Sleep as a Competitive Advantage

Exactly.

Not too long ago the combination of child, work and school forced me to completely re-evaluate how I was spending my time and what is actually important to me.

One big change I ended up making was getting to bed at the same time every night and clocking a consistent 8 hours.

Within a week or so the difference was remarkable in both my mood and acuity through the mid-afternoon - ideally I'd take a 45 minute nap around 13:30, but that's not an option with my current job.

In order of effect, the best things I've ever done for day to day clarity:

1.) Going to bed and rising at consistent times with 8 hours inbetween.

2.) Drinking plenty of water. At least 8 ounces per waking hour for me.

3.) Regular exercise. I feel best lifting weights 3 or 4 days a week, but I expect the specifics are less important than simple movement and exertion.

I was very recently talking to my son about how much more of a life my ex had than coworkers of his who required more sleep and who, thus, basically went home, ate dinner and went to bed most nights while he came home and watched TV, played games, pursued hobbies, etc. And I kept finding myself saying stuff like "so he did all this extra stuff and it's not like he had accidents on the job because of it...um, actually he did have that car wreck...but it's not like he maimed himself...um, actually, he has chronic back problems and is retired from the army on partial disability and has a handicapped sticker for his car..."

Some people who are sleeping less than you do not actually need less sleep and are not actually functioning better. They just have sleep disorders. They muddle through as best they can and they may be paying a price they don't realize because probably no one is going to ever say my ex was in that car wreck due to lack of sleep and, thus, has chronic back problems due to lack of sleep (because that accident, among other things, is part of why he has debilitating back problems).

I can't prove his sleep issues caused any of those things. But I do know how much more clumsy I am when I did not sleep well or did not sleep enough. I do know how much more productive I am when I sleep both well and enough. So I can infer that there is very likely a relationship between some of the bad things that happened to him and his chronic sleep issues. Our oldest son has similar sleep issues and I know our lives are so much better now that, most nights, he typically sleeps pretty well because we worked hard on resolving the underlying causes.

/Anecdata.