Stretch & Take Flight

There’s a man at my job with a Wall Street Journal subscription that he never picks up. As a result, I’ve been reading the paper every morning before work. I stumbled upon the most interesting new travel trend: Sleepcations.<WSJ article>

It’s exactly how it sounds: an intentional getaway for the sole purpose of resting or catching up on rest. Y’all, people are traveling or booking hotel rooms simply to sleep.

Let’s face it: lots of adults in America are sleep deprived. Between capitalism, hustle culture, work, children, family responsibilities, and the list goes on, there is just not enough time in the day and it’s affecting our sleep. The reality is most of us are running on fumes and we’re always on our damn phones! I do not know how the ancestors did this life.

All of the evidence shows that there’s no such thing as truly catching up on sleep. If you didn’t get sleep all week and you spend the weekend sleeping away for 10-12 hours to make up for it, it isn’t helping. There is no making up for lost hours of sleep. Oversleeping is also harmful. Physicians encourage a sleep pattern that is routine and consistent.

After reading Tricia Hersey’s revolutionary book Rest is Resistance, I’ve made it a point to prioritize my rest as best I can. Making myself go to sleep by a certain time and allowing my body to rest and recharge when I need to.

But an entire sleepcation? Nah bro.

Now, I’m down to spend a weekend at a nice hotel ordering room service and eating in bed. Traveling to a new city for the sole purpose of sleeping is literally insane. Paying for a flight, getting on said flight and then checking into a hotel to simple stay there seems like a waste of money to me. I’m not that damn tired.

My advice?

Create a sleep routine: pick a time you know can be in bed by, drink water before bed, use lavender spray on your pillowcase and tuck yourself under the covers in a cool room. Sounds like a staycation to me.