Bill Gates Thinks Not Getting Enough Sleep Is A Disease, Recommends 'Why We Sleep' As The Cure

In today's world, a good night's sleep is a privilege that not many get. The constant hustle and bustle of our city life, the never ending rat race is a major cause of stress and depriving us of our most important reset button, something that even Microsoft founder Bill Gates feels strongly about.

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Just like every year, he shared the books that should be on your reading list this holiday, in a recent blog post. However, the book that grabbed our attention was 'Why We Sleep' by Matthew Walker.

In the blog post, while describing his reason to pitch this book as one of the five must-reads for the year, he states, "Now that I've read Matthew Walker's Why We Sleep, I realize that my all-nighters, combined with almost never getting eight hours of sleep, took a big toll. Walker, the director of UC Berkeley's Center for Human Sleep Science, explains how neglecting sleep undercuts your creativity, problem-solving, decision making, learning, memory, heart health, brain health, mental health, emotional well-being, immune system, and even your lifespan."

He further added, "Walker has persuaded me to change my bedtime habits. If your New Year's resolution is to be healthier in 2020, his advice is a good place to start."

In case you didn't know, Bill Gates was known for his rigorous work-regime where he would pull countless all-nighters to get work done. However, with his current statements, he too realises the importance of sleep that he has lost over the years.

A recent study revealed that Indians are the second most sleep-deprived in the world with Japan topping the list.

Fitbit has got its hands on data from 10.5 billion nights of sleep. The data was collected for a year, from August 1st 2018 to July 21, 2019.

According to the data, Indian Fitbit users only sleep for 7 hours and 1 minute every night. The most sleep-deprived being Japan where a user would only sleep for 6 hours and 47 minutes. Users from Ireland were the ones with the most amount of sleep, coming at 7 hours 57 minutes.

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Benefits of enough sleep

Many people don't realise what good a good night's sleep can do. Getting a good eight to nine-hour sleep every night has its own rewards. For starters your brain is refreshed to take on the day, making it more attentive, focused and help make memory stronger.

A good sleep also helps in reducing stress levels, that will help one feel optimistic, with a positive outlook on things. It will also help you to keep blood pressure levels as well as body weight in check.