Am I sleep deprived?

sweet sweet crack of dawn writing.

To know me at all is to know Im a lark.

I never, ever set an alarm (while I am, indeed, Kramer I also believe if I dont wake up Im not meant to be up.  I always wake up.). 

Given all that—if faced with the choice between SCHVITZ or SLEEP–Id*still* probably choose reading sleep.

Ive been a lifelong bad sleeper (light sleeper. no napper.  Ive received the child I deserve.) and yet I rarely walk around Oakland feeling sleep deprived.

Im early to bed.  Early to rise.  And feel pretty damn good all day doing it.

Ive realized the times I find myself saying “Im so exhausted!” stem more from emotional exhaustion or allergies than true, to the core, sleepiness.

sleep isnt at the top of my list.

Still.

The other day as I labored through cardio I do not love I was distracted by The KATIE show.

The focus of the show was SLEEP (how to get more etc) & the most interesting segment offered a quick way to assess if the sleep youre getting is enough for *you.*

A swift way to evaluate if youre living a sleep deprived life based wholly on ability to LOOK and REACT.

I seized the excuse to cut short that morning’s thirty minute routine finished my workout, grabbed a ruler, & prepared to evaluate my reaction time.

Do I need more of this?!

Here’s the exercise:

Snag a plastic ruler & a partner.Have partner hold ruler at top while you LOOSELY hold with thumb/index finger at bottom.Ask partner to surprise you/release ruler while you attempt to GRAB with thumb/index fingers as quickly as possible.Record the number “grabbed” and compare to norms below.

40 mm EXCELLENT.

80 mm GOOD.

100 mm AVERAGE.

140 mm SLOW.

180 mm GO TO BED! GO TO BED!

Here’s also where I reveal Ive been afraid to do the assessment. 

Yet.

I feel good. 

I dont feel sluggish.

I may be Ben(jamina) Franklin but I firmly believe it works for me.

Here’s also where I reveal Id be sad if the ruler indicated Im sleepy—because I feel pretty damn great!

As a result Im dragging you in *with* me.

Wanna grab a Tornado partner, a ruler & join me in the sleep deprivation assessment?

Pinky swear I will hit you up with my number-results in the comments below.

Let’s do this thing…

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