Of Today's Youngsters And Sleep Conditioning

Now that my youngest brother is down in KL and spends his weekends at my place, I get the opportunity to observe close-up the typical behaviour of a mid-20s male. The result of my observation?

• Sleeps too late - past midnight
• And as a result, wakes up too late - past 10am. Hits noon if not prompted to get his butt off the bed
• Spends too much time online. Much info can be obtained on the Internet (case in question, his search for rooms for rent) but he gets too easily sidetracked with online chat and other frivolous distractions
• Takes too much things for granted. Not much self initiative and independence on display. Despite my advice, my Mom still irons his clothes for him.

Maybe I'm just generalizing the youths of today or me being old-fashioned. I just can't buy that kind of lifestyle. Too much time is wasted sleeping, rendering the person unproductive the next day. If sleeping late is due to the nature of work or an occasional "decadence", then I've no arguments but not because of online escapades. Sleep when it matters, get up early and get the day going. Be a productive person.

Many of us who start our weekend long runs at 5am get home by 9:30am having covered 30K, and upon reaching home vacuum and mop the home and showered, ready for the day - be it taking the kids out, etc... By 11am, the sleepy head is just stirring. All that talk about strengthening his body via exercise following his back surgery last year is plain crap. Excuses upon excuses of not going out there for his walks, eating more than he should, not showing enough independence and gall, and generally displaying too much lazing around.

 

I'm sorry to blog about this but when I take my rant offline to my brother and Mom, they don't see my point. So you readers now have to bear with me. My Mom overdotes on this fella. I say put him through the fire. Youth today have gone too sappy (as a result of too much spoon-feeding) and when they're not, they use their energies on unproductive activities. When I came down 15 years ago, I was a typical wide-eyed boy from a small town. To familiarize myself with the city, I'd get out of the rented room (the first few months were spent at my relatives') every weekend by 8:30am, take the mini bus no.14 and later 35 down to Central Market and started walking the roads right up to where The Mall is. Once I covered that direction and taking note of the buses that ply that route, I'd set off in another - towards the commercial areas around the Sultan Ismail-Bukit Bintang district. That was how I learned the streets. I was lucky in that I was only mugged twice but that was in my late 20s after getting off work late. Of course I became quite streetwise and alert following the incidences! Situational awareness is definitely helpful in today's world.

 

That part of my story pales in comparison with the experiences and hardships of other youths of my age at that time. I'm not saying that everyone should have to go through what other more hardened youths did, but if a person wants to be productive, it has to start right - by inculcating certain habits and getting the priorities right. I'm very sure that the "good animal" that Dr George Sheehan mentioned does not refer to a sleeping one. Read a good take on that philosophy here.

 

Still on sleeping matters, I plan to sleep earlier these few days leading to the race. I figured that I'd need to wake up at 2am on race morning to wash up, fuel, gear up and so on. To get the body clock right, I'm planning to sleep early from tonight onwards. Whether or not I'll be able to sleep right off, I'll still get on the bed before 9:30pm. Then I'll set the alarm for 4:45am for easy runs on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings. No running planned for Friday and Saturday. I've been doing a bit of core strengthening the last few days and should be able to continue for another few days.