In the last year of my 20s, I crossed an invisible line.
I used to be able to operate on five to six hours of sleep a night, and now, I\u2019m a useless blob of nothing without eight hours of Zs.
Why?
Because I\u2019m in my 30s now, and it\u2019s basically the decade-long equivalent of running a marathon.
Being in your 20s is a drunk obstacle course.
It\u2019s fun and you fall down a lot, but you bounce back up. You keep going \u2019cause your bones are protected with whiskey bloat.
Being in your 30s feels exactly the same, except when you fall off that obstacle course, you\u2019re like, \u201cObstacle courses aren\u2019t very sensible,\u201d and you go home to elevate your knee.
In your 30s, you have an entire life to build, and you have 10 years to do it.
This means you need to allocate your time wisely, balancing your mental health, relationships, social life, work, fitness and finances.
Your 30s feel like an ongoing calendar of appointments, and everything on that calendar feels just as exhausting as the next thing.
In fact, putting effort into my social life \u2014 one of my favorite things to do in my 20s \u2014 is probably the most exhausting thing on that calendar.
The other night, I was getting ready to go out (aka lying on the couch procrastinating), and I thought to myself, \u201cI could just stay here on this couch forever, and it would be fine.\u201d
The high-stakes pressure of your 30s, the attitude of \u201cso much to do, so little time\u201d is part of why this decade is so tiring.
The stress of knowing you spent your 20s farting around with your pals \u2014 not thinking of the consequences and realizing you now have only so much time to decide who you want to be and how to make yourself that person \u2014 is exhaustive and stressful.
By the time you hit your 30s, sleep is a respite for more than your brain.
Opting for eight hours of sleep is a recipe for fresh skin (which definitely starts to disappear) and a positive attitude, which you\u2019ll need just to keep going.
Look, I\u2019m not saying your 30s is a terrible decade.
You will learn to challenge yourself, you\u2019ll feel like you\u2019re capable of more than you ever dreamed possible and you\u2019ll continually surprise yourself with your level of personal responsibility and mature choices.
You\u2019ll feel a real, unshakeable sense of confidence in yourself and your achievements, especially if you\u2019re getting enough shuteye.
So if you want to get to that place, you\u2019re going to need a lot of sleep because adulthood is draining.
Credit: EliteDaily<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"