I've never understood people who try to prove they are super human by saying they can get by on two to three hours' sleep a night. Margaret Thatcher famously said she had only four hours. Apparently Winston Churchill slept only four hours too during WWII but he supplemented this with afternoon naps. And who wouldn't if they began the day with a glass of hock and then went on to champagne, port and brandy.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Other famous short sleepers are Bill Gates, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, but they all enjoy a nap too in the tradition of the greatest napper of them all – Ronald Reagan. Then there is our Kevin Rudd, whose lack of sleep earned him the nickname Kevin 24/7.
Although some people think they do better with less than seven hours' sleep, research suggests they're not aware of their level of impairment. And despite the claims of some high-powered people, Professor Drew Dawson, formerly of the University of South Australia, reckons their hours of sleep are actually greater than they say. Which is a good thing for all of us, when you consider their responsibilities.
The research now seems indisputable. It shows that people who get by on only two or three hours' sleep a night will over a week be impaired as if they had a blood alcohol level of the legal driving limit. Many of those around them will attest to further research findings that show they become irritable, prone to irrational outbursts and have few original ideas. Sound familiar?
One of our leading neuroscientists told me recently that the brain keeps working while we sleep, doing some important jobs. It activates the locus coeruleus to produce a chemical known as noradrenaline. "What does that do?" asks Louise. Charlie raises his eyebrows as if everyone surely knows and says "it acts like a giant filing cabinet, rearranging what's been going on in your brain so that you have a greater awareness and understanding about how things fit together".
I've often noticed that it's the people who like to show how busy they are who aren't always our greatest achievers. In our own business I've always thought something was amiss if people said they had to work till midnight. I tried to encourage our people to work hard and efficiently but also to enjoy healthy recreation and plenty of sleep because good sleep helps us solve the problems of the day. We have got to let the locus coeruleus do its work.
Clive Palmer seems to have a handle on it. He has had several moments in the House where he has rested his eyelids. "Don't you mean he fell asleep?" asks Louise. Well I'd say even if he did, it wasn't such a bad thing, because his brain might have slipped into noradrenaline mode and started helping him fit the pieces together - like where Jacqui Lambie fits into the parliamentary scheme now. Charlie thinks there's not enough hours of sleep in the day to work that out. But I'm on her side; a bit of independent thought isn't such a bad thing.
I know many of us aren't that impressed with how Parliament has been going of late. Spending 20 hours a day having useless arguments with each other on top of hardly any sleep doesn't seem smart.
And while we might be forgiven for thinking Clive doesn't miss much when he nods off, I'm starting to think they should all be doing just that more often. Perhaps Speaker Bronwyn Bishop would do herself and the country a favour by bringing in a mandatory siesta so the sitting MPs can have a lie down for a while each day.
We all need to be bright and clear-headed to make the best of our opportunities, and the quality of our sleep is more important than most of us think.
So with just 19 sleeps to Christmas, let's get the most out of this wonderful time of year by making every one of them a good one.
