The month of November 2018 was particularly hectic for Vikram. He travelled to seven cities across India and made an overseas trip to Singapore for meetings and conferences, all in just about 25 days. He took flights at ungodly hours, hopped on trains to get to nearby cities and even took overnight passenger buses. On the flight back home at the end of the long month, he took out his phone and listed out all the cities he had travelled to. His head swelled with pride looking at the list. He Instagrammed the list. #AllMonthOnTheRoad #HustleForever
The next morning when he woke up on his own bed, a searing pain radiated across his body. As the backache and neck pain set in, the gratification from work-driven wanderlust vanished. #AllDayInBed #TiredForever
Worshipping Workaholism
Amidst the millennial rush to earn a lot, travel the world and become successful overnight, being a workaholic has become cool. Sixteen-hour workdays aren’t just brutal, they are brag-worthy. A healthy diet and workout routine are impossible when you are working feverishly to scale-up your startup, so you crash-diet to lose weight and pretend you are healthy. You are hooked to the smartphone for two-thirds of your day, because god forbid you don’t feel productive for a few minutes, you might just lose out on being Employee of The Month. We think we can make up for it with food and booze. Work hard, party harder - that’s the way to live life when you are young.
Except, it really isn’t. This culture leads to a corrosive lifestyle, and after a few years, all you are left with is an unfit body, a stressful mind and some great social media posts. The validation we get from workplace worship is a momentary boost, it doesn’t lead to long-term satisfaction.
And it isn’t just an attitude, there is an entire lifestyle around workaholism which has reduced our life to a robotic tech-dependency with little room for peace and health. We don’t cook anymore, we just order in. A jog at the park or a workout at the gym is replaced with doing a few stretches at home with a ‘fitness app’. Watching shows online has nearly swallowed up all our energy to consume information and entertainment, and the excitement of binge-watching has made us tired night-owls. Which brings us to one important victim of modern workaholism – sleep.
Science of Sleep
Research in the last few years have indicated that a significant number of Indians are sleep-deprived, and the modern hustle culture and technology are important factors in the decline in quality of sleep among urban Indians. Research among younger Indians has shown that women tend to sleep worse, and food habits and physical inactivity play a role in that. But there is one important factor that we don’t give enough importance to when we think about improving sleep – our mattress. You might think it is not a major buying decision, but it does matter and is an important part of the seven hours of sleep your body needs every night.
How well your body rests during sleep depends on the mattress you sleep on. It needs to have the right amount of cushioning, and help you maintain good posture and provide support. There are several different types of mattresses available in the market now, based on advanced research and the ‘Science of Sleep’.
For instance, research has found that our body is divided into five zones and they all need different levels of support, as they exert different weights. So, mattresses now come with a Full Prone Support layer, which have two layers of different firmness, and the combination of the layers give a well-balanced sleeping posture, ensuring peaceful sleep. While your body rests, this acts like the therapy that your hustler lifestyle needs.
Check out the entire Duropedic range, tested and recommended by leading orthopaedists and certified by the National Health Academy. Remember, along with a good mattress, what you need is a good lifestyle. Eat healthy, work hard, have fun, relax over the weekend – and sleep like a baby.
This article has been produced in association with Duroflex Mattresses by TNM Marquee.