PBCBA BAR BULLETINS pbcba_bulletin_december 2018 | Page 17
WELLNESS & HEALTH C o r n e r
I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
BRIAN M. MOSKOWITZ
Throughout law school and my early days
practicing law, I burned the candle at both
ends. When I felt tired I would say “I’ll sleep
when I’m dead.” For years I averaged five-
six hours of sleep per night. I even pulled
my share of all-nighters studying and
preparing for trials. I would then wear my
sleep deprivation as a badge of honor as I
drank a Big Gulp size cup of coffee.
After my cup of coffee, I felt fine. Even if I
didn’t feel fine, there was no time to waste
sleeping because I had important stuff to
do. At least that’s what I told myself.
What about you? Are you sleep-deprived?
As a lawyer chances are pretty good that
you are.
The mattress chain Sleepy’s
analyzed the results of a National Health
Interview Survey in 2012 and found that
lawyers rank second on a list of the most-
sleep deprived professions. Here’s the top
five most sleep deprived professions: (1)
Home Health Aides, averaging six hours and
fifty-seven minutes; (2) Lawyers, averaging
seven hours; (3) Police Officers, averaging
seven hours and one minute; (4) Physicians
and Paramedics, averaging seven hours
and two minutes; and (5) A tie between
Economists, Social Workers, and Computer
Programmers, averaging seven hours and
three minutes.
According to the survey, lawyers average
seven hours of sleep per night. Raise your
hand if you average at least seven hours of
sleep. (Come on, no one is watching…raise
your hand!) It doesn’t look like many of you
are raising your hands. Okay, I can’t see if
you’re raising your hand or not but if you’re
anything like my attorney clients and the
other attorneys I speak with, seven hours of
sleep is a luxury. If you can get that many
hours of sleep on a Saturday or Sunday it’s a
cause for celebration!
been awake for 24 hours, it’s like having a Set a goal of eight hours sleep per night
blood alcohol level of .10.
and let me know what you discover about
yourself and your performance. If you have
Other serious side effects of sleep loss any questions send me an email at brian@
include deteriorating cognitive performance attorneyrevolution.com.
including decreased attention, alertness,
concentration, reasoning, and problem-
solving (that “brain fog” feeling); increased
risk for heart disease, heart attack, heart [1] Peri, Camille. Reviewed by James Beck-
failure, high blood pressure, stroke, and erman, MD, FACC (2014, February 13) 10
diabetes; decreased sex drive; forgetfulness; things to Hate About Sleep Loss. Retrieved
weight gain; increased risk of death from all from https://www.webmd.com
causes; and impaired judgment.[1]
[2] Some studies have questioned the eight
Those were more than enough harmful side hour rule so the best way to figure out the
effects to scare me into getting more sleep. optimal number of hours of sleep for you
Now I average about eight hours per night. is to listen to your body and keep a sleep
What about you? Are you ready to get more journal to measure your results.
sleep?
[3] Dr. Parsely has been a member of the
I follow the gold standard eight-hour American Academy of Sleep Medicine
rule[2] which is the same number of hours since 2006 and has served as Naval Spe-
recommended by retired Navy SEAL Kirk cial Warfare’s expert on Sleep Medicine.
Parsley, MD.[3] Dr. Parsley has worked
with some of the most elite performers on [4] Parsley MD, Kirk. (2018, March 19)
the planet including world-class athletes, Sleep your way to optimal performance in
professional sports teams, fortune 100 just 7 days. Retrieved from https://www.
CEOs, and the Navy SEALs. He reports that docparsely.com
one trait they all have in common is that
they all perform better with sleep. A second
trait they had in common was the initial
belief that sleep was optional and did not
affect their performance. (Sound familiar?) Brian M. Moskowitz is the Founder of Attorney
After working with Dr. Parsley they realized Revolution, Inc., a Training, Coaching, and
that lack of sleep WAS affecting their Consulting company for lawyers and law firms. He
is also a solo practitioner in Boca Raton. Brian can
performance.
be reached at [email protected].
To help these elite performers improve
their performance he gave them a 7-Day
Sleep Challenge.[4] I’m going to take the
challenge and I invite you to do so as well,
here it is:
For seven days black-out your room, turn off
your television and digital devices at least
an hour or two before bed, and go to bed at
I was the same way until I started the same time every night. If you’re going
studying high performance and learned to read before bed do it in another room.
the damaging and harmful effects of sleep Then use a breathing exercise, meditation,
deprivation. According to the National or visualization to help initiate sleep.
Sleep Foundation, being awake for 18 hours
straight is like driving with a blood alcohol
level of .05 (.08 is considered drunk). And
after you’ve pulled an all-nighter and have
PBCBA BAR BULLETIN 17