We know we're bad at sleep. We know we stay up late, doomscrolling through the day's tragedies as disruptive blue light pours into our eye sockets. We know our jobs expect us to be on call 24/7. We know that neither our kids nor our aging parents keep regular hours when they need us. And they we feel guilty and anxious about not getting enough sleep, which just serves to keep us up nights.
So what if we eased off a little? What if, rather than stressing about the hours of sleep we get, we put some more energy into making our waking hours more balanced and restorative? That's the premise of Sara C. Mednick's reassuring and practical new book, "The Power of the Downstate: Recharge Your Life Using Your Body's Own Restorative Systems." Mednick, a cognitive neuroscientist and author of "Take a Nap! Change Your Life," knows that tricks like trying to "catch up" on sleep over the weekends just lead to a fog of self-induced jet lag. Instead, she wants to help us connect the dots between sleep and exercise, diet and meditative work, so we can actually feel more rested — and more energetic. Salon talked to her recently about how to build a better day, so we can enjoy a better night.
