Hey Pogue,

You’re probably just going to bed when this drops through the letter box, you having pulled a stint of nights🥴 I’ll not expect your thoughts today. Maybe tomorrow.

And talking sleep, I’m just back from my travels and living in that zone where the time that is on the outside isn’t the same as the time that is on the inside! I’m running three hours ahead of myself if that make sense? So I woke (REALLY WOKE!) at 4.40am and got up. The world’s sort of nice at that time as there is no one who wants to share it with you and, well, it’s all mine. But I’d rather have the world to myself on the back end of 8 hours sleep.

I wear a device called a WHOOP which I bought to help me with my exercise, especially my running. It enabled me to track my heart, my strain, it maps where I have run and the times (it’s big failing is it doesn’t take me via coffee houses!). But it has a number of other features and is adding them all the time. One of the key ones is it can monitor my sleep and offer guidance as to how much I need and when I need to get it as in, when I should go to bed. In the morning it tells me how I’ve done and I’m looking a little dodgy this morning!

You see, sleep is a key component of a healthy balanced lifestyle and we, as a society, seem to have neglected or even forgotten that, falling into bed after a night binging TV until the early hours, gaming all night or just drinking late with friends. Yes, we need to unwind and we all have different methods of doing it, but maybe we should become mindful of how our bodies best function. There is an optimum lifestyle to obtain your best health and, as I investigate, read and experiment, it seems that life style is a much skinyed down version of what we currently run. We are actually heading in the opposite direction from health with our prolonged use of devices, late night TV shows, ceaseless working…

The human body came from a world where there was no electric lights, let alone devices. For the most part, we slept when the sun went down and rose when it did. It was the natural order of things. We didn’t eat processed foods. We didn’t breath air that was shared with car fumes. Was it better?

Yes.

No.

I have to allow we didn’t have the health care we now have. We didn’t have the availability of the foods we now have, and so forth. But in some ways it was better.

So I’m going to propose that there is a balance to be had. The best of both worlds. A return to quality sleep (which will require some discipline to begin with. After all we will all be establishing new habits). A conscious effort to eat natural foods that we cook ourselves, and eating on a regular pattern, not grabbing something on the go. Time spent in nature where the air is cleaner and the pace is slower. And yes, let’s be thankful for the availability of health care professionals like you, and the supermarkets close at hand that ease life. No more beginning dinner preparation with a bow and arrow and an hour trekking through the woods hoping for some meat.

There is a balance to be had. I believe it is the best of both worlds. This week a stock take of life would be good (maybe?). A little learning about sleep and the benefits. A review of diet. A walk in the country or the park with no need to rush. A little less time on our devices, especially in the hours leading up to bedtime.

There is a better life, and it’s simpler than we live. It will need a conscious effort to achieve because, for the most part, we’ve wandered away from it. Remember:

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication…Knowing in not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. A day well spent brings happy sleep…

Leonardo da Vinci

Yours, planning an early night🥱,

Wic