The
average person spends about a third of their life sleeping. That’s a lot of
time, but it’s time well spent. Sleep is vital for a healthy life. While we are
asleep, our bodies have a chance to restore themselves, giving our immune,
nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems a well-earned break and time to renew.
At
the same time, our senses diminish and our minds enter a state of altered
consciousness: We dream. Our sleeping minds process our waking experiences,
improving mood, memory, and cognitive function.
Considering
the importance of rest and the endlessly fascinating nature of dreams, sleep
has long been a subject of extensive research, from ancient philosophers to
modern psychologists.
Today,
the general consensus is that adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep
per day — but that’s certainly not a hard and fast rule. Many successful people
have claimed to get by just fine on four to five hours a night;
Thomas
Edison was famously opposed to sleeping, considering it “a heritage from our
cave days” and preferring to sleep for just three or four hours a day.
Edison,
however, is certainly in a minority when it comes to his opinion of sleep. For
most of us, sleep is a wonderful break, and we’d be happy to sleep for longer —
especially when the dreaded alarm sounds in the morning. And we’re not alone.
Many famous figures, from Homer to Homer Simpson, have extolled the virtues of
sleep, as the following quotes reveal.
There
is a time for many words and there is a time for sleep. — Homer
Even
a soul submerged in sleep is hard at work and helps make something of the
world. — Heraclitus
We
are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a
sleep. — William Shakespeare
Oh
sleep! it is a gentle thing, beloved from pole to pole.
— Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Sleep!
Life's nurse, sent from heaven to create us anew day by day. — Charles
Reade, novelist
That
we are not much sicker and much madder than we are is due exclusively to that
most blessed and blessing of all natural graces, sleep. — Aldous Huxley
It
is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the
morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it. — John Steinbeck
The
amount of sleep required by the average person is five minutes more. — Wilson Mizner, playwright
When
action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows
unprofitable, sleep.
— Ursula K. Le Guin
Sleep
is the Swiss Army knife of health. When sleep is deficient, there is sickness
and disease. And when sleep is abundant, there is vitality and health.
— Matthew Walker, neuroscientist
In
the end, winning is sleeping better. —
Jodie Foster
In
ancient cultures, sleep was actually seen as a gateway to another world.
There's something sacred in all of us that we need to protect, and sleep is a
way to connect with it, nourish it, and make it more present in our lives.
— Arianna Huffington
Sleep
is like a cat: It only comes to you if you ignore it.
— Gillian Flynn, author
Having
peace, happiness, and healthiness is my definition of beauty. And you can't have
any of that without sleep. —
Beyoncé
Sleep
is a regenerative process where we heal and where our neurons build strong
connections. It’s like a fountain of youth that we dive in to every night.
—
Mikhail Varshavski, aka Dr. Mike
I
don't wanna sleep like a guinea pig, I wanna sleep like a bear! — Homer Simpson
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