After a decade-long sleeplessness (sleeping less than 6 hours and sometimes even 4 hours) - I had incapacitated my mind and body so much that my memory weakened and dark circles emerged and I don't know what all internal damage that might have occurred - all of that in a hope that I could beat the system, work long hours and achieve greatness. But not sleeping well was degrading my body - my eyes were perpetually fatigued and although I knew about the harmful effects of not sleeping for 8 hours, I just ignored it all. 

Now, I am forcing myself to sleep for 7 hours at least ( going to bed without my mobile phone at 10 PM and waking up at 5 AM while only carrying an analog watch ). Waking up at 1 PM / 2 PM to work for a while stresses your mind and eyes so well that for the rest of the day you will feel the pain in both of them. 

Chances are there that you are not facing much of it right now, possibly because you are 18-27 when even I didn't feel any of them but as you age further - your body will start rusting down, not sleeping well acts as a catalyst and destroys you prematurely. 

“Insufficient sleep in youth raises multiple public health concerns, including mental health, substance abuse, and motor vehicle crashes,” said senior author Elizabeth Klerman, MD, PhD, director of the Analytic Modeling Unit, Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Source.

So much sleep is optimal? 

Adolescents require 8-10 hours of sleep at night for optimal health, according to sleep experts, yet more than 70 percent of high school students get less than that. Source.

Not sleeping for 8 hours leads to numerous problems: learning difficulties, impaired judgment, and risk of adverse health behaviors. Moreover as stated by NeuroScienceNews, people who slept six hours or less were twice as likely to self-report using alcohol, tobacco, marijuana or other drugs, and driving after drinking alcohol as that of the ones who slept eight hours.

Therefore, it is must to sleep for not less than 8 hours at any given day.

Some new learnings/ observations:

1) Sleep well, do all the high-intensity work in the mornings. The ideas/ thoughts will keep on pouring. Go out and take a deep breathe and start working on your goals and dreams with all the might.

Resources to read more about sleeping well: 

1) TBA