HAPPINESS BOOK CLUB
ILLUSTRATION: LESLEY BUCKINGHAM
Our bodies and minds have evolved over millions of years to work well in the wild, but ‘taming’ by modern life is causing us harm. So how can we live today more in line with how we’re designed to function best? Take sleep, for example. Most of us are sleep-deprived, yet sleep is core to human functioning. If we don’t get enough, we end up overweight, sick, sad, stressed and stupid, according to top sleep researchers. Lack of sleep causes us to crave sugar and dwell on negative emotional events. It reduces our immunity and how well our brain and memory work. We may think we can fuel up on carbs and caffeine to power through our workloads on just four or five hours’ sleep night after night, but actually we become less efficient, not more.