Arianna Huffington

Fact: Twenty-four hours without sleep is the equivalent of a blood alcohol level of 0.1 percent—at which point you are more than legally drunk.

The power of sleep in the animal kingdom is exemplified by the cheetah. It’s the fastest land animal on earth—able to accelerate from zero to sixty miles per hour in just three seconds—and yet it also spends up to eighteen hours a day sleeping.

A 2009 Stanford study found that a six-week mindfulness meditation course helped people who have trouble sleeping fall asleep twice as quickly, in fifteen minutes instead of thirty-three minutes.

Boards of directors need to acknowledge that a CEO who’s bragging about getting only four hours of sleep a night is essentially saying that he or she is making decisions while drunk. They need to see that that’s not something to be applauded or rewarded. In fact, it’s a massive red flag.

One of the most important findings is that sleep is essentially like bringing in the overnight cleaning crew to clear the toxic waste proteins that accumulate between brain cells during the day.

I have a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson by my bed that helps me silence my mind: ‘Finish every day, and be done with it. . . . You have done what you could—some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as fast as you can, tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it well and serenely, and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.'

Sleep is, after all, at the center of our overall vitality. When we sleep well, we feel better, and vice versa. We may be what we eat, but also, to be sure, we are how we sleep.