I’ve always liked being an early riser. As a teen I was often in bed by 9pm while my younger siblings stayed up.
These days I usually get to bed a little after 10pm and get up at 5am throughout the week. Despite feeling a little groggy when I first wake up I am good to go after about 10 mins. Some mornings, like this morning, I am up before the alarm.
Even though I average 7ish hours of sleep I feel pretty good. I have my routine and my body seems happy with it.
Up All Night, Sleep All Day
Modern musicians have a reputation for snubbing sleep regularly in favour of staying up into the wee hours rocking out or working in the studio. It’s the rock’n’roll lifestyle. Trouble is, it’s stunting your growth as a musician and probably resulting in sub par song writing and playing.
In the book Peak by Anders Ericsson, he discovered that the best violinists slept an average of 8.6 hours in a 24 hour period. This allowed them to practise with greater concentration for longer periods. They also got more from their practice sessions.
These violinist were taking naps to get to that 8.6 but more on that soon.
Sleep Deprivation = Drunk
Charles A Czeisler published an article that suggests that sleeping 4 – 5 hours per night for a week can leave you feeling like you’re under the influence of alcohol. Actually they suggest it’s similar to being twice the legal limit for driving here in Australia.
Naps Aren’t Just For Nannas
I know it can be tricky to balance sleep if you’re a working musician. If your gig goes until 1am, you can’t just clock off at 10pm and go for a kip behind the amps.
For working musicians, naps are your friend. Naps in the early afternoon for 20 – 30 mins can do wonders if you’ve missed out on some sleep.
Protect The Asset
I’ve been reading Essentialism by Greg McKeown. It was actually his idea of ‘protecting the asset” that made me start thinking about sleep and musicians.
He particularly castigates the “grind culture” of the business world. Getting little sleep because you were grinding isn’t a flex. High performers sleep, it is a priority for them, it helps them be more creative and function at higher levels of cognitive function.
For me I knew the value of sleep because of Psalm 127:
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
The Takeaway: If you’re grinding and not getting healthy amounts of sleep for you, consider that you might be operating at a suboptimal level. Try a week of a good sleep routine and see how you feel. See how it affects your musical projects and practice. Sleep is a gift to be enjoyed and protected.
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