Sleep Is Not Lazy

There is a quiet lie running through Pakistani households, and it sounds like this: the more you sleep, the lazier you are. Children at age ten who sleep nine hours are sometimes called sust. Cousins who study till 2 am are called mehnati. Both are wrong. Sleep is not the opposite of work. Sleep is when your work gets saved. While you sleep, your brain stitches together what you learned in school. Your bones grow longer. Your body fights small infections you did not even notice. Skip the sleep and you skip the saving.

What is stealing your sleep? Almost always, the same thing: a glowing screen six inches from your face. Phones, tablets, and TVs give off blue light that tells your brain it is still day. Your brain holds back a chemical called melatonin which makes you sleepy. The video says one more reel, one more reel, and your brain agrees because it cannot tell the time. By the time you put the phone down, you have lost ninety minutes. The fix is small but hard. The phone leaves the bedroom one hour before sleep.

Other things that help. A cool room, around 22 degrees if you have a fan. A dark room, even a thin curtain helps. A regular sleep time, give or take half an hour, even on Saturday. No chai or chocolate or cola after 6 pm, because the caffeine stays in your blood for six hours. A book under the pillow instead of a phone. A short two minute breath count: in for four, out for six, ten times. By the tenth round, half of you is already asleep.