#26: Why writing is like sleeping

The Academic Imperfectionist

The Academic Imperfectionist
#26: Why writing is like sleeping
Dec 10, 2021 Episode 26
Rebecca Roache

Not an obvious comparison, I'll admit. But, trust me, you're way better at knowing how to draw boundaries around your sleep (even if you don't always put that into practice) than you are at knowing how to draw boundaries around your writing. Do you schedule meetings in the middle of the night, knowing that you'll need to interrupt your sleep to attend them? Thought not. But I bet you're guilty of scheduling meetings during time that you'd planned to spend writing. You probably even blame yourself when you find it impossible to get back to writing afterwards. It needs to stop. Now.

Dr Rhonda Patrick's interview with Dr Matthew Walker on her Found My Fitness podcast is here.

Here are the books and articles mentioned in the episode:

Newport, C. 2016: Deep Work (London: Piatkus)
Schulte, B. 2019: 'A woman's greatest enemy? A lack of time to herself', The Guardian, 21st July.
Sword, H. 2017: Air & Light & Time & Space (Harvard, MA: Harvard University Press)
Walker, M. 2018: Why We Sleep (London: Penguin)