Huffington’s talk on sleep anything but a snoozerDate: 5/5/2016 SPRINGFIELD – You might think sleep would be the last thing on your mind while listening to a speech by Arianna Huffington, co-founder, president, and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post, but Huffington brought the issue of sleep deprivation to the forefront of her speech during Bay Path University’s Women’s Leadership Conference on April 29.
Huffington’s newest book, “The Sleep Revolution,” chronicles ways in which sleep deprivation has consequences on our job performance, relationships, health, and happiness.
She spoke primarily about her book during her speech at the MassMutual Center, which was attended by at least 2,000 people.
Huffington said our society is in the midst of a sleep deprivation crisis, which she believes would be proven to be detrimental to one’s health in the future.
“Sleep deprivation is actually the new smoking,” she asserted.
Huffington said her experience with sleep deprivation is personal.
“When I collapsed from sleep deprivation and exhaustion in 2007, I was like so many of us, under the collective delusion that I had to be always always trying to get things done,” she explained. “Looking back, I think I’m unbelievably grateful that I did have that wake-up call because I honestly think that if I hadn’t I would either be dead [or] had a stroke or something much worse than hitting my head on my desk and breaking my cheekbone, which at the time seemed really bad.”
Huffington said she’s now committed to emphasizing the importance of sleep in one’s daily life.
“When we sleep, far from it being a time of inactivity, it’s a time of kinetic activity in the brain … And now we know, in fact, this is the time when all the toxins that accumulate in the brain during the day are cleaned out and washed away,” she explained.
She added sleep deprivation have a result on the formation of long-term memories and Alzheimer’s disease. She also noted staying up all night is the cognitive equivalent of being drunk.
She said she once thought being sleep deprived was “the new normal” to get work done.
“Being always tired [not only] means that we are impairing our head and our cognitive abilities, but because we are robbing ourselves of joy,” Huffington explained. “And this to me is just as important as anything right now.”
Huffington said the study of sleep is relatively new.
“Sleep is the foundation and it seems so simple and yet since the Industrial Revolution, we have been divided and considering it something optional,” she explained. “If you look at the science, it’s a relatively modern science, the first scientific sleep center was founded at [Stanford University] in 1970 and now there’s over 25,000 science sleep centers.”
She said at the Huffington Post there are nap rooms for employees to utilize – one of the ways in which the company aligns with Huffington’s thoughts on sleep.
“You have more and more corporations making changes … to prioritize sleep,” she added. “
Huffington said she tries to keep electronic devices such as laptops and cell phones out of the bedroom because they take away from getting a good night’s sleep.
She also shared her opinion about Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, calling him a “buffoon” and “dangerous.”
She added the Huffington Post moved articles on Trump from its political section to its entertainment web page to make a statement about him.
Huffington said Trump boasts about getting four to five hours sleep per night and she considers him a prime example of sleep deprivation.
“He really demonstrates all the symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation,” she noted. “Inability to process basic information … mood swings … false memories … do you want me to go on?”
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