be awake, time to work and time to sleep. It is commonly said " Too much of every thing is bad " so sleeping too much is bad but sleep is a needed in the body abi?
Good write up I am now following you.....kudos

Yes, there's absolutely time for everything. I always advised moderation in everything that I do, too much of everything isn't good. Sleep deprivation for the body can be quite harmful too.

The only thing I could comment is that lately I feel that I sleep too much, in hours it would be like 8 or 9, when I usually sleep 7 hours.

It suits me to stop early to start my activities and have a productive day, where I can make the most of it and do all the opportunities that come my way. I think that when we are used to sleeping a lot, a habit is created and every time the time we use to sleep is extended more and more.

Yes, I agree habit can be formed by repeated actions. And every habits can be broken. It won't be broken after a day's trial but if you keep consistently trying to cut your sleeping time, you will likely have a positive results after a few weeks.

Before I contribute to your post,my bro @lordjames It would be unwise of me if I don't re-steem your post.

It's clear written and spoken

an idle mind is a devils workshop.

To be great and to classic from your peers, something must be sacrificed. I do really love your articles @lordjames.

Very rare I sleep early. It's around 2 or 3 am I sleep, either am reading my survey textbooks for my professional exams or doing some graphics design works.

Like you said, sleep is good for the body, but when it's to much you become lazy and a slave to it.

"We aren't subjected to nature, but nature is subjected to us, such that we are mastering control over than it gaining mastery over us. "

And that's the way it should be. Thanks for reminding every one the beauty and the laziness that comes with excessive sleep.

Thanks for the resteem,
Yes you sad right, if we cannot control the nature around us, then we are giving chance to nature to control us and that's slavery man. We have to break free of all forms of slavery.

Hummmmm James this really motivate me can't just stop learning from you everyday but don't forget our agreement on this and watch your back I'm bringing this very soon
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Great blog @lordjames

When i'm thinking how many hours i'm not sleeping since high-school :-)) i would love to have the amount of steem of those hours on which i was practicing/composing/touring/investing in Art ( which still i'm doing) :-)) If some people would think on the fact that more than a half of our Life's we're sleeping it could be a shock to them ... I think sometimes a sleep of 30 minutes can be more profound than a sleep of 12 hours :-)) In rest ... just some good Ethiopian Coffee :-)) Blessings @lorjames :-)

https://dsound.audio/#!/@luciannagy

I'm waiting for the Steem price to go up a bit so I can continue with the work on the school. Thanks for your support for that. Which social media are you that allows private messaging.

Thank you for reminding me of the quote by Henry Longfellow. One of my favorites back then in high school.
Well, you know that crashing in night classes was also one of the basic epic moments of night class. That time you just have to climb the bench and say 30 minutes, only to end up being put awake by the morning cleaners and sweepers. Nice piece, well done

Hahahaha, memories. But the effort we put. God always have a way of blessing our efforts.

working about 18hours per day can be very ok but definitely not for everyone health issues at times comes from over work and stress i believe its better to find out what works for you and apply that principle to your life

Lordrutherford.... Really inspiring! In this case, being IDLE can also imply that one is sleeping too much.. Lordjames?? I can still remember very well how you used to sleep for ten hours during night classes, back then when we were undergraduates and in the morning you will just wake up, wash your face, come into the exams hall and get your 'A' .. Pls how did you use to perform those magic?? Or did you read in your dream?? Mehn I still can't understand till now..