Are You Too Ambitious to Sleep? So Was I, Until It Nearly Broke Me.

How the obsession with constant productivity hurts our health, worsens inequality, and ironically, makes us less productive.

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

For years, this phrase was my mantra.

As a Peruvian immigrant, I knew that I always felt the pressure to “make it” in life. Not just for me, but for my mom who moved us to the USA for a better life for me.

So sleep seemed like the easiest corner to cut to meet my goals.

Like many high-achievers, I believed exhaustion was just part of the process.

When I got into UPenn, the joy that I was the first in my family to go to college did not last long.

The fear of losing my full scholarship turned occasional sleepless nights into a lifestyle.

I vividly recall accidentally locking myself out of my dorm late at night sophomore year. Instead of feeling frustrated, I thought, “Great, an excuse to pull an all-nighter!”

My sleep-deprived lifestyle came crumbling down when I got a scholarship to study abroad in France. To meet my thesis deadline, ironically enough, on psychology and health (ha), I slept two hours a day for a week straight.

Then I had a panic attack on a bus from Cannes to Nice.

I genuinely thought I was dying.

It wasn’t until much later that I realized it was simply severe sleep deprivation.

My story is not unique.

Chris Gardner’s story from The Pursuit of Happyness beautifully shows how the ability to rest is deeply tied to privilege. To rise from poverty, Gardner sacrificed sleep, exemplifying the harsh reality faced by many who juggle multiple jobs, childcare, long commutes, and noise pollution.

Sleep deprivation disproportionately impacts marginalized communities, creating a vicious cycle of health and economic inequality.

In fact, one study showed that simply the neighborhood you live in can predict up to 24% of the racial difference in how soon you wake up after falling asleep.

Yet it’s not just marginalized communities that are chronically sleep deprived.

A recent Gallup poll suggests that over half of Americans are not getting enough sleep.

Many factors are to blame, including unnatural light disrupting our circadian rhythms, and our addiction to our phones not allowing us to unwind.

But underlying all these factors are a broader systems problem: the glorification of hustle culture at the expense of rest.

After my panic attack, I became a sleep advocate. Yet during my time as a management consultant, when I voiced my concerns about teammates regularly staying up until 2 AM to leadership, I was met with dismissive shrugs or outright skepticism.

It turns out, this is quite normal in the corporate world.

While Elon Musk proudly bragging that his team works 120 hours a week seems an extreme, the realities of many career paths, including medical residents, high-achieving professionals, shift workers, entrepreneurs, and sleep deprived dual-income parents, are not that far from Elon’s extreme case.

Every year, there are heart-breaking reports on deaths related to overwork and lack of rest, such as the tragic case of Anna Sebastian Perayil at EY.

Every year, medical residents passionate about helping people make deadly mistakes at the tail end of 26 hour shifts.

This is heart-breaking.

So what is one to do, in addition to hoping for medical reform while trying to guess how your doctor has slept?

If you are a leader, I urge you to create a culture where sleep and culture are valued and respected. People’s lives depend on it.

No pressure to answer emails after dinner.

No judgement if someone is not “online” in the evening.

No pretending that each client or stakeholder request is a life or death matter (unless it is).

In addition to people, your company also depends on your ability to promote sleep: sleep deprivation costs U.S. employers an estimated $411 billion annually, equivalent to approximately 1.23 million lost working days each year.

Moreover, sleep is not only critical for company performance, but for your health.

Just a single night without sleep can increase Alzheimer’s-related beta-amyloid levels by 5%, elevate cortisol levels by up to 30%, and impair insulin sensitivity similarly to that of a high-fat diet.

This is why Matthew Walker, in his influential book Why We Sleep, calls sleep the "Swiss Army knife of health."

So to whatever extent your career and personal life allows you to prioritize sleep, here are some ways to improve it.

• Morning sunlight: Just 10–30 minutes of morning sunlight exposure can significantly reset your internal clock and improve sleep quality.

• Regular bedtime and wake-up times: Maintaining consistency, even on weekends, strengthens your natural circadian rhythms.

• No caffeine after noon, and avoid meals 2–3 hours before bed: Caffeine and late meals disrupt deep, restorative sleep.

• Create a sleep sanctuary: Keep your room cool, dark, and quiet. Budget-friendly items such as eye masks, blackout curtains, or white noise fans can significantly enhance sleep quality.

• Wind-down rituals: Simple evening rituals like drinking chamomile tea, taking magnesium supplements, journaling, or gentle breathing exercises can greatly improve sleep.

In short, rest is not a luxury. It’s a fundamental human right.

So next time you are thinking about sending that email to your hard-working employees at 11p.m., pause, schedule it to go out at 9 a.m. the next day, and go to sleep.

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