In my early days working at Goldman Sachs, I wore my sleep deprivation like a badge of honor.
Late nights? Early mornings? All-nighters fueled by adrenaline and bad coffee? That was just part of the game.
And when I co-founded my first tech startup VerbalizeIt after business school, I doubled down. In the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship, the “hustle” culture wasn’t just celebrated – it was expected. Sleep was treated like an optional luxury, something you’d catch up on after the next big funding round or product launch.
But here’s what I eventually learned the hard way: sleep isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity.
It’s one of the most potent, untapped tools for performance and for living a truly fulfilling life.
Why Sleep Matters More Than We Think
We live in a world that glorifies being busy.
We answer emails at midnight, squeeze in workouts at 5 AM and measure our worth by the length of our to-do lists.
In the middle of it all, sleep often becomes the first thing we sacrifice.
Yet study after study shows that sleep isn’t just recovery time. It’s prime time for our bodies and brains to rebuild, refine, and reset.
Here’s what happens while you’re sleeping:
• Brain detoxification: During deep sleep, your brain literally flushes out waste products through a system called the glymphatic system — a process linked to lowering the risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
• Memory and learning: Sleep strengthens the neural connections that form memories, enhance problem-solving and consolidate everything we learned that day.
• Hormone regulation: Sleep keeps hormones like cortisol (stress) and ghrelin/leptin (hunger/satiety) in balance, which directly impacts your metabolism, emotional regulation and even your long-term cardiovascular health.
• Muscle recovery and immunity: Sleep triggers the release of growth hormone, crucial for repairing muscles and strengthening your immune defenses.
When we don’t get enough quality sleep, we don’t just feel tired, we operate from a place of physical, emotional and cognitive deficit.
I wish I had fully understood this earlier.
It would have saved me years of unnecessary burnout and “white knuckling” my way through life.
How Much Sleep Do We Really Need?
You’ve probably heard the golden number: 7–9 hours per night for most adults.
But it’s not just about quantity, quality matters too.
If your sleep is fragmented, shortened or misaligned with your natural circadian rhythms, you could spend 9 hours in bed but still feel groggy and depleted the next day.
Here’s what I personally aim for now:
• 7.5–8 hours of actual sleep per night.
• Prioritizing sleep consistency, going to bed and waking up around the same time, even on weekends.
• Paying attention to sleep hygiene: no screens 60 minutes before bed, winding down with reading and keeping the bedroom cool and dark.
It’s not about being perfect (I’m certainly not) but rather, it’s about treating sleep as a non-negotiable foundation, just like nutrition, exercise and mental health.
Simple Shifts That Made a Big Difference for Me
When I finally decided to prioritize sleep, it wasn’t about massive overnight changes. It was small shifts that, over time, transformed how I felt:
• Cutting late-night work: I used to “catch up” on emails at 10 PM. Now, I shut down my laptop by 8 PM.
• Morning light exposure: Getting sunlight in my eyes within the first hour of waking has helped reset my circadian rhythms. Even on overcast or rainy days, you can find me outdoors, even just for a little while, getting natural light.
• No heavy meals before bed: Late-night snacking was sabotaging my sleep without me realizing it. Now, I stop eating a few hours before bed each night and it has made a world of difference.
• Mindful supplements: Occasionally, I use magnesium glycinate or L-theanine when I need extra support, but I treat supplements as “extras” and not the core of my sleep foundation.
One surprising thing I noticed?
When I started sleeping better and longer, my productivity actually increased, not decreased.
I made sharper decisions, had more creative ideas and felt more resilient when inevitable challenges came up.
The ROI on sleep has been unmatched.
Final Thoughts: Sleep is a Superpower
If you’re someone who, like me, prided yourself on your ability to push through, consider this your invitation to rethink that badge of honor.
True strength isn’t about how many hours you can grind without rest. It’s about how well you can show up physically, mentally and emotionally, day after day, year after year.
And that starts, quite literally, when you close your eyes at night.