Sleep Deprivation Takes Years Off Your Life … A Fair Trade?

I recently saw this infographic and it stopped me in my tracks. You see, I generally only get about five (or less) hours of sleep a night. I just tend to stay up late and do all of my stuff like blogging, video game playing, and web surfing. I always knew I didn’t sleep enough and that it was “bad” for me but I never knew how bad… I always figured I would catch up on the weekend.

Sorry night owls, looks like it sucks to be us. All of this sleep deprivation is pretty much giving us brain damage. After reading this, I started figuring out how I could change my life for the better. How I could go to bed sooner and when I would get my “Alex Time.”

Wait a minute! If I slept an extra two hours per night, even if we only count weeknights, that would be ten hours a week I am not doing what I want to do. It is an exchange, I am giving up my free time now, for an increased lifespan. The more I think about it the less clear cut this trade-off gets.

There are a ton of things that can kill you before you ever get the chance to enjoy your extended life cushion like car accidents, illnesses, bullets and many more. What if I start wasting my life sleeping buying into the “health benefits” only to be killed by a drunk driver?

Wouldn’t you rather have more hours in a day now when you are young and strong to get as much efficient work done as possible? I’ll make this trade all day every day.