gwunspoken

You’re Not Busy, You’re Just Sleepy: Congratulations, You’re A Hazard

• Garry • Season 2 • Episode 4

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Warning: the “I’ll sleep when I’m done” mindset is quietly torching your focus, mood, and health. We dig into what actually happens when you sleep—and what unravels when you don’t—so you can make better choices without chasing perfection or hacks that fade in a week.

We start by translating the research into real‑world terms: 17 hours awake mimics a 0.04 BAC, and 24 hours pushes you to 0.10. From there, we unpack why deep sleep matters for brain cleaning through the glymphatic system, including the clearance of beta‑amyloid linked to Alzheimer’s. Then we move into REM sleep, where your brain runs its emotional night shift, processing experiences and smoothing sharp edges. Miss REM and the amygdala overreacts, making everything feel heavier and more combustible the next day.

The conversation turns practical as we connect sleep to hormones and cravings: ghrelin up, leptin down, cortisol high, testosterone down, insulin sensitivity reduced. That chemistry explains why you reach for fast fuel when you’re tired and why discipline feels scarce. We also tackle oversleeping—not as laziness but as a signal worth checking for issues like inflammation, depression, anaemia or thyroid imbalance. Modern life doesn’t help; bright screens, late caffeine, and endless streaming hijack circadian rhythms and breed micro sleeps, flickering attention, and brittle emotions.

To help you change without white‑knuckling it, we share simple, repeatable steps: set a consistent bedtime, dim lights before bed, park your phone and read, build a wind‑down routine, and end the “one more episode” bargain. We close with three prompts to turn insight into action: list your top sleep disruptors and one change for each, track how good vs poor sleep feels, and choose one non‑negotiable rule tied to a personal reason. If you’re ready to feel clear, steady, and creative again, start by treating sleep like it matters—because it absolutely does. Subscribe, share this with a friend who brags about four hours, and leave a review with your one sleep rule for the week.

