Sleep Is the New Status Symbol

Leisure as a status symbol of the upper classes is nothing new though - it&#x27;s what&#x27;s required for the Good Life according to Aristotle, and it&#x27;s long been the aspiration of the English upper class: a marker of nobility.<p>The famed Keynes biographer, Robert Skidelsky (The Right Honourable Lord), has an intriguing book with his son, Edward Skidelsky: <i>How Much Is Enough? Money and the Good Life</i>.<p>Starting point is an essay by Keynes from 1930, <i>Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren,</i> in which Keynes predicted that 100 years from then, economic progress would have improved productivity and real incomes so much that everyone (in the developed world) would only have to work 2 days a week and be free to enjoy their leisure otherwise.<p>Now, it&#x27;s still a few years until 2030, but it doesn&#x27;t really look like that prediction will come true - and the book is an examination on why.<p>Makes you think. (And sleep. And take time off :-)<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2012&#x2F;08&#x2F;19&#x2F;books&#x2F;review&#x2F;how-much-is-enough-by-robert-skidelsky-and-edward-skidelsky.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2012&#x2F;08&#x2F;19&#x2F;books&#x2F;review&#x2F;how-much-is-e...</a>

Donald Trump claims to sleep 4-5 hours per night. According to reports, he also watches cable TV news for several hours every day (including Sean Spicer&#x27;s press conferences -- which is a strange thing for a president to do, as the whole point of having a press secretary was to free the president&#x27;s time to do something else than meet the press).<p>Perhaps Ivanka could convince him to watch less TV and sleep some more...? An article equating sleep with status symbols is certainly a good start.

That sleep impairs learning is something I notice as well. For someone who can&#x27;t sleep well, it feels like a cognitive enhancer. What I find hard to reconcile nowadays in my life is how to go out with friends, stay up until 4, wake up at 12 and then go to bed around 11 again (only being awake for 11 hours). When this happens I can be assured that I can&#x27;t sleep well, but I have to go to bed around that time to have a shot at getting 8 hours of sleep.<p>How do other HNers deal with this?

I think the article is interesting, but the headline is wrong. Sleep <i>is</i> a status signal, but it isn&#x27;t new and it isn&#x27;t positive. Think about how many idioms and colloquies connect sleep with sloth, licentiousness and shame.<p>No, the status symbol of sleep is how <i>little</i> of it you&#x27;ve had.<p>Admittedly it&#x27;d probably be harder to sell sleep deprivation than something that ostensibly helps with the problem.

For anyone seriously interested in the nature of sleep (and consequences of lacking it) this is mandatory read &quot;Good sleep, good learning, good life&quot; by dr Piotr Wozniak <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;super-memory.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;sleep.htm" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;super-memory.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;sleep.htm</a>

It&#x27;s important to remember that late night LED screen usage (and overall usage of high-contrast displays like in tablets and phones) prevents generation of melatonin which promotes sleepiness.<p>It&#x27;s great that iOS&#x2F;macOS now have night shift (and I&#x27;ve been loving F.lux for years), but it would be intersting to see how sleep patterns have been impacted by overall tech adoption.

As i understood from a recent trip to Chichén Itzá, Mexico. The maya indians already had classes where the ones with status only had to sleep drink eat and watch the stars. So there (and then) it was a status symbol already too.

I have been partially retired for almost 20 years, and one of the many benefits is getting 8 solid hours of sleep every night as well as time for exercise.<p>We all need money to live, but also optimizing for leasure time is important.