Monday, August 4, 2014

A Month With Sleep Deprivation


So, last month I tried to wake up before 5:00 am. Oh how I underestimated the effects of sleep deprivation.

It did not work well for long: The first week was great. I achieved my goals and felt great working on stuff I loved early in the morning. It was truly awesome.
But there were many downsides to it, or at least one downside, which sabotaged it all: It does not really fit my lifestyle.

My wife and I use to stay up pretty late, working on some mandatory stuff when the children are asleep. This is also the most valuable time for two of us. We normally stay up to 11 pm. And go to bed pretty tired. During this time, we watch some movie, or talk to each other or do the stuff we could not do during daytime.

All that was missing. Reduced communication to your spouse? You don't want to do that for a long time. So I did not do that and stayed up late, too. But that made it almost impossible to rise early.

Another problem was the reduced performance when fighting sleep deprivation. A few times I plainly decided to sleep long, because I knew that I would have to rise at 7 am anyway and I had to steer the car. I did not want to risk my life just because of a challenge.

So, the bottom line of this challenge? I really liked to rise early. When I did, I was productive, efficient, content. But it does not really fit my current lifestyle. I have to figure it out, how I could make it a better fit.

So, this month I will not watch any video or play a video game for the sake of entertainment.
I will watch educational stuff. I will watch self-development videos.
But I will refuse to play video games or watch funny videos on the internet.

I will play more board games instead. I will read more books. I will use my time productively. At least I hope I will. ;)