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Caliifornia State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: September 10, 2001
Latest Update: September 10, 2001
E-Mail jeannecurran@habermas.org
E-Mail takata@uwp.edu

Sleep in a Revved-Up Life-World

Journal entry by jeanne

Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors: September 2001.
"Fair use" encouraged.

Sleep disturbance, like headaches, is a symptom that goes with so many ills, its origin is hard to trace. That doesn't mean we should ignore, especially when it's chronic. And especially when we find ourselves in an urban setting that runs night and day and leaves us little real discretionary time.

It's especially important that you hear Dr.Dement's caution on how dangerously close to actually falling asleep drowsiness actually is:

What All Undergraduates Should Know About How Their Sleeping Lives Affect Their Waking Lives by William Dement, M.D., Ph.D. Stanford University. Stanford University Center of Excellence for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleep Disorders.

Sleep deprivation is a sleep disorder, and most of us are suffering from sleep deprivation. Dr. Dement says something of great importance to all of us who drive the local freeways:

"DROWSINESS IS A RED ALERT"

Drowsiness is the last stage of sleep deprivation, before you fall asleep at the wheel, not the first indicator of drowsiness.

Transforming Discourse About The Speed of Our Life-World

Somewhere recently I read of a research survey that concluded that Americans have more "discretionary time" now than they had decades ago. I dismissed it as invalid measurement, and don't even remember where I read it, but suspect it was in the popular press. I don't know what measure the poll or survey used, but neither I nor anyone else I know has adequate "discretionary time" even for the sleep we need.

Decades ago, children played contentedly in back yards, that were pretty safe. Mothers had time for "bridge" and parties, and children had lots of undirected activity time, when they were expected to invent their own games. Today, mothers work, often because they have to, to pay the mortgage or the rent and buy the groceries. Fathers spend long hours away from home, albeit with gyms included in their work day (Abel's comments in Theory), and come home with hardly any time for the local football kids and family "hang out" time. Noam Chomsky cites this as one of the terrible costs of the faster paced life of the corporate kibbutz.

Today, kids work, if they want spending money, for the price of even has jumped. In the Spring of 2001, a coke at school cost $1. In the Fall of 2001, the same coke cost $1.25. A 25% increase over a 2 month break! And even if they're lucky enough not to need to work, their activities are "scheduled," planned by adults for sports and/or entertainment. No more sand lots for a quick game of baseball while mother whips up dinner. More state-designated homework and tests, more threats of suspension for lateness, more regimentation, less time on their own to imagine, to explore, to incorporate what they're learning into their lives.

Continuous conflicting and highly regulated demands on our time gives us less time to put ur feet up and just "sit and think," and sometimes to "just sit." Sleep doesn't fit with the same measure of respect into our schedules. And so when time must be fudged to cover the multiple demands, time is shaved from sleep.

Transforming discourse is not just about changing the discourse of racism, of sexism, of colonialism and exploitation, but also about changing the dominant discourse through which we deny the increased regimentation of our life-world. Dr. Dement in What All Undergraduates Should Know About How Their Sleeping Lives Affect Their Waking Lives warns of the danger of the denial of this regimentation and of the danger of refusing to listen to our own bodies in good faith.

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