Over the last few weeks, I’ve been getting more sleep because I quit carpooling to work and slept longer instead. I figured I was just being lazy. But it seemed like the extra sleep gave me a much more positive mental outlook and sharper thinking. I wondered if it was just my imagination, so I read about it. Here are some key points from the research:

• Extra sleep does significantly impact both mood and mental performance. Sleep is also important for learning and problem solving.
• When you don’t get enough sleep, you accumulate a “sleep debt” which adds up in a roughly linear fashion. In other words, if you are short 1 hour of sleep 3 nights in a row, your performance will suffer as much as missing 3 hours of sleep in one night.
• “Normal performance” is actually “sleep deprived performance” in America. Research subjects with average scores on reaction time and mood tests scored well above average after receiving extra sleep for a few nights in a row. Performance and mood continued to increase for at least 7 to 10 nights of extra sleep.
• There’s a big difference in sleep requirement from one person to the next, but 9 hours of sleep per night seems to be about average for maximum mood and performance benefits.

So I’m wondering… What would I have to change to consistently sleep enough to perform at my best? Is it worth it? Maybe this is just another wishful should-do like eating better and exercising more? Since I often choose less-than-the-best, what do I really value more than health and top performance?