This post is a bit of an experiment. Alternative. I have an odd professional existence, which sometimes means that I work at very strange hours. Last night/this morning was one of those occasions, and I got home from work at 4.15am. Surprisingly, I thought that this would be a good time to write my blog post for today, and to focus on how our thinking is affected by tiredness, hunger etc. Today I’m glad that I did this because I’ve had more work on very little sleep and I’m so glad the bulk of the writing is already done! Typing in particular is really challenging and there is a typo in every second word. I didn’t think I’d find a suitable picture, but then I came across this one of Alfie, who had a tummy op at five months, looking very sorry for himself. I am sure his thinking wasn’t tip top when he had the lampshade on his head!
The only thing I wanted to add is just to comment on how easy it is to feel resentful, fearful, angry or sorry for ourselves when we are at a low physical ebb. Again, it’s important to watch out for this, understand why it is happening, and not allow it to get out of hand!
I am writing this post at 4.18am, today, Friday. I have just got in from work, having been called out at around 1am after an hour’s sleep. Driving home, knowing I had to concentrate really hard because my body and mind would normally be asleep, I decided to make today’s post about how our thinking can be affected by circumstances. I also thought, perhaps strangely, that it would be interesting to see how my writing turned out if I composed a post at such an unlikely hour.
Tiredness and lack of sleep make a big difference to how effectively my mind works. I know that I can, and do, listen, analyse and communicate effectively at times when I really ought to be fast asleep, but I also know that it’s much harder to do those things than during the day. Also, the day after a night like this, when I am trying to operate on much less sleep than is desirable, I know that parts of my mind will want to shut down. I have always felt it’s like a submarine in a film, when there is a leak or an explosion, and sections of the ship automatically shut down to try and preserve the parts that can keep going. It feels as if my brain is doing exactly that when I am sleep deprived!
Diet also makes a difference. I know how to eat and get the best out of both my body and my mind, but I don’t always follow sensible guidelines. If I have gone too long without food, and especially if my blood sugar has gone haywire, I have to be really aware of my thinking and the likelihood that it, too, will run away with me. As a lawyer, I have to understand my clients and communicate with them, and, in order for that to work, they need to be thinking well. In a stressful, sometimes frightening situation, this is likely to be compromised anyway, and if they haven’t eaten, this just makes matters worse. I frequently remind my clients to eat something – anything – rather than go without food because they are stressed.
There are countless other circumstances that can compromise the ability of our minds to work effectively, and our ability to control our thinking. Hormones, for example, play a significant part, as does stress and extreme emotion of any kind. If I’m not well, cold, or otherwise distracted, I’m not thinking at my best. And because our thoughts affect our emotions, any of these situations or, worse, a combination, can help us to feel emotionally uncomfortable and lose impulse control.
What to do, since life often imposes all sorts of unwanted circumstances that we are unable to prevent? The first thing is to be aware. Just like me driving home super carefully, reminding myself minute by minute to focus, playing the radio and keeping the heater turned down, if we know that circumstances may adversely affect how we think and react, we can take precautions. And if I am going through a day following a disturbed night, I can reduce my commitments, take rests, and procrastinate sensibly so that I am only dealing with the essentials, and important decisions, conversations etc can be postponed until I am back in A1 mental condition.
Longer term, we can consider arranging our lives so that such circumstances only arise occasionally. Although my job does sometimes call me out in the middle of the night, I can ensure that most of the time I get enough sleep, eat properly and rest. I value the quality of my thinking, and I feel better when my mind is working well, so these decisions are important ones for me. I haven’t always been so sensible; I used to think I was a robot and could burn the candle and both ends, neglect myself and still perform well. Now I know better!
What affects your thinking and how does it make you feel? What do you do to remedy the situation or prevent it happening at all? Or are you lucky, and able to carry on despite being tired or hungry?
Extremely interesting post, Harriet.
My mind is definitely affected by lack of sleep and when I am hungry. Sometimes, when I wake in the night, my mind works brilliantly, but then in the morning, I can’t function.
Hunger makes me irritable, so nothing works well!
Thanks Caroline. Isn’t it annoying when your mind works, but just not at the time you are needing to use it? If I could take my laptop when I go for a walk I am sure I would achieve a lot!
Harriet,
I loved your post!
Be aware.
Take precautions.
Reduce commitments
Rest.
All things I’ve learned to employ while being sleep deprived. I suffer from terrible insomnia due to hormonal imbalance and over the last two years I’ve had to learn to adapt to a lack of sleep. I’ve become very good at it in the past year while growing my business.
I didn’t realize (until reading your post) that the way I have become good at it is by doing what you wrote about. What I haven’t done, though, is learn to PROCRASTINATE SENSIBLY! Love that advice.
Thanks for the great read – pretty good for someone who was sleep deprived! LOL :)
Lynn Spiro
http://www.lynnspiro.com
Thanks Lynn! Hope you enjoy finding ways to use procrastination in a helpful way – not often talked about. Wishing you well.
Pretty awesome post for someone sleep deprived. Great advice for mums with young children too….
Thanks Nadine. Yes I think it’s a bit similar to being up all night with a sick child!