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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome back to GW Unspoken, the podcast where we unpack the inconvenient truths about being human. You know, that's stuff we all know deep inside but conveniently ignore, while pretending that, you know, we've all got it sorted. And today we're diving into something deceptively simple, scientifically profound, and probably socially misunderstood. Where it's season two, episode four, and we're talking about sleep. And it's called Sleep Like It Matters because it actually does. You know, many adults treat it like, you know, sleep will be the activity I'll get to after I finish everything else in my day or maybe in my life. So look, let's start with a confronting fact. If you're operating on poor sleep, you're basically functioning like you're mildly intoxicated. And I say that because I just read a research study from the Sleep Research Society, and it found that being awake for 17 straight hours places your cognitive performance at the equivalent of a 0.04 blood alcohol concentration level. And if you start for 24 hours, your brain performs like you're sitting at 0.10. But meanwhile, you'll hear people proudly announce, oi, guess what? I only slept four hours last night. Well, oh, congratulations, you're actually a hazard. Somewhere we mix up ambition with self-destruction. And look, I get it. Life is busy. Kids wake up on ungodly hours, work spills into evenings, we get stuck with Netflix autoplays, the dog barks, a neighbor decides to do it yourself, project at 9.30. Life happens, but none of that changes are biological reality. Sleep is a foundation for everything else you want to improve. Energy starts with sleep. Mental health, deeply influenced by sleep. Emotion regulation, stress tolerance, memory metabolism, relationships, libido, yes, that too is all tied to sleep. Yet sleep is the first thing most adults sacrifice. You know, some cultures actually glorify the hustle. Others glorify productivity. We glorify being tired. It's like a status symbol. But here's the thing: your body doesn't care about your diary. Your brain doesn't care about your job title either. In fact, your nervous system doesn't care about how ambitious you are. You can't outsmart biology. You can only postpone the consequences. Everybody, everybody, no matter who you are or what you tell yourself, needs sleep. So look, let's talk about what actually happens when you sleep. This is where the neuroscience gets fascinating and unsettling. Deep sleep equals brain cleaning. So during deep sleep, your brain activates the glyphatic system, a specialized waste removal system that flushes out metabolic toxins. One of those toxins is beta-amyloid, the protein strongly linked to Alzheimer's. So if you skip sleep consistently and that buildup becomes harder to clear, think of it as letting dishes pop up in the sink until something starts growing on them. REM sleep, the emotional memory sorting. REM sleep is like the night shift in your brain's filing department. Emotions get processed, memories get organized, experiences get integrated. Matthew Walker compares REM sleep to overnight therapy. Miss it, and everything feels heavier the next day. Have you ever noticed you're more reactive, sensitive, or emotional when tired? This is because the amygdala, your brain's emotional amplifier, becomes 60% more reactive without adequate sleep. So think about the people you're around, think about the people you're influencing, think about your family members, think about how you want to see yourself 60% more reactive without adequate sleep. The other thing is sleep is a hormone gives you hormone regulation. So gurulin, the hunger hormone, it goes up. Leptin, the you know, the feeling like you're full, it goes down. Your cortisol, your stress hormone, it stays high. Testosterone, it drops. And insulin sensitivity, it actually declines as well. So that's why sleep-deprived people crave carbs, sugar, and high calorie foods. Your brain is literally begging for fast fuel. And this isn't a weakness, it's physiology. Think about the times in your life when you've been hungry, you might have missed food because you've been busy or whatever reason it might be. Typically, we we crave sugar and salt because our brain, our blood instrument wants that stuff. So, you know, you look at McDonald's and KFC and all these fast food chains. Yes, the number one business for them is to be located in a great area so people can stop and get in and find them and see them. But the food itself with high fat, high salt, and often sugar, is what our brains are saying, look, I'm starving, I'm starving, I just need this right now. How many times have you been stuck doing that? And here's another one. Can we actually sleep too much? And surprisingly, the answer is actually yes. So if you regularly sleep more than nine to ten hours, it's been linked to increasing um health challenges. So this is important. This is the important bit. Oversleeping is usually the result of another issue, not the cause. So fatigue disorders, chronic inflammation, depression, anemia, thyroid issues, all can make your body crave more sleep. So if you consistently need 11 or 12 hours, it's not laziness, it could be a message, it could be a signal worth listening to. So when your body speaks, sleep is one of the its loudest languages. You might want to get that checked. So why do we treat sleep like it doesn't matter? I'll tell you why, because modern life hijacks our circadian rhythms. Your ancestors didn't have LED lights, caffeine at 3 p.m., 24-7 entertainment at a flick of a button of a remote, endless work or just one more episode. You know, we're the first generation trying to negotiate with biology and using lifestyle hacks and coffee machines. We're overstimulated, we're under-rested, and we're overconfident in our abilities just to push through. And again, unfortunately, when you ask people how they're going, try and do this as a bit of an experiment this week. Guaranteed, when you ask someone how they're going, you'll probably get six to eight people saying, Oh, I'm so busy. I'm not sleeping, I was so busy. And it's almost like a status symbol. You know, your brain doesn't need your permission to shut down. It will simply do it eventually. Micro sleeps happen without your awareness. You know, your attention often flickers, your memory blanks out, your emotions get louder, your body collapses into fatigue. And yet, ironically, most people will try new diets, new supplements, new productivity apps, new morning routines, but they'll ignore the simplest performance enhancer available. Go to bed. You know, so what can we actually do then? If these are the facts and these are you know credible journals here, what can we actually do? And look, it doesn't require perfection because when you try and be perfection or perfectionist and you fail, or if you fail, sometimes it actually hurts yourself, seems to even want to try again. All right, it actually requires intentionality. So here's some suggestions. Number one, create a consistent bedtime where you can. Obviously, you shift workers. I'm not talking to you. Although if you're on a regular roster, that might help. You know, create a consistent bedtime. Dim the lights at night. You know, replace your phone with a book and say, you know, say, well, I don't like reading. Well, really, what are you scrolling? Try and find an interest point that you have. All right. Leaders are readers, it's actually really good for your brain. You know, stop bargaining with yourself, like, I'll just check one more thing. You won't. You'll you'll check 47. Like build a wind down routine, lower the stimulation, signal safety to your nervous system. You know, give your brain the message we are closing shop for the night because you deserve to feel live and not rebooting. You know, you deserve mornings where you don't wake up already exhausted. You deserve clarity, creativity, patience, emotional stability, and all of that stuff in your brain actually starts with a good night rest. So look, tonight, let this episode echo in your mind. When you reach for the remote, scroll on your phone, or you go to scroll on your phone or tell yourself, or go to bed soon. Think about it, sleep like it matters because it absolutely does. Try and prioritize it for a week and see the differences it makes. So here's some of the general prompts I like giving you so you can actually write them down. Remember whatever gets measured improves. So here's three general prompts for better sleep and daily activity or accountability, I should say. Number one, write down, so physically write down what three habits or behaviors currently disrupt your sleep the most. You know, what does it disrupt? And what small realistic changes can you implement tonight to improve that? Because when you're aware and you add action, that's when you actually start getting the transformation. Number two, how do you physically, mentally, and emotionally feel after a good night's sleep versus a poor one? You know, let that or this contrast drive your motivation. Just know what it feels like to be fully rested. Right. And try not to always come up with an excuse of why. You know, just think about it. If nothing changes, nothing changes. And last one, what is one non-negotiable rule you'll set for yourself this week to protect your sleep? And you know, and write down also why that matters to you personally. It could be some of the things we talked about earlier about how your mood swings might change. For example, you might want to be in the best person that you can or in the best space you can when you're relating to others, especially your loved ones. So make it meaningful, make it make it yours. Thanks for joining us in this episode of sleep. I know it's one of those tougher ones to do. I know everyone has a different biological clock and teens, you're different too when you're going through your hormones and your brain's changing. There's always going to be an excuse, but let's go through some consistency. Let's find out how we can prioritize. Because when you do, you become the best version that you can be able to do.