Thoughts from the Editor

I get excited easily. Typically it’s about a new idea, a project, a “toy,” or an experience. It only takes a moment for my imagination to go into overdrive, and I start to geek out.

Through the years, my wife has gotten used to these “idea binges” and learned to help me temper my excitement with a little nudge or kind word. But, there are some moments when the excitement is warranted. And I think my most recent preoccupation is worth talking about.

Right now, I’m excited about sleep.

You might be thinking, “Boy, that guy is a little weird” or: “He sounds kinda lazy.” I’m not talking about the stereotypical teenage-weekend-sleep-binge kind of sleep, but a respectable seven-and-a-half hours of rejuvenating rest, each and every night. Sounds like a pretty middle-aged-dad kind of thing to be excited about.

Getting a quality night’s sleep is actually not a new infatuation for me. It started 10 years ago with my wife and I standing in front of the pillow wall in Macy’s trying to pick a “nicer” pillow. The hand-me-down, flat pancake, lumpy pile of fluff I was laying my head on each night was no longer cutting it. So that night we took home a beautiful pair of new Martha Stewart memory foam pillows that we got on sale. After that first night of quality sleep, I was sold.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I am now the kind of man that takes his pillow on vacation. That’s right, that kind of weirdo.

But I’m not alone. According to a recent Forbes article, “Globally, the ‘sleep economy,’ which includes everything from beds and pillows to medical devices, rings in at a whopping $432 billion a year*.” It sounds like the whole world is after a little bit of quality shut-eye.

There are now over 1.24 million published papers related to the effects of sleep and how it works. We know that quality sleep has tangible impacts on our mental performance, reaction time, sustained attention, insight, physical well being, metabolism, immunity, hormone production, creativity…I could go on.

Sleep is worth geeking out over a little bit, and I’ve done my fair share.

I now have an app on my phone that tells how well I slept last night, how much sleep debt I’ve accumulated over the last 14 nights, how long I’ll be groggy tomorrow morning, when I’ll be at my peak performance, when I might have a dip in my energy, when I should wind down for bed, and when my optimal melatonin window will be. (Between 9:50 and 10:50pm tonight, to be exact.) I actually just got a notification on my watch that it’s time for me to wind down.

I guess my point is that sleep is beautiful. And beauty rest is a worthwhile endeavor. Yet, even with all our scientific insights, the $432 billion invested, and my Martha Stewart pillow, there is still nothing that can replace the internal peace of a well-ordered soul, a good day of hard work, and tucking in next to the love of my life.

Cheers,

Eric Riley Executive Editor Lifestyle Magazine President / Owner Topograph

*Source: statista.com/statistics/1119471/size-of-the-sleep-economy-worldwide/