Is Insomnia the new normal?

How often have you heard the phrase, “Early to bed and early to rise (makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise)” This emphasized that someone who gets enough sleep and starts work early in the day will have a successful life? Compare this to the statement made in November 2017, by Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix “You get a show or a movie you’re really dying to watch, and you end up staying up late at night, so we actually compete with sleep,”

Have Nights become Passe!

The night is normally a time for rest, a time to be at peace with yourself in your home — a time of the day when life comes to a standstill, and you are to be in a state of sleep. Tired and ready to crash after your dinner, tentatively planning your tomorrow’s schedules before you go to sleep.  Wake Up–that is passe!

Insomnia is a Market

Most of us consider it fashionable to say, “I do not get sleep and stay awake”, and confess on the binging activities that we engaged in, and further say now we broke the spell of darkness with the light of the refrigerator to pick some snacks or get hypnotized by a screen and submerge in the world of OTT. Sleeping Pills, Anti Depressants, Music for sleep, Sleep Therapies and so many other practices are prevalent, putting the “Early to Bed’ proverb to shame. They project the global insomnia treatment market might reach over a value worth US$7.5 billion by 2026. (Persistence Market Research)

Are you a Day person or a Night Person?

Larks and Owls is the differentiation referring to the morning people (those who wake up early and are most alert in the first part of the day) and evening people (those who are most alert in the late evening hours and prefer to go to bed late) as per Chronotype.` We term the human activity rest as circadian rhythm, a biological process driven by a 24-hour clock, or what one would want to label as routine.

HumAnimal

As Humans we could be classified as animals, as in the animal kingdom, there are the creatures called Cathemeral, those with random intervals of activity during the day or night (those who occasionally work and regularly party), Matutinal, those who are only or primarily active in the pre-dawn hours or early morning and Vespertines, only or primarily active in the evening. What category are you?.

Connotation of Night

`Burning the Midnight Oil’ meant working late into the night, a phrase used figuratively, referring to its use before electric lighting.  Traditionally, one did not embark on travel on the days before and after No Moon (Amavasya) and Full Moon (Poornima).  

Night Tradition

Creatively cultures added up the Moon to spice up a night and make it exciting in their respective prose, poetry, and literature. No wonder most of the celebrations and festivals across cultures that do not follow the Gregorian calendar fall on full moon night (except Diwali). The word Night used to conjure up darkness, fear, and things not so pleasant – for one has heard so many stories across cultures when traders, marriage parties, queen/princess, or king/prince traveled in the night through the jungles and got looted by dacoits, bandits.

Night – Meant for Satans

Normally, Night was time for the success of evil over good, when the evil could enter the place of the target and precisely achieve their mission and escape. The good would then ponder over it the next morning and decide on reactions. The popular belief is that evil (considered Asuras / Satans) have double strength in the night, hence one never engaged in battle with them on their strength in the night, and the good (Devas) thus would look to win over them in battles before sunset.

Are you a Night Creature or a Living Fossil?

In the modern context, nightlife in a city is a barometer of excitement and progress of the city.  How cultures are making us adapt and develop into being animals–`nocturnal’ for your ability to stay awake the longest and party is a virtue. The night is now about celebrations and pampering yourself – be nocturnal, and you are in tune with times, else you may become a dated and living fossil!