Sleep — Nature’s Biggest Shield for Physical & Mental Health

The taken-for-granted and underappreciated, yet critical benefits

I had the most tiring week with some heavy lifting at work and then a stressful move as we changed apartments over the last couple of days. The move was made more challenging by the fact that we have a very active 2-year-old who needs constant monitoring and attention so one of my wife and I would keep him busy, while the other packed like a ninja.

After a day of going through tons of stuff and packing and loading up into boxes, using more tape and wrap than I’ve ever used in my entire life, and piling up heavy boxes one over another, I was physically exhausted. To add to that, in my typical cutting-it-too-close style, we’d planned our move for the LAST day of the expiration of our existing lease. And the real stress came when the real estate agent informed us there may be some hiccups in getting the new apartment ready on time. Did that mean we won’t have a place for a day or two? And what about the movers who were scheduled for the day, and the advance we’d paid, and the workweek that lay ahead, as we’d only planned to take the Thursday and Friday off. And if it did still work out, what about the horrible weather warning with a thunderstorm and torrential rains forecasted?

It was all an absolute nightmare. Thankfully, as all of this went through my head, it was about 10 pm, and whatever was to happen the following day, I knew for now it was time to hit the sack and get some much-needed sleep.

And alas, the next morning, my lower back pain from lifting all the boxes was gone, my mind felt much lighter, and it sure felt like I’d be able to handle whatever curveball was thrown my way in this little house-moving saga. That’s when I realized the sheer power and importance of sleep.

Sleep — a daily activity that we spend (or should spend) about a third of our life doing, the thing that provides our bodies and minds the much-needed break from everyday life and recharges us for another day of the constant battle that life is.

While there’s enough written and said about the importance of good sleep in the overall well-being of humans, physically and mentally, I am going to talk about some of the most obvious, yet so taken-for-granted reliefs and benefits that sleep provides us, and keeps our bodies and minds from burning out.

The Perfect System Reboot

Being a computer engineer and then someone who’s been on the customer side of a tech help desk very often in my finance job, the first and last resort for every problem is the “system reboot”. When nothing else works, you’re advised to reboot your system — and a little magical fairy comes and fixes everything.

Quite similarly, sleep does the “magic reboot” for our bodies. If you’ve had a breakup, lost a dear one, gotten fired from a job, had the most grueling and physically tiring day — the moment you’re able to slip into some sort of slumber, your body and mind are largely disconnected from all those bad things, and have suddenly slipped into dreamland — literally. The next morning, you’ll invariably wake up with a rested mind and a rested body, and much more equipped to handle the challenges.

The body, much like a machine, when overheated or overworked can easily break down. Sleep provides that cooldown period each day, every day, which can be the difference between a breakdown and adding another day of life to your batteries.

A Much-Needed Fresh Perspective

The mind is often a strange thing. If you look at a problem too close for too long, you seem to exhaust all possible options and yet come up with no solutions. And then suddenly, just when you step away from it, and look at it from a new angle or a fresh perspective, the solution is right there.

That is what sleep does for you, every day. Even with something as simple as a fight with your partner — I can’t possibly count the number of times my wife and I have slept after arguing over something, upset with each other, yet the next morning, it’s all suddenly normal and good. It is a new day and we have nothing but the everlasting love for each other, and the problem looks like something silly in the rearview mirror.

Sometimes, all you need is a chance to step away from what seems like the end of the road, to find that way out. Sleep gives you a shot at just that. The expression “sleep over it” isn’t coined out of nothing, afterall!

Forced Break from Infinite Distractions

The funny thing about problems is that they come in big numbers — when things start to go bad, it seems like one problem piles on top of another. It is often just a psychological thing, but hey there’s also Murphy’s Law!

Even when life is going quite well on most accounts, our mind has a ton of distractions and things to worry about. Or even when it doesn't, we’re quite skilled at finding or creating problems for ourselves, if they don’t find us. When you’re awake, no matter how hard you try, it is virtually impossible to not think of something. That is what makes the art of meditation so hard. Meditation is largely all about having no thoughts in your mind or just focusing on one thing, so you can allow yourself to feel calm. Yet, it is the most difficult thing to achieve — a blank mind that has no thoughts while it is still awake.

Well, most of the time, while the mind is still running when we’re asleep, it still is much calmer and we’re in a state of semi-consciousness. Sleep, hence, provides an almost forced break from all the distractions that we’ve got going on in our daily lives.

The Much-Needed “Me” Time

The social animals that we all are, it is quite hard to find time for yourself all through the day. To add to that, in today’s world, phones are such a disease that if we’re not interacting with someone in person, we’re constantly on social media or glued to our screens playing a game, or just mindlessly scrolling down a stream of memes.

In doing this, we just don’t allow ourselves to have that precious time which is meant just for us. Everyone needs time to themselves — to absorb everything, introspect, and plan for what lies ahead. That sweet period right before you fall asleep and have a few minutes of calm to yourself at the end of a roller-coaster of a day can do wonders of good.

There is enough scientific evidence, that putting away your phone, and fully disengaging your mind when you go to bed can help enhance the quality of sleep significantly. The quiet and calm of that period also makes it a great time to just use for evaluating the day and doing some self-introspection, and gearing up for the following day.

It can’t be stressed enough how important the everyday ritual of sleep is for a regular and healthy routine — both for your body and for your mind. So, next time when you feel like giving up a few hours of sleep for finishing that Netflix show or reading that extra chapter of the engrossing book you’re reading, be reminded of all the great things you’re giving up on for quests that will surely not add to the longevity and quality of your life as much as sleep will.